Brighton & Hove City Council
Housing Management Panel: CENTRAL Area
6.30pm 26 MARCH 2024
BRIGHTON TOWN HALL
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Present:
Councillors: Cllr Burden, Cllr Mcleay, Cllr Goldsmith, Cllr Thomson
Residents: Emma Salcombe, Rosemary Johnson, Chris Vine, Eileen Stewart, Warick Mount Representative
Officers: Geof Gage, Martin Reid, Justine Harris, Keely McDonald, Grant Ritchie, Luke Harris, Jane Dowdell, Steve Moreton, Hannah Barker, Anita McGrath, Chloe Mclaughlin, Simon Bannister, Grace Leonard
Clerk: Niall Breen – Democratic Services Apprentice |
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1. WELCOME, APOLOGIES & INTRODUCTIONS 5-6
1.1 Cllr Mcleay (Co-Chair) started the meeting at 18.32.
1.2 There were apologies from Alan Cooke and Linda King.
2. MINUTES & ACTIONS OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING 7-12
2.1 It was noted that the chair should have been noted as the co-chair in the previous meetings minutes, the minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the previous meeting.
2.2 Central Area Action 1 (CA1), regarding laundry room arrangements, was agreed as complete as officers confirmed it was to be actioned the week after the panel and there would be a follow up in the July meeting.
2.3 Central Area 2 (CA2), regarding damage to CCTV cameras on the garages at Warwick Mount was agreed as complete as repairs were undertaken, Chris Vine queried who actually owned the camera in question and where recording were stored. Officers confirmed that they would follow up on this at the next Central area panel.
2.4 Central Area 3 (CA3) regarding a residents individual cases was agreed as complete, the resident was not present and officers confirmed they would follow up and ensure the cases had been properly actioned.
3. ELECTION OF RESIDENT CO-CHAIR 13-14
3.1 An election for the resident co-chair was held, the only candidate standing was the incumbent resident co-chair; Emma Salcombe.
3.2 Only two official tenancy association representatives were present, Emma Salcombe for Essex Place and Rosemary Johnson for Craven Vale.
3.3 Emma Salcombe was duly re-elected as the resident co-chair with 1 vote for and 1 abstention.
3.4 Residents noted that they required greater support from community engagement in setting up tenancy association annual general meetings to ensure more associations would be eligible to vote in the September election.
4. HOUSING PERFORMANCE REPORT Q3 2023/24 15-34
4.1 Martin Reid delivered a verbal brief of the item as included in the agenda.
4.2 Emma Salcombe asked for clarification on whether the performance statistics for Q3 included emails, Martin Reid clarified this figure was solely the percentage of calls received.
4.3 Residents raised concerns over repairs being repeatedly performed due to poor initial standard of works and asked for clarification if repeat repairs were covered by contractors or the authority. Martin Reid clarified that the repair service had been brought in house and minimal use of external contractors was a priority.
4.4 Emma Salcombe suggested the service made better efforts to include the resident inspections in the approach the way repairs were undertaken.
4.5 Rosemary Johnson raised concerns that residents were being repeatedly billed for repairs, they also requested clarification on how the performance figures were collated. Martin Reid provided clarification that leaseholders were charged service fees and was unaware of repeat billings for repairs.
4.6 Chris Vine questioned why leaseholders were not offered the same approach to repair service as residents. Grant Ritchie provided confirmation this fell under the repairs backlog and agreed that this was something which could be looked at going forwards.
- Item 10 - Any other business was heard at 19.10
(At the request of Cllr Burden, due to time constraints on those making the representation)
10.1 A resident made a representation on behalf of five households in authority properties who were being affected by antisocial behaviour and raised concerns that residents were being intimidated and their quality of life was being affected by these actions.
10.2 Rosemary Johnson seconded the representation and confirmed Craven Vale had experienced similar issues, they noted the Police had been more responsive than the authority on the issue.
10.3 Eileen Stewart noted that the authority only had so many resources, legal responsibilities and was suffering from the lack of investment in other public sector bodies such as mental health services.
5. HOUSING ALLOCATIONS POLICY REVIEW: CONSULTATION 35-36
5.1 Luke Harris delivered a verbal brief of the item as included in the agenda.
5.2 Cllr Thomson requested clarification on how the succession procedure would function.
5.3 Luke Harris provided clarification on this stating that the succession policy was being changed to enable a more equitable process to be undertaken to enable a better distribution of property to those eligible.
5.4 Rosemary Johnson made suggested an alteration to the policy to ensure those evicted were not entitled to new properties. Martin Reid provided clarification that every effort was being undertaken to avoid this and not repeat prior policy mistakes that had led to such situations.
5.5 Cllr Burden commended the prioritisation of the armed forces community and questioned the inclusion of prioritisation of those suffering from domestic abuse. Luke Harris provided confirmation that this was being looked at in a different format and would ensure those suffering from domestic abuse would be exempt from the residency requirement.
6. HOUSING STRATEGY 2024-29
6.1 Steve Moreton delivered a verbal brief of the item as included in the agenda.
6.2 Rosemary Johnson raised concerns regarding the availability of the strategy to those who were not as digitally literate.
6.3 Steve Moreton confirmed there would be multiple methods of engagement and any necessary accommodations could be made to those who wished to contribute.
7. ENGAGEMENT PLATFFORM
7.1 Anita McGrath delivered a verbal brief of the item as included in the agenda.
8. RESIDENTS QUESTION TIME 37-60
8.1 - C3.1 – Hannah Barker delivered a verbal brief of the progress in the new CityClean engagement process and further informed the panel on how this would progress in the future.
8.2 C3.2 – Grant Ritchie delivered a verbal brief of the response to this question. Emma Salcombe disputed their response and made note that certain areas were seeing recurring issues with regards to the issue in the question.
8.3 C3.3 – Chloe Mclaughlin delivered a verbal brief of the response to this question.
8.4 C3.4 – Grant Ritchie delivered a verbal brief of the response to this question.
8.5 C2.1 – Rosemary Johnson raised concern regarding the lack of progress concerning the proposed funding and requested an update on this. Martin Reid clarified that the authority still intended to provide funding for the project and Geof Gage confirmed that it was awaiting specification from the contracted architect.
8.6 C2.1 – Emma Salcombe brought to the attention of the panel that the answer was given at the last panel that it had been confirmed that any funds above £80.000, would be funded by the TRA themselves.
8.7 C2.1 – Martin Reid provided further clarification that the request for the specification was going to provide an estimate of costs for the works which would allow the conversation around the project to proceed.
9. CHAIR LED DISCUSSION – FIRE SAFETY IN HIGH RISE BUILDINGS
9.1 The Chair opened the discussion and delivered a verbal brief on measures taken regarding fire safety, specifically in the context of the recent fire at Theobald House.
9.2 Residents raised concerns regarding regulations differing between e-scooters and mobility scooters despite the fire risk being much the same from both.
9.3 Martin Reid provided clarification that proactive measures would be taken in response to this, and that the guidance would be altered in the future to better reflect the contemporary risks.
10. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Item 10 was taken earlier in the agenda.
10.4 Rosemary Johnson noted to the panel that Craven Vale’s community room would be hosting a disco night on Wednesdays.
11. ITEMS FOR INFORMATION 61-78
11.1 Co-Chair Cllr Mcleay concluded the area panel at 21.03PM GMT.