Agenda item

            That the Council approve the recommendations of Cabinet from its meeting held on 16 February 2016 as set out in the report attached to the Council report.

The Chief Officer (Community and Enterprise) introduced a report to provide Members with the final proposals for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and Capital budget for the 2016/17 financial year including proposed rent increases.

                        The Chief Officer and Senior Manager - Council Housing Services provided a joint presentation and commented on the following areas:-

·         Content

·         Self-Financing

·         30 year business plan

·         Housing Revenue Account

·         Other Income

·         Service Charges 2016/17

·         Future phasing of service charges

·         Principles Underpinning Efficiencies

·         HRA Efficiency Proposals

·         HRA Pressures

·         HRA Capital Programme 2016/17

·         Funding for HRA Capital Programme 2016/17

·         Council house building programme

Councillor Helen Brown proposed the recommendation from Cabinet to approve the HRA budget for 2016/17.  She said that the HRA had gone from strength to strength and services had improved particularly routine repairs and the time taken to let empty properties.  She welcomed the self-financing initiative introduced in April 2015 and indicated that the increase of 1.4% (plus up to or minus £2) in rent was the lowest for a number of years.  The report had been submitted to a recent meeting of the Community and Enterprise Overview & Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet earlier today.  The increase in garage rent was also recommended to be 1.4%.  Councillor Brown was proud to be proposing a £21m budget for the investment in the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) and commented that the annual budget had been less than £10m five years ago and that each Council house could achieve WHQS by 2020.  The SHARP project would provide at least 200 new council homes and work would commence on site to build 12 properties in the coming weeks and a further 40 will be built later in the year.  The work would provide opportunities for apprenticeships and work for local people and Councillor Brown referred to the Training Academy which had been the subject of a report to Overview & Scrutiny Committee recently and Cabinet earlier today.  The Council would continue to work in partnership with tenants to receive feedback on the quality of the service.  The proposal was duly seconded by Councillor Tony Sharps.

Councillor Neville Phillips sought clarification on the proposal to build bungalows as part of the Council house building programme and queried whether these would be one or two bedroom dwellings.  Councillor Brown confirmed that a local market assessment would be undertaken to establish whether there was need for one or two bedroom bungalows in line with the needs of the area.  In welcoming the investment in Council housing, Councillor Ron Hampson commented on the significant progress made and praised the decision to retain the housing stock in-house.  He congratulated the Chief Officer (Community and Enterprise) and her team for their hard work.  Councillor Aaron Shotton, said that the budget would enable the Council to build council housing and said that this was an example that lobbying worked.  It had enabled the Council to bring in the self-financing initiative to enable 200 new council properties to be built.  He also welcomed the achievements for the WHQS in the investment for the Council’s housing stock and reiterated that the proposed rent increase was the lowest ever. 

In referring to the debt charging information reported in the business plan, Councillor Mike Peers asked if this was as detailed in paragraph 1.02.  He queried whether the interest rate was variable or fixed and whether the figures for later years were assumptions or actuals.  The Chief Officer (Community and Enterprise) advised that a consolidated rate of interest across all of the Council’s borrowing was charged to the HRA for its proportion of Council debt.  The Finance Manager explained that the self-financing element was based on a rate specific for prudential borrowing for this purpose and a number of loans had been taken out based on what was most affordable for the Council with the loan terms varying from 19 years to 30 years.  The Chief Officer (Community and Enterprise) confirmed that the Council had been able to secure good rates for its borrowing. 

Councillor Kevin Jones welcomed the exceptional package before Members and the work that had been undertaken to reach this position.  On the issue of service charges for future years, he asked whether it would be beneficial to include an amount to cover pest control on Council estates. 

In referring to the WHQS, Councillor Richard Jones asked for details of the total figures for 2014 to 2017.  The Finance Manager advised that details for 2015 to 2020 were included in the business plan and totalled £79m projected spend.  The Chief Officer (Community and Enterprise) added that she would provide the requested information to Councillor Jones following the meeting.  The Senior Manager - Council Housing Services advised that the whole WHQS investment for the six year period was £111m

On being put to the vote, Members voted unanimously in favour of the recommendations. 

            RESOLVED:

            That the Council approve the recommendations of Cabinet from its meeting held on 16 February 2016 as set out in the report attached to the Council report.