Agenda and minutes

The Former Sustainable Communities Scrutiny Panel - Thursday 12 March 2009 9.30 a.m.

Venue: Town Hall, Moorgate Street, Rotherham.

Contact: Dawn Mitchell (Ext. 2062) Email: dawn.mitchell@rotherham.gov.uk

Items
No.	Item
101.	Communications View the background to item 101. Minutes: The Chair reported that she had recently spoken to Councillor Walker who was making good progress.
102.	Declarations of Interest View the background to item 102. Minutes: There were no Declarations of Interest made at the meeting.
103.	Questions from members of the public and the press View the background to item 103. Minutes: There were no members of the public and press present at the meeting.
104.	RotherFed - presentation by Steve Ruffle Minutes: Steve Ruffle, Development Manager, gave the following powerpoint presentation:- What is Rother Fed? - A non-profit making company supporting and representing tenants and residents associations (TARAs) in Rotherham History - Democratic structure - Funding - Staffing Our Mission - “Uniting and representing tenants in decisions about their homes and communities” Our Values - Increasing tenants and resident empowerment - Independence - Openness - Social housing - Including everyone Develop Quality TARAs - Managing your TARA - Communications - Financial Control - Involving our community - Equalities Grants - Start-Up grants for new groups - Maintenance Grants for established groups - Office Expenditure Grants - Awards for silver and gold quality systems - Financial support for examination of accounts TARA Services - Helping produce newsletters - Free Criminal Record Bureau Checks - Advice with funding applications - Free public liability insurance - Free stationery packs for all members - Linking with other groups Tenants Resource Centre - Photocopying - Computers - Resources - Meeting room Training - Delivering courses for tenants residents - Networking events for TARAs - Signposting to other training National Strategy - Right to Rent - Moonlight Robbery - National Conversation - National Tenant Void South Yorkshire Tenants and Residents Network - Barnsley Federation - RotherFed - Doncaster Federation - Tenants of Sheffield Homes Local Consultation - Council House Directions - Sheltered Housing Community Areas - Area Housing Panels AGM and TARA Quality Awards - Wednesday, 25^th March, 2009, at 12.30 p.m. at Silverwood Miners Welfare Discussion ensued on the presentation with the following issues highlighted:- o RotherFed’s annual budget was approximately £150,000 - £130,000 from the Council and the remainder from income generated and grants o The national review of Housing Revenue Accounts would have no impact on RotherFed funding o A key action point was to attract involvement from young people o The Federation would support TARAs organising activities/events and provide training for those working with vulnerable people Steve was thanked for his presentation.
105.	Neighbourhoods 3rd Quarter (April to December) Performance Report PDF 64 KB - report of John Mansergh, Service Performance Manager Additional documents: Performance Monitoring March Report , item 105. PDF 418 KB Minutes: Robin Walker, Performance Management Officer, presented the submitted report which outlined the Key Performance Indicator results and efficiency projections for the third quarter of 2008/09. At the end of the quarter, 13 (72%) Key Performance Indicators were currently on track to achieve their year end targets. This was a deterioration from 90% last year. The 5 Indicators currently not on target were:- 2010 Rotherham Ltd. - BV212 Empty property relet times - NM72 Urgent repairs completed in time - BV211a Programmed/Responsive repairs Neighbourhoods - NI156 Number of households in temporary accommodation - NI160 Overall satisfaction with the landlord service The Council’s financial management system was identifying rent lost as a result of voids of £948,000. Based on current performance, the Housing Revenue Account was forecasting a loss of income of £1.26M compared to £1.1M at the end of the last quarter. Discussion ensued on the report with the following issues highlighted:- - Since the report had been considered by the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods on 2^nd March, discussions had taken place with the Chief Executive of 2010 who was preparing a report on action proposed for the next 12 months for submission to the Voids Scrutiny Review Group - The Responsive Repairs Indicator had improved from that of last year but was still room for improvement - 2010 was to prepare a remedial action plan on all those Indicators off target - 2010 had consolidated their resources into 1 centralised Voids Team with a Voids Manager - The Status Survey contained 1 overall question on tenants’ overall satisfaction with the service delivered by the landlord. However, within the survey, there were a number of questions relating to the Repairs and Maintenance Service, anti-social behaviour etc. - A brief consultation was to take place commencing 23^rd March on the recent statement made by Margaret Beckett, Housing Minister. A draft amended determination would then be issued Resolved:- That the report be noted.
106.	Housing Investment Programme (HIP) 2008/09 PDF 43 KB - report of Nisar Ahmed, Temporary Finance Manager Additional documents: HIPCMReport 2 Mar 09 Appendix 1, 02/03/2009 Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods , item 106. PDF 26 KB Minutes: Michelle Musgrave, Director of Housing and Neighbourhoods, presented a report setting out details of the progress on the 2008/09 Housing Investment Programme (HIP) for the period to 15^th January 2009, which totalled £56.422m (71.40%) of the approved Programme. The Programme was divided into 2 sections, those schemes managed by 2010 Rotherham Ltd. (£66.863M) and those managed by the Council (£12.156M). 2010 Ltd Managed Schemes To date, 2010 managed schemes had incurred expenditure of £51.413m (76.89%). They had indicated there was a potential risk of an additional £216k expenditure on the windows budget due to an increase in the number of windows that needed to be fitted. They would seek to minimise the potential financial risk and manage spending within the overall programme to offset any impact. Flood costs had been finalised at £0.149m and was contained within the overall budget managed by 2010 Ltd. RMBC Managed Schemes To date, £5.009m (41.21%) of the Programme had been spent. Several of the larger schemes had had little or no expenditure as yet, but most were projecting to be on target by the end of the year. To support the Approved Programme, resources totally £79.011M were originally identified. Receipts from Right to buy contributed to the total with a total of 22 sales to the end of October, 2008. There was a risk that if there were no more Right to Buy sales, there could be a £0.906M shortfall in resources. Discussion ensued on the report with the following issues highlighted:- - There would be a 2009/10 budget for the Garage Site Investment as all the repairs had not been achieved as yet - There was a significant increase in the number of replacement windows required in the Decent Homes Programme. When developed, a limited number of properties had been surveyed, the cost estimates of which had been rolled out across all the stock. It was expected that the cost could be contained within the overall Decent Homes Programme and rolled into the next financial year - The Council’s spend on adaptations was being managed to avoid overspend - Dinnington Transformational Change sat within the Housing Market Renewal 3 year programme so other properties would be brought forward that could achieve spend and Monksbridge Terrace moved to a future year within that 3 year period - The Directorate was suggesting the use of the remaining ringfenced HRA land capital receipts to deal with non-traditional properties. A joint report was to be submitted to the Cabinet Members for Neighbourhoods and Regeneration and Development Services seeking approval Resolved:- (1) That the report be noted. (2) That the Finance Manager be requested in future to include a “variation to spend”, with reasons for the variation, to Appendix 1.
107.	Sheltered Housing Neighbourhood Centres Review Update PDF 82 KB - report of Kirsty Everson, Director of Independent Living Minutes: Further to Minute No. 84 of 29^th September, 2008, Janine Moorcroft, Older Person’s Manager, presented the outcomes of the consultation that had taken place. Consultation had taken place on proposals to discontinue the provision of guest bedrooms, increase the cost of using the laundry and to introduce a protocol for charges and use of the centres by tenants, residents and other stakeholders. Consultation had commenced in November 2008 and was delivered by the Neighbourhood Centre Manager. A letter explaining what the consultation process would involve was sent to every tenant in sheltered accommodation with on-site communal facilities together with 49 consultation meetings held in Neighbourhood Centres to offer tenants the opportunity to express their opinions. The response to the questionnaire was positive with 746 questionnaires returned. Overall attendance at the meetings was good, enabling lively discussions around the future use of the Neighbourhood Centres. Overall, the response to the proposed changes was extremely encouraging. The vast majority of respondents agreed to the following proposals: · the centres being hired to other groups at times where there is no regular tenant activity. · allowing the centre activities to involve the wider community with sensitivity to be taken into account in relation to activates such as grandchildren’s parties and activities involving young people. · Non-residents should be allowed to join in the regular activities as many tenants felt that activities would cease without their involvement. However, concerns raised included:- - Increased use of the centres may lead to more noise, parking problems and security issues - Charging non-residents for the use of the centres, either by a regular weekly charge, or on a “pay as you go” basis - Mixed response to the conversion of guest bedroom. Some felt it was an important part of their Tenancy Agreement and, if a tenant was ill, family could stay. However, usage did not reflect this - Although 51% were in favour of an increase in laundry charges, some felt that the proposed rise from 10p to £1 was too large in 1 step. Based on the above, it was proposed that: The protocol in Appendix 1 be introduced from 6^th April 2009. The Neighbourhood Centre Manager should work with the Wardens on every single scheme and establish where the pay-as-you-go approach should be introduced, and how the income collected would be safely deposited and accounted for. This included identifying those non-residents who would be willing to pay the weekly charge for full use of the buildings and making appropriate payment arrangements. That laundry charges be increased from 6^th April 2009 from 10p per wash and 10p per dry to 50p, and from April 2010, this should be increased to £1 per was and £1 per dry. That any decision about the longer term use of the guest bedrooms be deferred until the broader review had taken place. It was also proposed that all tenants were contacted and given feedback from the consultation and details of what had been agreed. This should take ... view the full minutes text for item 107.
108.	Future Demand and Budget Pressures for Adaptations PDF 92 KB - report of Kirsty Everson, Director of Independent Living Minutes: Further to Minute No. 92 of 13^th October, 2008, Shiv Bhurtun, Housing Access Manager, presented a report giving an overview of the number of adaptations undertaken during 2007/08 and the current year to 31^st January, 2009, an estimate of the likely costs over the next 3 years of adaptations and the implication on the budget together with an analysis of the significant changes in the number of adaptations undertaken recently. For 2008/09, in line with Cabinet Minute No. 75 of 7^th September, 2005, the Council had maintained an additional contribution to the Disabled Facilities Grant (the grant provided by CLG to all Councils to use to meet their statutory obligations to provide adaptations in private sector accommodation). The total available for private sector adaptations was £1,404,000, of which £832,000 was comprised of the DFG. The Housing Investment Programme also prioritised resources for public sector adaptations and the budget approved by the Cabinet Member for 2007/08 was £1.7M – higher than that anticipated in 2005. However, due to the reduced amounts of Capital Receipts from Council house sales within the year, the resources available for the public sector had not reached the anticipated budget. Based on the 2007 Strategic Housing Market Assessment, there was an estimated 18,471 households in Rotherham with 1 or more members in an identified support needs group, higher than the national average. 22% had a long term limiting illness; the figure for children with a limiting long term illness was identified in the 2001 census as 5.02%, 16% above the national average. A strategy had been implemented by the Adaptations Team to deal with the increased referrals. Based on the budget set at the start of the year, should all the backlog cases up to January, 2009, and the normal throughput of referrals (currently at a rate of 60 per months at an average cost of £4,000 per adaptation), be processed, the budget would be overspent. To ensure that the remaining funding available for adaptations for 2008/09 remained within budget, the Housing Access Manager had strengthened the internal process for agreeing work with each case heavily scrutinised before being considered for approval. As at 30^th January, 2009, there were 282 cases outstanding that had not been processed as yet due to the potential financial impact on the available resources. The total backlog of cases would increase by the end of the financial year to 402 cases should referrals continue at the anticipated rate. The impacts of the increase on overspend were set out in the report submitted. It was proposed that a bid be made to the Corporate Capital Programme to increase the amounts available from 2010/11. Assuming the Occupational Therapy backlog was reduced by April, 2009, and the demand for adaptations through the normal route did not exceed more than 20%, it was proposed that funding should be increased by 6% for each year from 2010/11. This would mean increasing funding by 6% for the public sector from the ... view the full minutes text for item 108.
109.	Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods PDF 80 KB View the background to item 109. - minutes of meeting held on 16^th February, 2009 Minutes: The Panel noted the decisions made under delegated powers by the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods held on 19th February, 2009.
110.	Sustainable Communities Scrutiny Panel PDF 162 KB View the background to item 110. - minutes of meeting held on 19^th February, 2009 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 19th February, 2009, were agreed.
111.	Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee PDF 105 KB View the background to item 111. - minutes of meeting held on 13^th February, 2009 Minutes: The minutes of the Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee held on 13th February, 2009, were noted.
112.	Michelle Musgrave Minutes: The Chair reported that this was Michelle’s last Panel meeting before she left the Authority. Michelle was wished all the best for the future.