Agenda and minutes

The following Declarations of Interest were made:-

Councillor Sheppard Minute No. 102 - resided in an area potentially to be designated a Selective License Area.

Councillors McNeely, Vjestica - part of the Selective License Sub Group.

Councillor Atkin – Minute No. 103 - a supporter of the contract being awarded to Dignity.

No questions were asked by members of the press or public.

The Chair welcomed Rebecca Wholley to the meeting as an observer.

Rebecca was on a two year secondment from the Local Government Association and located within the Management Change Team with the Assistant Chief Executive.

Questions were asked in relation to minutes of 15th November meeting.

Councillor McNeely asked for clarification in relation to two points.

P23 What is the minimum level of fine applicable relation to the Kingdom contract?

A response was provided by Manager of Community Safety and Street Scene, Mathew Finn, the range of fees being applied is in the region of £50 to £80.

P24, £370k of fines have been collected as part of the pilot project, with £37k coming to RMBC as income, which is approx.10% of fines incurred. Clarification was sought as to how the remaining 90% is allocated.

Damien Wilson, Strategic Director for Regeneration and Environment replied that the £37k relates to what the Council would receive if a shared service contract was entered into with Doncaster. The income for the pilot project is unrelated to this.

Written clarification is to be provided by Damien Wilson.

Councillor Beck introduced the report stating that the existing Selective Licensing Scheme was half way through its stated timescale and hoped that further reports on this subject would be brought back to Improving Places Select Commission on an annual basis.

Much opposition was seen when the decision was taken to implement this scheme; however, the data in the report reflects a positive picture and an improvement in the standard of houses in the area.

Matt Finn, Community Safety and Street Scene Manager presented the report.

Background

Detailed within a report to Improving Places Select Commission, 5^th April 2017 (item 65), the Council introduced designations for four Selective Licensing areas, namely Eastwood, Masbrough, Dinnington and Maltby South East. The designations were made in order to address the decline of conditions within the private rented sector in these areas. Maps of the designated areas are shown at Appendix A.

The objective of the scheme is to improve conditions affecting the health of tenants within the private rented sector caused by poor management of the stock. Poor housing conditions have a significant impact on the health of tenants, particularly those that are vulnerable particularly the young and elderly.  In the long term, Selective Licensing is anticipated to improve morbidity and mortality in the private rented sector by addressing directly the housing conditions that affect the health of tenants, by forcing improvements by landlords.

Additionally, the schemes are expected to stabilise communities through improving the conditions of properties, making private rented accommodation more attractive to longer term tenancies. Subsequently, this is likely to contribute to reduced tenant turnover, low housing demand and anti-social behaviour. 

Within designated areas, all privately rented properties must be licensed and comply with a set of licence conditions.  The costs of the licensing scheme are borne entirely by the property owners through a licensing fee of £592 per property, covering a five year licensing period.  If landlords fail to licence a property or do not comply with licence conditions they can be prosecuted, or face other sanctions including Management Orders and Rent Repayment Orders.

The private rented sector is growing in response to the demand for lower cost housing outside of the social rented sector, and the Council is committed to supporting and promoting private landlords to provide quality and affordable properties.  However, there are concerns that the private rented sector is falling below the minimum expected legal standards described in the Housing Act 2004.  In some areas the significant increases in the private rented sector, high rates of empty properties, short term tenancies and anti-social behaviour are having a negative impact on those communities.

In some areas the significant increases in the private rented sector is combined with severe risks to the health of tenants, high rates of empty properties, short term tenancies and anti-social behaviour, which have a negative impact on those communities. Indeed, in some areas the private rented sector accounts for up to 60% of the housing market, becoming a significant part of the overall  ...  view the full minutes text for item 102.

Executive Summary

On 1st August 2008, the Council entered into a 35 year contractual agreement with Dignity Funerals Ltd for the provision of bereavement services for Rotherham. This partnership led to the transfer of significant risks from the Council to Dignity, and saw Dignity take on the responsibility for the capital works and maintenance of the East Herringthorpe Cemetery and Crematorium along with the maintenance of the eight other Municipal Cemeteries located throughout the Borough.  The Council retained the risk in relation to cemetery chapels, associated buildings and boundary walls on some cemetery sites.  The partnership has resulted in a number of significant improvements in relation to the provision of bereavement services throughout Rotherham.

Dignity has sub-contracted the grounds maintenance elements of the service to Glendale Countryside Management Ltd (but Dignity retains the overall responsibility for the delivery of the service).

This report has been requested to provide more detailed information in relation to various aspects of the contract, service and performance management and builds on the report that was presented to IPSC on 30th November 2016. 

Proposals

The report is for information only, and therefore none of the following options/ proposals is presented as recommendations, more as areas for discussion.

Financial Aspects, Exceptional Surplus: Dignity will provide the Council with sufficient financial detail in the Annual Report to assess the level of Equity IRR payments to be made at each financial year end.

Financial Aspects, Financial Related Deductions: The Council will levy charges against Dignity in relation to failure events against the Performance Management Framework reported on a monthly basis to the Council.

Performance Management Framework: Reporting against the Performance Management Framework will begin in the final quarter of 2017/18.

Annual Report: Dignity will provide an improved Annual Report covering the requested information detailed in Section 5 of this report. The Annual Report will be provided by February 2018.

Maltby Cemetery: Options identifying suitable land for burials will be produced during Spring 2018 and presented to members to consider future action.

Same day/short notice burials: The Council continues to work to examine this issue and will provide a verbal update prior to examining potential options.

Memorial Benches: It is proposed that options to provide communal memorial benches is considered to reduce costs, however, a verbal update will be provided.

Grounds Maintenance: It is proposed that the provision of grounds maintenance will be measured against the criteria described in the Performance Management Framework.

Crematorium chapel and adjoining buildings: Following the completion of the external works, a report will be written to put forward proposals in relation to alternative provision of services during the period that internal improvement works are underway.

Provision of lined graves: A review of lined grave options will be completed by February 2018 and scheduled liaison meetings with representatives of the Muslim community will begin early in 2018.

Funeral Directors: It is proposed to ensure that periodic liaison meetings take place with funeral directors, starting in January  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.

Wednesday, 7^th February, 2018, commencing at 1.30 p.m.

Resolved:-  That a further meeting be held on Wednesday, 7^th February, 2018, at 1.30 p.m.