Agenda item

Report of the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health

Recommendations:-

1.    That the annual Area Housing Panel budget for 2019/20 be allocated at Ward level.

2.    That a base budget of £8k be set per Ward, with the remaining annual budget provision then to be allocated to Wards, based upon the percentage of Council homes within each Ward.

3.    That a further report setting out recommendations for the new organisational and budget arrangements for Area Housing Panels from 2020/21, be presented to Cabinet.

Consideration was given to the report which set out the basis for a review of the current Area Housing Panel arrangements, in the context of the new neighbourhood working approach. It proposed that the current geographical arrangements for Area Housing Panels were reviewed and recommendations brought forward for Cabinet consideration later in the year.

Reference was made to the current arrangements for the allocation and governance of the annual Area Housing Panel budget and the options considered for the structuring of the budget from 2019/20, including revised governance processes.

This report had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as part of the pre-scrutiny process who were in support of the recommendations, subject to the proposed second report in respect of arrangements for 2020/21 and beyond being brought for scrutiny prior to consideration by Cabinet and that the governance arrangements and clarity in respect of delegated decision making be addressed in the future report to be considered by Cabinet.

Cabinet Members welcomed the ongoing neighbourhood working process which would ensure Councillors were in a position to take action on the concerns of their residents on a local basis.  Change would be varied, but Councillors would need to be  fully engaged with the people who lived in their communities to deliver on their expectations and this was just the latest tool that would assist.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the annual Area Housing Panel budget for 2019/20 be allocated at Ward level.

(2)  That a base budget of £8k be set per Ward, with the remaining annual budget provision then to be allocated to Wards, based upon the percentage of Council homes within each Ward.

(3)  That a further report setting out recommendations for the new organisational and budget arrangements for Area Housing Panels from 2020/21, be presented to Cabinet.