Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and notice of appointment of substitutes.

Apologies were received from:

Cllr Mrs E M Andrews

Cllr Mrs H Bainbridge

Cllr D R Coren

Cllr R J Dolley

Councillors are reminded of the requirement to declare any interest,

including the type of interest, and reason for that interest, either at this

stage of the meeting or as soon as they become aware of that interest.

No interests were declared under this item.

To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.

There were no members of the public present.

Members to consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 15 January 2019.

The minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2019 were confirmed as a true and accurate record and SIGNED by the Chairman.

To receive any announcements that the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman had the following announcements to make:

He reminded the Group that there was a joint meeting of the Homes, Environment and Community PDG’s on Friday 15 March at 11.30am to discuss the Enforcement Policy for the Operations Directorate. It was imperative that each PDG represented at the meeting was quorate so if Members were unable to attend then they needed to let the clerk know.

To receive a report from the Director of Operations providing Members with an update on performance against the Corporate Plan and local service targets for 2018/19 as well as providing an update on the key business risks.

The Group had before it, and NOTED, a report * from the Director of Operations providing Members with an update on performance against the Corporate Plan and local service targets for 2018/19 as well as providing an update on the key business risks.

The following was highlighted within the report:

·         The report contained data up until the end of January 2019.

·         An update was provided in relation to the Corporate Plan Aim: Build more council houses: 12 units at Palmerston Park did not now need to be completed in March but could be delivered as part of the handover of all 26 units in August 2019.

·         One property’s gas certificate had expired. The tenant had passed away and so this would be remedied whilst the property was void.

Note: * Report previously circulated; copy attached to the signed minutes.

To receive a verbal update from the Principal Accountant presenting a financial update in respect of the income and expenditure so far in the year.

The Group received, and NOTED, a verbal update from the Principal Accountant presenting a financial update in respect of the income and expenditure so far in the year.

The following was reported:

·         Current figures were showing a £20k improvement from the previous month which was having a positive effect upon the General Fund.

·         There had been a reduction in underspend in the Environmental Services area with S106 air quality funds being utilised.

·         There had also been an increased underspend in the Customer Services area with a salary reduction.

·         The favourable variance in the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) had increased from £58k to £213k due to some salary savings.

To receive a report from the Group Manager for Public Health and Regulatory Services presenting a revised Housing Assistance Policy under Article 4 of the Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002 following the one year review of the existing policy that was agreed and adopted in February 2018 (Housing Assistance Policy 2018-19).

The Group received a report * from the Group Manager for Public Health and Regulatory Services presenting a revised Housing Assistance Policy under Article 4 of the Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002 following the one year review of the existing policy that was agreed and adopted in February 2018 (Housing Assistance Policy 2018-2019).

The following was highlighted within the revised policy:

·         The policy aimed to provide a targeted consistent approach to providing funding where it was most needed. The Government was encouraging council’s to allow people to stay in their homes wherever they could.

·         The Better Care Fund (BCF) intentionally provides more funding to Devon than is currently required to meet the demand for mandatory Disabled Facility Grant’s (DFG) only. A wider policy was now needed to allow the Devon councils to spend the BCF on assistance that helped a wider range of households and met the broader BCF objectives. In addition there had been changes to the ECO flex fund and therefore this needed to be reflected in the Statement of Intent (SOI).

·         The delivery of the DFG programme was mandatory and a statutory function of the local housing authority. There were no proposed changes to this part of the policy other than to introduce clarification that additional works specifically required to manage disability caused by dementia or related conditions were eligible.

·         The policy was designed to have more flexibility thereby reducing the process time previously endured by people needing help quickly.

·         It was AGREED that in section 4.5, under ‘Eligibility’ the first bullet point be removed from the policy.

·          ECO3 supports low income, vulnerable and fuel poor households meaning that all measures should be delivered to these groups. The scheme helped homes to reduce their energy bills and consequently tackled fuel poverty and vulnerability to the cold. However, one key change was that funding would not be available for replacement of oil or coal heating systems. In future, systems would be funded under schemes that sourced renewables such as air source heat pumps, ground source heat pumps and biomass boilers.

The following was discussed with regard to the Statement of Intent:

·         Private homeowners qualified to apply through ECO flexible eligibility subject to meeting category 1 and category 2 eligibility criteria. Private tenants and residents of park homes would be eligible regardless of income.

·         A reasonable gross household income for a couple had been set at £38k.

·         If a large expensive adaptation had taken place on a property and then the tenant had passed away a charge would be place on the property in order to recoup some if not all of the costs.

·          Mention of ‘Pregnant mothers’ in Category 2 of the SOI should be amended to read ‘Pregnant women’.

·         It was felt that the ‘at risk’ categories were very broad and that it would be helpful to keep a watching brief on this and review categorisations in a year’s time once more data was available.

RECOMMENDED to the Cabinet that:

a)    The revised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

To receive a report from the Group Manager for Public Health and Regulatory Services providing Members with the revised fees and charges in addition to an enforcement update for the relevant statutory and discretionary Private Sector Housing functions within the Community Team of Public Health and Regulatory Services.

The Group had before it a report * from the Group Manager for Public Health and Regulatory Services providing Members with the revised fees and charges in addition to an enforcement update for the relevant statutory and discretionary Private Sector Housing functions within the Community Team of Public Health and Regulatory Services.

The following was highlighted within the report:

·         The rationale for coming to a revised cost in each area was provided by the Group Manager.

·         Legislation provided the Council the power to recover all reasonable costs associated with the administration of the Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing function. The officer time and resources involved in processing a new application had been reviewed and a revised fee calculated. It was proposed to charge a nominal administration fee for providing the register in electronic form or hardcopy.

·         Proposed changes relating to the charging for enforcement action were described, for example, Prohibition Orders and Demolition Orders would now be charged for up front.

A brief discussion took place regarding the proposed increase in charges in the enforcement action area. It was noted that the increase proposed was 30% up on the previous year. It was explained that the previous year had been the first year these charges had been introduced and at the time a guess had had to be made as to what the level of costs were likely to be. It had since been discovered that the council had been undercharging and the proposed increase was merely a means of recouping the actual costs incurred.

RECOMMENDED to the Cabinet that:

a)    The revised fees and charges as set out in Annex 1 be approved.

b)   That Public Health and Regulatory Services are authorised to enforce The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015 as amended 2016.

c)    That a charge is made for providing copies of the Mandatory HMO Licensing Public Register when requested.

(Proposed by Cllr P J Heal and seconded by Cllr Mrs G Doe)

Note: * Report previously circulated; copy attached to the signed minutes.

To receive a report from the Group Manager for Public Health and Regulatory Services providing Members with the revised Empty Homes Plan for 2019-2022.

The Group received, and NOTED, a report * from the Group Manager for Public Health and Regulatory Services providing Members with the revised Empty Homes Plan for 2019-2022.

·         The Empty Homes Plan had been revised to reflect the progress that had been made and the learning of the team in delivering the current plan.

·         Income generation from the New Homes Bonus (NHB) had become tighter and whilst the thresholds had been maintained for 2019/20 it was not certain what would happen in the future. Since the NHB funding was used to deliver the Empty Homes Plan this was a concern. The plan would need to be reviewed once the funding situation going forwards had been clarified.

·         140 properties had been brought back into use this year alone. This had far exceeded expectations and the team were congratulated.

Note: * Report previously circulated; copy attached to the signed minutes.

During discussion of the following item(s) it may be necessary to pass the following resolution to exclude the press and public having reflected on Article 12 12.02(d) (a presumption in favour of openness) of the Constitution. This decision may be required because consideration of this matter in public may disclose information falling within one of the descriptions of exempt information in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. The Group will need to decide whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption, outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 

To consider passing the following resolution so that financial information may be discussed.

Recommended that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the next item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 respectively of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

Prior to considering the following item on the agenda, discussion took place as to whether it was necessary to pass the following resolution to exclude the press and public having reflected on Article 15 15.02(d) (a presumption in favour of openness) of the Constitution. The Group decided that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

It was therefore:

RESOLVED that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the next item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 respectively of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

(Proposed by the Chairman)

Information for Members with regard to the Deposit and Rental Scheme.

The Group received, and NOTED, information regarding the Deposit and Rental Scheme from the Group Manager for Housing.

Note:   (i) Report * previously circulated.

(ii) Following consideration of this item the Group AGREED to return to open session.

To receive a report from the Group Manager for Housing providing a written briefing on the latest developments relating to social housing.

The Group had before it, and NOTED, a report * from the Group Manager for Housing providing an update on the latest developments within the social housing sector.

The following was highlighted within the report:

·         Fire safety was still high on the agenda nationally in the wake of the Grenfell disaster.

·         Recent court cases where severe penalties had been issued following a breach of health and safety laws.

·         A Barking and Dagenham Council decision to set up, ‘in principle’, a housing association division for its housing company.

·         Homes England had announced more strategic partners who would be expected to build approximately 11,000 new homes across the UK. This would include some social housing.

·         The National Housing Federation, which represented housing associations, was raising concern with the Department of Work and Pensions regarding issues relating to Universal Credit payments during 2019/20. Many landlords charged rent every Monday. This meant that periodically there was a year with 53 weeks where rent is payable. 2019/20 would be one of those years.

·         Universal Credit brought with it a big culture change with lots of Housing Associations predicting that tenants would not have enough money to pay their rent. Mid Devon District Council had a specialist team and would be working closely with tenants in regard to this issue.

·         The High Court had found that a north London Housing Association had not discriminated against two non-Jewish families in a recent case regarding the allocation of housing to the orthodox Jewish community. This highlighted the need for all registered housing providers to comply with equalities legislation.

Note: * Report previously circulated; copy attached to the signed minutes.

To receive the annual report from the Chairman of the Policy Development Group for 2018/19.

The Group had before it, and NOTED, a draft report * by the Chairman of the Group since May 2018, a final copy of this report would be submitted to Council on 24 April 2019.

He stated how proud he was of the housing department and how efficiently it was run. He asked for his comments to be taken back to the housing teams and for them to be thanked and congratulated.

Note: * Report previously circulated and attached to the signed minutes.

Members are asked to note that the following items are identified in the work programme for the next meeting but are ‘to be confirmed’ where indicated:

·         Election of Chairman

·         Election of Vice Chairman

·         Performance and Risk Outturn for 2018/19

·         Financial Monitoring

·         Housing Revenue Account Asset Management Strategy (tbc)

·         Corporate Asbestos policy (tbc)

·         Domestic Abuse Policy (tbc)

·         Harrassment Policy (tbc)

·         Hoarding Policy (tbc)

·         Pets and Animal Policy (tbc)

·         Allocations Policy and Procedures (tbc)

·         Homelessness Strategy (tbc)

·         Tenancy Strategy (tbc)

·         Housing Sector Update

·         Agree start time of meetings for 2019/20

Note: This item is limited to 10 minutes. There should be no discussion on the items raised.

There was some uncertainty regarding the long list of policies coming to the next meeting but every effort would be made to bring what could be mindful that it was the first meeting of the new Council. Some policies might need to be moved forward to the August meeting.

In addition to the items listed it was also requested that items be brought in relation to:

·         Band E

·         Deposit and Rental Scheme

·         A update on the situation regarding the Syrian Refugee Settlement Scheme