Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

None.

None.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 17 May, 2023. 

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 May 2023 were approved as a correct record.     

The minutes were moved and seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge and Councillor Pam Banks. 

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be noted;

(b)       That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and

(c)        That the Committee notes the progress made in completing the outstanding actions.

The Facilitator presented the current Forward Work Programme (FWP) for consideration, adding that all future meeting dates from September 2023 had been added to the FWP following approval at the Annual Council meeting.  All regular reports to the Committee had also been added to the FWP.

The Facilitator added that she would be meeting with the Chief Officer & Senior Management Team over the summer to discuss future reports and would liaise with the Chair and Vice-Chair to bring a fuller FWP to the Committee for consideration in September. 

The Facilitator also outlined the status of the actions arising from the previous meetings, which were shown at Appendix 2 of the report. 

Councillor Bernie Attridge commented on the meeting being held at 2pm and asked if the Facilitator could confirm if all future meeting would be held at 10am as previously requested.  Councillors Dennis Hutchinson and Linda Thew indicated their support for the Committee meetings to start at 10am.  The Facilitator confirmed that all future meetings would start at 10am.

Councillor Linda Thew commented on the formal submission of a planning application to move asylum seekers to a former hotel in Flintshire and asked whether a report could be provided to the Committee around the type of accommodation offered.  She raised concerns around equality and human rights and safety in the proposed accommodation.

Councillor Bernie Attridge indicated that he would need to declare a personal interest as a Member of the Planning Committee if a discussion was being held on the planning application.

The Facilitator responded that she did not think that it was appropriate for the Committee to consider a report during the planning process but would seek formal advice and provide this to the Committee following the meeting.

The recommendations, as outlined within the report, were moved by Councillor Bernie Attridge and seconded by Councillor Pam Banks.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the Forward Work Programme be noted;

(b)       That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and

(c)        That the Committee notes the progress made in completing the outstanding actions.

That the Committee request that Cabinet consider spreading the proposed increases over a longer period of time to lessen the financial impact on Council tenants.

The Chief Officer (Housing & Communities) gave an overview on the Councils current position with regards to Communal Heating Charges, reporting that the portfolio currently operated eight communal heating schemes within Flintshire, with 417 properties on communal heating systems.  The Council had recently renegotiated the fuel tariff to be charges for 2023/24 as the previous contract ended in March 2023.

 New communal heating charges were based on the prior year’s energy use which ensured an accurate assessment of costs and impacts on the heating reserve account.  In order to recover the projected heating charges in full, there was a need to increase communal heating charges in line with the tariff increases.  The proposed recharges for 2023/24 were set out within the report.

The Strategic Finance Manager – Commercial & Housing reported that if the Council continued to calculate the charge in the same way as previous years, tenants who were on the Communal Heating systems would be subject to increases of up to 515%, based on the newly agreed gas tariff.  This was higher than the overall tariff increase of 420% as the revised communal charges came into effect from tenants from 31 July, 2023.  Work had been undertaken to shield tenants from the potential increase and therefore the proposed average increase to tenants was 197%.  This would mean that there would be a deficit remaining on the heating reserve of approximately £0.080m at the end of 2023/24 which would need to be recovered in future years as utilities prices recovered and stabilised.

Councillor Bernie Attridge said that he had sent questions ahead of the meeting to officers, as had the Leader of the Council as he was concerned over the proposed increase and said that he could not support such an increase to tenants at the current time.  He referred to officer comments around equity for all tenants but said that an argument could be made that tenants were subsiding those that were in rent arrears or damaged their properties before them becoming voids.  He said that he would like to see the costs being recovered over a longer period of time which had been done in the past and said that the majority of the tenants he represented in the two schemes listed in the report were vulnerable and were not able to claim for financial assistance as they were just above the threshold.  He hoped the Committee supported him in not supporting the increase.

            The Chief Officer referred to the e-mail exchange with Councillor Attridge and said that the Council aimed for full cost recovery on rent also, and were very proactive around this, as would be demonstrated in the report to the Committee at its next meeting.  She explained that the Council was passporting the charge from utility companies and had tried to mitigate the scale of the increase to tenants as shown in the report.  She referred to a decision in previous years to defer cost recovery over a three year period, but this had been reversed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

That the update be noted.

The Service Manager – Housing Assets presented the key figures and key activities against the void action plan, as outlined in the briefing note. 

He outlined the number of new voids and those which had been completed and was pleased to report that the number of void properties had slightly decreased.  He also outlined the number of properties requiring major works and those which required minor works along with demand for the properties.  He added that the team were busy inspecting minor and major voids in preparation for the contractors, to ensure that the schedule of work remained robust.

In relation to the key activities against the void action plan and next steps, the Service Manager outlined the following:-

·         Continue to engage with Welsh Government with regards to further funding streams for 2023/24; The Service had met with all newly commissioned contractors;

·         The Training Coordinator was scheduling all required core training for the next 12 months;

·         Undertake benchmarking against other local authorities.

The Service Manager also drew the Committee’s attention to the information provided on the number of operatives within the DLO team and number of Team Leaders who managed the DLO, which had been requested by the Committee at previous meetings.

The Chair asked whether information on the performance of the external contractors was available.  The Service Manager advised that on those properties returned from external contractors, feedback on the quality of work had been excellent.

            Councillor David Evans said that whilst it was pleasing that the number of void properties had decreased, they needed to decrease at a faster pace in order to meet the targets expected.  He also expressed concern around the data for the capital district areas of voids which he felt could be interpreted as voids in some areas being completed sooner than others.

The Service Manager advised that void maintenance was spread evenly across the County.  He also commented that the number of void properties completed would increase once additional properties were handed to the external contractors.  He added that he was confident that the overall number of void properties would reduce over the next 12 months. 

Councillor David Evans moved that the update be noted.  This was seconded by Councillor Kevin Rush.   

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

There were no members of the press in attendance.