Agenda item

That the progress made in delivering the Housing Capital Investment Programme be noted.

            The Chief Officer (Housing and Assets) introduced a report to provide an update on the progress of the WHQS the Council was delivering through its Capital Investment Programme.  He explained that the WHQS Programme of Works had reached its halfway milestone and was moving into the final three years of delivery.  The report focussed on what had been delivered to date and what was left to be completed before the 2020 deadline.

            The Chief Officer reported on the main considerations, as detailed in the report on the WHQS Programme.  He advised that the WHQS project team was nearing the end of the Internal Work programme (kitchens and bathrooms) and the remaining properties were either ‘tenant refusals’ or ‘no access’ which were classed as ‘acceptable fails’ by the Welsh Government in terms of achieving the WQHS.  The WQHS project team had also procured all of the main WQHS Contracts moving into Year 4 (2018/19) of the Capital Programme and were ahead of target on the number of components installed and looking to implement the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Solution in Quarter 4 of this financial year.  The Chief Officer continued that the WHQS project team had delivered many contracts varying from internal upgrade works through to large external refurbishment and environmental schemes.  The Council had invested around £60m to date within its housing stock and was currently ahead of target in meeting the WHQS 2020 deadline.

            The Chief Officer referred to the Welsh Audit Office (WAO) Report and provided background information, as detailed in the report.  He said the audit had covered a number of areas relating to the Authority’s service users and having undertaken  surveys, considered feedback from users, and moderated their findings, the  WAO concluded that “overall the Council was making good progress towards achieving the WHQS and most Council tenants were satisfied with the quality of the service and their homes”.

            The Chair and Councillor Paul Shotton congratulated the Chief Officer and his team on their achievements on the WQHS to date and on a good report.  

            Councillor Patrick Heesom commented on the need to ensure that local contractors and labour was used in the WQHS programme of works.  The Capital Works Manager advised that local contractors and labour was involved on all new house build and said thresholds had to be met  when contracting works for the  WHQS programme.  He explained that for every £1m spend the Authority had to ensure that a certain number of local job opportunities and apprenticeships were provided and commented that the target had been exceeded to date. 

Councillor Rosetta Dolphin referred to properties which had not been upgraded due to ‘tenant refusals’ or ‘no access’ and asked if the condition of the properties was checked to ensure housing standards were complied with.  The Capital Works Manager explained that a condition inspection would be undertaken when appropriate.

The Chief Officer suggested that the Committee receive an annual update report on the delivery of the WHQS Capital Programme, to include information on the use of local labour and the number of apprentices and school leavers. 

RESOLVED:

That the progress made in delivering the Housing Capital Investment Programme be noted.