Issue - meetings

That the Chairman and Facilitator liaise with the Head of Housing and Cabinet Member on the items submitted for the Committee’s Forward Work Programme.

The Housing & Learning Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator introduced a report to enable the Committee to consider the Forward Work Programme.  She detailed the items scheduled for the next meeting on 24 April 2013 including the item on Anti-Social Behaviour which had been moved, as agreed at the last meeting.

Councillor A.M. Halford suggested that items for future meetings could include the use of consultants and an update on the success of the financial awareness workshops.  Following earlier discussion, she also asked if an item on sickness absence could be included for the meeting in July 2013.  When asked if the item on consultants would be best covered by the Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Halford acknowledged the overlap with that Committee but stressed the importance of Overview & Scrutiny Committees monitoring the spend on consultants in areas within their remit.

The Head of Housing suggested that an item on ways to support the development of affordable housing in the county could be scheduled for a future meeting.  She said that progress on the business plan for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and achieving Welsh Housing Quality Standards could link to the HRA Subsidy item.  In reference to the Adopted/Unadopted Land item due for consideration at the April 2013 meeting, she commented that this had been overtaken by the report by the Head of Streetscene on transferring the management of HRA land co-joined with Council owned land.

It was agreed that the Chairman and Facilitator would liaise with the Head of Housing and Cabinet Member to schedule items into the Forward Work Programme.

Councillor G. Hardcastle asked if progress reports could be submitted on the vehicle tracking system and PDA devices.  Councillor R. Dolphin asked about progress on the planned maintenance programme.  The Head of Housing said that both of these issues and PDA devices would be incorporated in the item on Repairs & Maintenance due at the next meeting.

In relation to discussion on building on Council land, Councillor R. Hughes pointed out that some land was not suitable for this purpose.  The Head of Housing explained that the Head of Assets & Transportation was in the process of carrying out a mapping exercise on garages and HRA land, with options to be submitted for Members’ consideration.  The Cabinet Member for Housing commented that this would be mentioned in the next tenants’ newsletter.

The Housing Asset Manager reported that following a restructure of the Asset Management Team, Tony Jones had been appointed as Capital Works Manager, Kevin Eccles and Ian Peters as Operational Team Managers and Denise Price as Business Performance Manager.  Councillor Halford remarked that photographs of the officers would be helpful for Members.

RESOLVED:

That the Chairman and Facilitator liaise with the Head of Housing and Cabinet Member on the items submitted for the Committee’s Forward Work Programme.