Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 8 June 2021, (to be laid on the table 30 minutes before the meeting).

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 8 June 2021 were confirmed as a correct record and signed.

To receive apologies for absence and note any substitutions.

Members who are unable to attend this meeting must submit apologies by the end of Tuesday 14 September 2021 to enable a substitute to be arranged, if applicable.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Peter Marriott.

To receive from Members declarations of interests in relation to any items included on the agenda for this meeting, in accordance with Waverley’s Code of Local Government Conduct.

There were no declarations in relation to items on the agenda.

The Chairman to respond to any written questions received from members of the public in accordance with Procedure Rule 10.

The deadline for submission of written questions for this meeting is 5pm on Tuesday 14 September 2021.

There were no questions from members of the public in relation to the items on the agenda.

The Chairman to respond to any questions received from Members in accordance with Procedure Rule 11.

The deadline for submission of written questions for this meeting is 5pm on Tuesday 14 September 2021.

There were no questions from Members in relation to items on the agenda.

The pages which the committee needs to focus on are pages 48 – 59.

To consider the performance report and make any observations or recommendations as appropriate.  It will include an update on the Asset Management Strategy and responsive repairs and voids procurement.

This will be introduced by the Policy and Performance Officer and presented by The Head of Housing Delivery and Communities and the Service Improvement Manager.

The Head of Housing Delivery and Communities and the Service Improvement Manager introduced the sections on the performance of Housing Delivery and Communities and Housing Operations respectively.

Councillors were concerned there might be an upsurge in people unable to pay their rent due to the end of furlough.  Officers said this was possible but work closely with all tenants to ensure they maximise income and make rent payments.

Councillors were concerned about the poor drainage issues at some of the rear gardens at Ockford Ridge Site A.  The Housing Development Manager stated that staff were liaising with consultants.  19 potential drainage issues had been identified and officers were waiting for a programme of work to be drawn up.  The Council were working with Thakeham Homes again on sites B and C and they were aware of the issues.

Officers stated that good progress was being made with improving performance on the interim responsive repairs contract. 

The Housing Management Team were Housing Operation’s Star Team for the first quarter of the financial year.  They had worked closely with the Police and the Communities Team to tackle anti-social behaviour.

The Community Development Team had been working with the charity COPSE (Community Orchard Projects South East) to plan and develop a Community Orchard in Queensway in Cranleigh.

There was a question from the Committee regarding testing for whether legionnaires disease had been eradicated from the senior living scheme buildings.  The Head of Housing Operations said that it had been tested and been eradicated, with ongoing risk assessments.

The Committee were pleased to see progress on the speed to re-letting vacant properties.

There was a discussion about the fact that Housing Operations had engaged Surrey Fire & Rescue Service regarding issues that had been identified at one of the assisted living properties.  It was stated that more issues may be found in Waverley’s properties in future as knowledge of building safety changed.  The team were responsive to changes and working to ensure all recommendations were completed.

RECOMMENDATION 

That an all member briefing is arranged regarding the mediation scheme

Presentation by Laura Dillon, Housing Manager, and Andrew Smith, Head of Housing Delivery and Communities.  (No report to come).

The Head of Housing Delivery and Communities and the Housing Manager presented this agenda item.

It was stated that the service had been expanded and there were eight Housing Officers.  The service dealt with mental health issues on a daily basis.  Adult Social Care Services were based in The Burys building and the Housing Team had strong relationships with them.  It was possible to link with other services where tenants had addiction issues.  The Housing Service spent a lot of time building relationships with tenants and made regular visits to build trust.

The team has to be extremely resilient due to the nature of the work.  The Housing Team has access to a clinical psychologist for monthly sessions, this is to help support resilience within the team, due to the complex case management.  The Homelessness Team also has access to the clinical psychologist.  Sometimes there were safeguarding concerns and referrals.  The Housing Manager detailed a recent case her team had dealt with by way of an example of the work of her service.

There was a question from the Committee about what information could be given to councillors by the service when they were contacted by constituents.  The Housing Manager advised that it was limited but the service could explain what they were doing to resolve a matter, in line with GDPR.  One of the Committee suggested that there needed to be a way that the Housing Service could give an indication of where the councillor needed to exercise extra care due to mental health issues.

There was a question from the Committee about whether there was any work done with non-tenants, for example accessing the mediation service.  The Housing Manager stated that the Mediation Service was a service open to people in private rented or home owners.  The Housing Management Team only worked with Waverley’s tenants.

The Head of Housing Delivery and Communities stated that anyone homeless or threatened with homelessness triggered a health assessment.  It was often found that the person had mental health and alcohol problems.  The service tried to support the person to engage with the appropriate services.

There was a specialist support team who were able to offer support to people in short term accommodation.

People were given step by step support to become more independent such as how to manage a home and then moved to supported living accommodation and then when they were ready they were moved to a rented property.  The Housing options encouraged flexibility on the length of time people could stay in hostels before they had to move on.  The Council had a Rough Sleeper Support Officer who worked with difficult cases.  The Council received money from the Government to maintain the homelessness service.

Councillors asked what happened when someone was not aware that they had a mental health problem.  Housing officers would encourage tenants to engage with their GP, who could assess for mental health and make any necessary referrals.  The Housing Manager stated that the team had links  ...  view the full minutes text for item 79.

This item will be presented by Peter David, Strategic Asset Manager and will include information on Green Homes Grants.

The Strategic Asset Manager presented this agenda item. 

·         He reported that the Asset Management Strategy was in its early stages.  An energy study was part of this work. 

·         There was consultation being carried out with officers across various departments especially Housing Operations regarding how they work. 

·         An intensive document review was being carried out focussing on interpreting procedures

·         Internal resources were being considered

·         By the beginning of December 2021, governance would be considered

·         In January 2022 approval would be sought for the Asset Management Strategy

He stated that there were four pillars to the strategy; quality lifetime homes, safety compliance, asset decarbonisation and asset plan based on intelligence.

Some of the Committee expressed concern with how long it was taking to begin the work.  The Committee felt they would realistically have seven years to adapt all the housing stock as it was going to take a year and a half to gather data.

It was acknowledged that persuading tenants about the benefits of removing gas boilers and replacing them with air source heat pumps would be difficult.  The Committee also commented on how expensive it was to fit air source heat pumps.  The Strategic Asset Manager responded that the technology was improving all the time and the cost was reducing.

In response to a question from the Committee, the Strategic Asset Manager stated that he would have different options within a plan to reduce varying amounts of carbon.  There was a comment from the Committee that they thought the Council had a strategy to achieve net zero by 2030.  The Strategic Asset Manager stated that he had not yet developed a plan to achieve net zero by 2030 across the whole council.  Specifically, Waverley Homes would not be net zero by this point.

The Committee will receive a report from Service Improvement Manager Annalisa Howson.

Recommendation

The Service Improvement Manager stated that the STAR Survey was a survey of tenants and residents.  It had been anticipated that satisfaction with the service would be lower due to Covid-19 and change in responsive repairs contractor.  The survey showed that opinions on the service were more polarised because there were more people very satisfied and more people very dissatisfied.  The results were going to be considered in greater depth and the Committee would be invited to a presentation by the researcher who completed the survey on Waverley’s behalf to gain more information.

Some of the Committee were surprised that under 35 year olds were so positive about the housing service.  Officers suggested that this could be because they were most likely in private rented accommodation before and were now happy with the value for money provided by Waverley’s housing.

The Committee noted that only 50% of tenants were interested in improvements to reduce carbon.  Officers explained this was probably representative of the general public, and would help inform communications and advice to tenants for initiatives.

This will be presented by Mark Mills, Scrutiny Officer.

The Scrutiny Officer reported that members had been identified to take part in this review.

Recommendation

That the Committee endorse the report included as annexe 1 whilst making any suggestions for amendments.

This item will be presented by Mark Mills, Scrutiny Officer.

The Scrutiny Officer presented this agenda item.

RESOLVED

That the Committee endorsed the Biennial Scrutiny Report.

The Housing Overview & Scrutiny Committee, is responsible for managing its work programme.

The work programme (attached) takes account of items identified on the latest Executive Forward Programme (Annexe 2) as due to come forward for decision.

A Scrutiny Tracker has been produced to assist the Committee in monitoring the recommendations that have been agreed at its meetings. The Tracker details the latest position on the implementation of these recommendations and is attached as Part C of the work programme.

The Scrutiny Officer reported that the findings of the Task and Finish Group regarding Housing Design had been accepted although the recommendation regarding energy generation had been reworded.

The Scrutiny Officer drew the Committee’s attention to the report due to be considered at the Standards Committee on 27 September 2021 regarding the restructure from four to two Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

It was further reported that the new Task and Finish Group regarding the allocation policy was about the commence.