Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies have been received from Cllr Robini and Officers Annalisa Howson and Hugh Wagstaff. Cllr John Ward joined the meeting as a substitute.

To agree the notes of the meeting held on the 30^th March 2023.

Terry Daubney, Vice Chair, submitted the following questions based on the minutes of the previous meeting and read them out to the Group:

i.          In the Q3 performance report there is a mention of the Relet Review, is there an update on this review, particularly around finding and will there be any tenant involvement in this review?

Andrew Smith, Executive Head of Housing, explained that the re-let review process is continuing and is in process. He noted that the Council was looking into recruiting a dedicated officer for re-lets and to facilitate easy moving for tenants. He explained that the tenant’s panel will have involvement over the summer period and the plan is to bring a report to the Sept-Oct Landlord Services meeting. Andrew Smith clarified that the re-let time frame is currently 25 days. He also agreed to confirm when the re-let period starts, in response to Chris Austin’s query.

ii.          The Board agreed to defer this item for further discussions & review? Could we have an update on any progress made.

Andrew Smith, Executive Head of Housing, confirmed that an update on the Decant Policy can be provided in the upcoming meeting. Danielle Sleightholme suggested that feedback and involvement should be utilised from tenants involved in the Milford fire incident. Andrew Smith explained that this would be an emergency decant response situation and the Group queried the Council’s plan for emergency situations. Louisa Blundell noted that there were tenants from the Ockford Ridge refurbishment who could give feedback and input on the decant policy. The Chair suggested that officers report back on the emergency procedure for tenants and bring back an update on the Decant Policy.

Cllr Keen queried the situation on Damp and Mould. Andrew Smith noted that the Damp and Mould Policy will be coming to the next meeting and is to be signed off by the Co-PFH for Housing. He noted that the Housing team are looking into recruiting a dedicated resource for Damp and Mould as it is a specialised field, it was also noted that 39 out of 1000 responses from the Stock Condition Survey indicated issues with Damp and Mould.

Cllr Rivers, Co-PFH for Housing and Chair of the Group, also noted that the work programme would be attached to the agenda for the July meeting.

To receive any declarations of interests under the Waverley Members’ Code of Conduct.

None received.

The Group to agree to the Terms of Reference and propose any changes regarding the make-up of the group, frequency of meetings, time and location of meetings.

The Group were in unanimous agreement that they would like to retain the title ‘Landlord Services Advisory Board’. 

The Group agreed to remove the word ‘co-optee’ from agendas, minutes and other correspondence to ensure the Tenants Panel Members are recognized as Members of the Group.

The Q4 Corporate Performance Report, Annexe 1, provides an analysis of the Council’s performance for the fourth quarter of 2022/23 including the end of year outturn.

The Housing Service performance information has been extracted for the Landlord Services Executive Working Group.  The full performance report can be found on the council website.

The report to be presented to the Group for comment and recommendations to be made to the Executive or Joint Management Team.

Members raised concerns about the 4 red KPIs and the performance of the responsive repairs contractors, Ian Williams. Andrew Smith noted that a meeting was held with Ian Williams to discuss this; he noted that Ian Williams were taking action on this including a change in recruitment and structure of the company. Officers are to meet with Ian Williams again next week to discuss the action plan. Members suggested a representative should attend a meeting of the Board to update them on the progress and plans to avoid issues in the future. Chris Austin, Tenant’s Panel Member, questioned the progress of Smith and Byford and whether they should be involved in the meetings with Ian Williams; to which Andrew Smith explained that Smith & Byford and Ian Williams were separate and have contractually different responsibilities. He noted that Smith and Byford had been performing satisfactorily.  

Chris Austin, Tenants Panel Member, suggested that housing officers should undertake regular visits to tenants’ homes. However, Members recognized that shortage of staff and resources would hinder this. Andrew Smith suggested that Neal Davis attends a meeting of the LSAB in Autumn to talk about the Housing Management Service, staff structure and training and how this aim could become achievable.

Actions from the discussion:

• Officers to report back on gas certificate software
• Officers to report back to Board regarding the gas cap mentioned in the report
• Chair requested information on how many items from the stock condition surveys had resulted in a call out to Ian Williams – officers to report back
• Representative from EM Ian Williams to attend the Board in Sept/Oct to update
• Officers to report back to Board at a later date regarding the H7 suspended data.

Louisa Blundell (Housing Development Manager) to deliver Housing Delivery Presentation to the Group.

Louisa Blundell gave a presentation on housing delivery to the Board.

A number of key updates were presented including;

•       Stock condition surveys may deliver opportunities for regeneration

•       Ockford Ridge Deep Retrofit was approved by Members and set to begin in August 2023

•       There will be a viewing home on Site C; Members may choose to have a site visit in the future

•       150 homes have been delivered and action plan aims to elevate this to 200 new homes in the next 4 years

•       26 new homes to be built in Chiddingfold; construction will commence within the next month

•       All homes will be at a net zero position/ A-rated properties

•       Air source heat pump provider to visit Board at a later date to provide demonstration

The Group to receive a verbal update from the Executive Head of Housing Service.

Andrew Smith, Executive Head of Housing confirmed that there were no more updates to report.

Andrew Smith (Executive Head of Housing) to discuss the Work Programme with the Group and discuss suggestions for items going forward.

The Chair noted that Annalisa Howson, Housing Improvement Manager, would provide the Board with an updated work program at the next meeting.

The Board agreed that the date of the next meeting will be Thursday 20^th July 2023 at 10am.