Councillors Newton (Portfolio Holder for Housing and Social Inclusion) and Mitchell (Portfolio Holder for Environment and Leisure) will present a verbal report on the priorities for the forthcoming year in light of the Committee’s work programme.
Minutes:
Councillor Newton presented the following priorities within the Housing and Social Inclusion Portfolio for the forthcoming year:-
A City of Strong Communities
· Organise re-elections for the Tenant and Leaseholder Committee (TALC) and carry out training of new committee members so that they can contribute effectively.
· Continue to act on recommendations of Resident Auditor Team.
· Support the My Neighbourhood pilot areas to be trailblazers in the City as a model of good practice for Council partnership working with communities.
· Develop a model for the Council to use to roll out its neighbourhood engagement work.
· Work in partnership with Exeter Council for Voluntary Services on the ‘Take Part - Active Learning for Active Citizenship’ project which will include events and training on how your city works.
A City Where Everyone Has a Home
· Provide at least 80 new units of affordable housing.
· Investigate the opportunity to bid for some of the current funding being made available for Councils to build homes.
· Undertake a comprehensive review of the responsive repairs service for council housing, establish a procurement strategy and retender the work.
· Continue the Older Persons’ service review in partnership with Devon County Council’s Supporting People team.
· Implement the Devon Homechoice Scheme.
· Implement service charges for tenants living in flats.
· Deliver the Private Sector Renewal Strategy, in particular the development of the new loans scheme.
· Keep working to achieve the adoption of an effective housing and support protocol for young people by all the Devon district councils and Devon County Council.
A Safe City
· Review the antisocial behaviour and neighbourhood management policies in housing to deliver improved services.
A City where the Environment is cared for
· Promote the Code for Sustainable Development to ensure that new social housing is as environmentally friendly as possible.
A Prosperous City
· Use all available tools to help owner occupiers retain their homes including participation in the national mortgage rescue scheme and advice and support.
· Develop the Enhanced Housing Options Scheme to help people access homes where there are jobs.
The following responses were given to Members’ questions:-
· Advertising lettings in the local press was no longer cost effective given the high cost of advertising and the small number of people who find properties in this way and a system of personalised newsletters would be introduced for those wishing to be notified by post. Devon Home Choice would be funded by landlords on the basis of the number of properties advertised per year. The cost was approximately £48 per property advertised.
· Of 1,450 applicants who were considered to have the potential to become homeless in the last 12 months, 530 had been prevented from becoming homeless for a period of at least six months. In the same period, 21 had been referred to mortgage advisors. The number of repossessions listed in the County Court covered the area beyond Exeter as well as the City.
· The title of the Portfolio Holder would be kept under review.
· The My Neighbourhood initiative was to be extended and a report on the way forward would be submitted to the next meeting of this Committee in September.
· It was hoped that the target of providing at least 80 new units of affordable housing would be exceeded if the bid for monies available for the Council to build new homes was successful. Negotiations with developers to amend Section 106 Agreements to provide more social housing were proving successful.
· Joint working with the Children’s Trust and other agencies was helpful in avoiding duplication in the area of social services work. Developing a co-ordinated approach was also a priority area for the Children’s Trust.
· Exeter CVS was the lead partner in the “Take Part - Active Learning for Active Citizenship” project which had the full support of the City Council because of the crossover of work in a number of areas.
· The identification of a site for the provision of extra care accommodation for the elderly in Whipton would be re-activated following completion of the older person’s service review in partnership with the County Council.
Councillor Mitchell presented the following priorities within the Environment and Leisure Portfolio for the forthcoming year:-
Healthy and Active City
· Develop the exit/continuation strategy for the Free Play City project. Funding ends August 2010. Continue to deliver the play strategy and hold a further 200 play ranger sessions.
· Develop play in targeted areas including Kings Heath, Pinhoe, Wonford and Summerway. Support the use of the playbuilder grant.
· Deliver a youth sports programme in target sports and achieve target number of sessions and attendance.
· Work with Exeter Schools Sports Partnership to deliver Sports Unlimited and Skilled for Health Programmes. Deliver target number of sessions and activities.
· Continue to explore options for future swimming provision in the City.
Cultural and Fun Place to Be
· Continue to make progress with the scheme to improve and extend RAMM, closely monitoring the budget.
· Plan and agree arrangements for the opening of the new RAMM including exhibitions.
· Let the new Leisure Management Contract.
· Engage fully with the new Renaissance management regimes to optimise benefit for Exeter and Devon.
A City of Strong Communities
· Develop a programme of targeted advice to help higher risk BME food businesses comply with regulations.
Excellence in Public Services
· Set up the new Harbour Authority or re-activate municipal port activity as cost neutral and effective, subject to the inspector’s report.
· Use benchmarking and unit cost information to critically review the parks and open space service and to deliver efficiencies.
· Explore the remodelling of waste collection rounds from a five day to four day working week.
A City Where the Environment is Cared For
· Manage the exit strategy for the Wild City Project to leave plans in place for the continuation of constituent projects where possible.
· Review the action plans of both the Local Authority Carbon Management Programme and the Climate Change Strategy in the light of budget and staffing reductions.
· Improve the recycling rate beyond 37% and continue to reduce waste collected.
· Develop a pilot initiative with the University to target student household rubbish problems in student areas.
· Implement the Tree and Woodland Strategy and in particular the tree warden network to ensure partners protect and enhance the City’s treescape in a sustainable way making allowance for the effects of global warming.
A Safe City
· Reduce the incidence of discarded needles in public conveniences by 20%.
· Review the role and deployment of the Community Patrol to ensure service improvements.
· Ensure that the Committee is fully involved in the Community Safety agenda.
A Prosperous City
· Review the impact of regulatory functions on businesses and ensure that the benefits of regulation justify costs and are risk based.
The following responses were given to Members’ questions:-
· The importance of co-ordinating all relevant services to ensure that sufficient personnel are involved in developing play opportunities was recognised.
· Mechanisms were in place to address problems of vandalism in play areas and fly tipping.
· The cost of the RAMM re-development were being closely monitored.
· The re-modelling of the waste collection round from a five day to a four day working week would reduce costs by eliminating the Monday collection and remove overtime payments for Saturday collections necessitated by the need to catch up during those weeks with a bank holiday.
· The provision of play equipment at Belmont Park, which had been deferred following the recent freeze on capital projects, had not yet been restored to the programme but was high on the priority list once funding was available.
· The Swimming Pool Working Group was examining all options for the future provision of swimming facilities in the City including the siting and nature of a facility which encompassed additional leisure facilities as well as the examination of funding mechanisms. It was not possible to predict what future maintenance work would be necessary during the remaining useful life of the Pyramids.
· Existing arrangements with the University for waste collection from student households would be enhanced by:
Scrutiny Committee - Community noted the priorities presented.