Brighton & Hove City Council
Place Overview & Scrutiny
4.00pm21 January 2025
Hove Town Hall - Council Chamber
MINUTES
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Present: Councillor Evans (Chair) Cattell (Deputy Chair), Fowler, Hewitt, Sheard, Sykes, Thomson, Winder and Meadows |
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Other Members present: Mary Davies (OPC), Joanna Martindale (CVS)
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PART ONE
26 Procedural Business
1 Procedural Business
1 a Declarations of substitutions
1.1 Cllr Meadows is substituting for Cllr Lyons
1.2 Apologies received from Mark Strong (CVS) and Cllr Fishleigh
1b Declarations of interest:
1.2 There were none.
1c Exclusion of the press and public
1.3 Amongst the papers circulated to elected members were confidential (Part 2) minutes from the special meeting held on 13th November. Any discussion of these minutes will need to be in confidential session and will need to exclude the press & public from these discussions. If amendments are required for these minutes, we will move into a Part 2 confidential session to discuss at the end of the meeting.
27 Minutes
2.1 There were three sets of minutes for approval:
- Place Overview & Scrutiny Meeting 1st October: minutes were approved by members
- Special Place Overview & Scrutiny Meeting Part One 13th November: minutes were approved by members
- Special Place Overview & Scrutiny Meeting Part Two 13th November: minutes were approved by members
- Special Joint Budget Meeting of People and Place Overview & Scrutiny Committee 28th November: minutes were approved by members
28 Chair's Communications
3.1 The Chair gave the following communication:
Today we have one item on the agenda. At our September meeting we were looking at the Social Housing Regulator judgement on the city council’s performance as a social landlord. At that meeting we agreed that this would be an ongoing agenda item moving forward. Today we are being asked to consider and comment on the first update report on the actions that have been taken in response to the judgement.
The Social Housing Regulator judgement focuses mainly on issues relating to repairs and maintenance, which are within the remit of Place committee. However, the report also covers resident engagement, which sits within the remit of People committee. It isn’t practical for the report to go to both scrutiny committees, so I have invited members of People O&S committee to attend today’s meeting. People members are welcome to ask questions and discuss the report, but if we are required to vote, please note that this will just be for the voting members of Place committee.
29 Public Involvement
4.1 There were no public questions.
30 Member Involvement
5.1 There were no member questions.
31 Housing Safety & Quality Compliance Update
31.1 Cllr Williams addressed the committee and provided the background context to the report. She assured the committee that they are fully committed to ensuring the safety of residents, visitors and people working in the properties. This report provides an update on the progress made since the judgement from the Housing Regulator was received. This includes actions taken, challenges experienced and the next steps. The team meet with the regulator on a monthly basis.
31.2 Martin Reid, Director for Homes and Investment, added that the overall aim is to go beyond the regulatory requirements and to become a benchmark for housing safety and quality. They want to provide the best landlord service they can through listening to tenants and improving the supply of social housing and the support available.
31.3 Councillor Sykes asked whether the maintenance of social housing had been affected by the change in management of the service; when residents will see the Fire Risk Assessments; whether replacing cladding is part of the fire safety remedial actions; what the intolerable risks are that is mentioned in section 3.4; about the replacement of Mance Masterdor flat entrance doors and whether issues raised by residents are being recorded as complaints. He also wanted to know whether the budget was enough to cover all actions.
31.4 Martin Reid explained that they have been 100% compliant with the fire risk assessments but that, while responding to the Housing Regulator report, they have commenced a new series of re-testing which has generated a lot of new actions. Any impacts from changing from the Mears partnership is difficult to judge since the Council still retained responsibility for fire risk assessments and the world of compliance has changed a lot since the Grenfell Tower report. The Fire Risk Assessments will be published once everything has been validated. Mance Masterdors are non compliant and there were over 2000 of them that are being replaced, this is almost completed and there was an exemption for leaseholders to pay for them. There have been some issues with access where they have needed to take legal action. The properties do not have the same cladding that was used for the Grenfell Tower. An example of an intolerable risk would be a locked fire door which would require immediate action but these instances are rare. The Housing Regulator budget is self-funding and is part of the budget process being considered next month with a focus on health and safety. In terms of resource, there is room in the budget to be flexible. There is discussion with the government around support for remedial action. Regarding complaints, they are abiding by the ombudsman code of practise and responses are published online. They look at complaints regularly for learning and making improvements to the service.
31.5 Cllr Meadows asked a range of questions; whether sprinkler systems were being considered for large blocks and concerns around leaseholders not paying putting the whole block at risk; she asked about the findings from the analysis identifying key drivers and whether this is mould/damp issues; about repeat maintenance visits and the frustration this causes for tenants; whether the Council are going in the right direction in terms of water safety; and about the low completion data on electrical compliance safety in communal areas.
31.6 Martin Reid said that sprinklers are not required for compliancy but they are good and they are being installed in new builds. There was a consultation into this where 50% of tenants were in favour but there were concerns around how they look and going off accidentally. There is no plan to introduce them at this point but it will be kept under review. Regarding electrical safety, the requirement is to have a certificate every 5 years; there is currently a re-testing programme to ensure all actions had been covered, including in communal areas. There is a backlog for routine repairs as the number has increased significantly, 3500 repairs were undertaken in one month which is a lot more than previously. This could be because of underinvestment, higher expectations from tenants or not enough planned maintenance. More contractors have been recruited and are visiting residents who are reporting smaller issues they have not bothered to report previously. Tenants are happy with the response but are frustrated by repeat visits. A new procurement plan is out for tender for water safety and more contractors are being recruited to speed things up.
31.7 Cllr Cattell asked a question about access issues, particularly where there is antisocial behaviour; that over 3000 repairs is a lot and how are they prioritised to ensure new issues don’t fall to the back of the queue and take even longer; she asked whether the new staff will be on permanent or temporary contracts and mentioned that there is a huge shortage of good quality crafts people.
31.8 Cllr Williams said that welfare visits are very important and they have discovered over 100 hoarder issues and it is positive that they now know about these issues and can provide support.
31.9 Martin Reid said that they are keeping up with repairs and emergency issues are being prioritised. The issue is the lower risk routine repairs and there are contractors working on the backlog. They are using Council employees to focus on the new work coming in. A new team of 15 staff has been formed to take on electrical compliancy work. They are boosting the apprenticeship programme but experienced staff are being brought in on short term contracts for work requiring more specialist knowledge.
31.10 Joanna Martindale asked a question about resident engagement and ensuring they’re getting insights from a wide range of tenants. She acknowledged that the tenants conference was good but what about tenant’s associations and door knocking.
31.11 Cllr Williams said that she spoke to a lot of people at the tenant conference and Local Action Teams are still meeting, however, they can always do more. A leaseholder summit is planned for February.
31.12 Martin Reid said that a robust engagement programme is in place but could be more diverse, the need to listen to different voices is important and people need opportunities to engage in different ways. The plan is to get back to regular tenant visits as it is a good way to reach out to people but also to identify those who are vulnerable and be able to offer extra support.
31.13 Joanne Martindale said that they need to rebuild trust with some tenants and to be aware of the location for events like the tenant conference as it can be an issue for some who have to travel long distances to attend.
31.14 Cllr Williams acknowledged this and said they would be holding them in different locations across the city
31.15 Cllr Evans asked committee members if they would be happy to receive subsequent update reports on a quarterly basis.
31.16 Committee members approved this
RESOLVED - that the Place Overview & Scrutiny Committee note and comment on the progress made in addressing the issues identified by the Regulator of Social Housing
The meeting closed at 16.54.
32 Part Two minutes of the previous meeting
The meeting concluded at Time Not Specified
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Signed
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Chair |
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