Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Assistant Director Housing,

Scrutiny Committee – Community considered the report at its meeting on 9 September 2014 and its comments will be reported.

The report of the Assistant Director Housing was submitted, setting out the impact extreme weather conditions over the 2013/14 winter had on some Council homes and advising Members what work was required to tenanted and leasehold properties to make good the damage caused. The report also identified how the work could be funded and the likely scale of resources required.

The Leader supported the proposed way forward to undertake the necessary remedial works.

The Assistant Director Housing advised of the position regarding the Housing Revenue Account and the anticipated affect the remedial work would have on the short and medium term financial plan.

Scrutiny Committee – Community considered the report at its meeting on 9 September 2014 and the comments of the Members were noted.

RESOLVED that:-

(1)        funding from HRA balances as set out in the report be allocated to carry out the required building works to remedy the damp ingress, an element of this budget to be added to the External Painting and Rendering budgets to cover the work that could be carried out in conjunction with work already planned by the Council’s current contractors in 2014/15;

(2)        the variation of the existing contractual arrangements with the contractors as a consequence of the above recommendation be agreed;  

(3)        the criteria previously agreed with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Customer Access, as set out in the report, be approved for ‘fast tracking’ works or other interventions where there were medical or other exceptional circumstances; and

(4)       the recharging of the value of the works as set out in the report to the leaseholders be supported as a service charge to cover elements of work that were planned (and would normally be charged to the leaseholder) but were being completed ahead of programme at the same time as the damp ingress works to ensure cost efficiencies. These would only be reasonable costs and only following the appropriate consultation process.

To consider the report of the Assistant Director Housing.

The Assistant Director Housing presented the report setting out the impact the extreme weather conditions over the 2013/14 winter had on some Council homes and advising Members what work was required to tenanted and leasehold properties to make good the damage caused. The report also identified how this work could be funded and the likely scale of resources required.

Because of the extreme wet weather conditions as well as exceptionally strong winds approximately 330 of the Council’s housing properties had been affected by significant water ingress and damp issues. The damp had penetrated the external envelope of certain buildings, affecting the internal surfaces/decorations which in some cases caused significant mould growth. The remedial work was unplanned and outside the major works programme.

He responded as follows to Members queries:-

·         the main works would likely commence in early Spring 2015 because of the necessary tendering procedure, the need to ensure that the walls had properly dried out and the need to avoid working during the winter months when further wet periods were likely;

·         emergency works had already been carried out through the reactive repair contract. These were cases where a member of the household’s health or wellbeing was compromised by the damp ingress and/or where living conditions are clearly unreasonable. These cases had been agreed by the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Customer Access. The costs had been contained within the re-active repairs budget to date; and

·         necessary internal redecorations would also be undertaken as part of the project.

Scrutiny Committee - Community supported the report and requested Executive to:-

1)      allocate total funding from HRA balances as set out in the report to carry out the required building works to remedy the damp ingress, an element of this budget to be added to the External Painting and Rendering budgets to cover the work that could be carried out in conjunction with work already planned by the Council’s current contractors in 2014/15;

2)      agree to the variation of the existing contractual arrangements with the contractors as a consequence of the above recommendation;  

3)      approve the criteria previously agreed with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Customer Access, as set out in the report, for ‘fast tracking’ works or other interventions where there were medical or other exceptional circumstances; and

4)      support the recharging of the value of the works as set out in the report to the leaseholders as a service charge to cover elements of work that were planned (and would normally be charged to the leaseholder) but were being completed ahead of programme at the same time as the damp ingress works to ensure cost efficiencies. These would only be reasonable costs and only following the appropriate consultation process.