Issue - meetings

That the final draft of the Community Services Directorate Plan be endorsed. 

The Director of Community Services introduced a report on the Community Services Directorate Plan to present the final draft to Members and to seek any final views and comments before approval by Cabinet. 

He provided a detailed presentation on the Improvement Plan and highlighted the four priorities and the sub priorities for Housing which included Extra Care Housing, achieving the Wales Housing Quality Standard and modern, efficient and adapted homes.  The Director then provided a detailed presentation on the Directorate Plan.  It was reported that a user friendly style to the format had been adopted by Community Services in 2012 and this had been retained for the update.  Section 3 of the Directorate Plan detailed the vision and values of the Directorate of Community Services and the performance highlights were reported in section 4.  The extra care facility at Llys Jasmine was on schedule to open in September 2013 and would be similar to the development at Llys Eleanor in Shotton. 

Councillor George Hardcastle thanked the Director for his presentation and report.  He asked whether there had been any significant impacts since the introduction of Welfare Reform.  The Head of Housing responded that as at the end June 2013 rent arrears had increased by £30,000 on the same period last year and even though this was a concern, about 80% of income due was still being collected.  She added that 21 tenants who were being charged for under occupancy charges had been moved to smaller properties.  Discretionary Housing Payments had been made to some tenants following claims and a key issue was ensuring that tenants were aware of the Welfare Benefits Service who could assist in identifying whether they were receiving the benefits that they were entitled to.  On the issue of homelessness, there had been an increase in the use of bed and breakfast accommodation but this was currently being contained within the budget and the impact was being managed.  Following a further question from Councillor Hardcastle on what would happen if tenants had a three bedroom property and there were insufficient one or two bedroom properties available for them to move into, the Head of Housing said that each case was looked at on its merits.  She detailed the approach taken for those who were in arrears before the introduction of the Welfare Reform and those who had not been in arrears prior to April 2013.  She advised that the Council were not yet at the position of taking tenants to court over the rent arrears which had accrued as a result of Welfare Reform but there would be a need to look at how this would be managed for the future. 

Councillor Peter Curtis said that there would be situations in the whole of the country where tenants wanted to move to smaller properties to avoid the extra charge, but the properties were not available for them to move to.  He spoke of the 30 empty properties which were being brought back into use for residential  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11