Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meetings of 5 July and 14 August 2012and to authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes of the meetings held on 5 July and 14 August 2012 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Presentation to the Committee by the Head of Culture and Leisure Services

Simon Parkinson, Head of Culture and Leisure, gave a brief presentation on the impact and legacy of the 2012 Olympic/Paralympic games on Havering.

Members were advised that Havering had a ten point delivery plan which included:

1.                  To improve the health and wellbeing of Havering residents;

2.                  To permanently increase opportunities to participate in sports, the arts and other cultural activities;

3.                  To increase volunteering and involvement in the voluntary sector;

4.                  To organise a cultural programme linked to the four year Cultural Olympiad;

5.                  To maximise job and training opportunities for Havering residents;

6.                  To ensure that local businesses benefited;

7.                  To secure sustainable transport, housing and regeneration benefits that would positively contribute to sustainable development in Havering;

8.                  To promote Havering as a visitor destination;

9.                  To stimulate interest in education and learning;

10.             To maximise opportunities for community safety.

Members noted that since the games had finished there had been evidence of increased participation in sport and physical activity particularly in athletics and cycling.

Local initiatives, e.g upgrading leisure centres (including IFI at Hornchurch); Romford Leisure Development; 5-a-side centre; Romfest Fun Run; Havering Active for All; School Holiday Activities, Havering Active Olympic & Paralympic Sport Directory had all seen progress during and following the games.

Approximately 150,000 people had lined the torch relay route when it passed through Havering.

Lord Coe had recently visited Hornchurch Leisure Centre and had promised to return to the borough to open the Romford Leisure Development when completed.

Members were advised that efforts were being made to encourage volunteers and Games Makers to contact the Council so that their volunteering skills could be utilised again in the future.

Members noted that several emergency planning contingencies had been put into place in case the need had arisen during the games. Although the Games passed off uneventful it was felt that the contingencies left the Council better prepared for the future.

Members also noted that a total of 39 contracts had been awarded to Havering businesses, totalling £13.2 million through the CompeteFor scheme. It was noted that some local businesses had found the CompeteFor application process rather bureaucratic.

Report attached

Sue Witherspoon, Head of Housing and Public protection, advised that it was a new requirement of each housing authority, brought in by the Localism Act 2011, that a Tenancy Strategy be published covering the authority’s approach to the use of fixed term tenancies, rather than lifetime secure tenancies. Housing associations operating in the borough were required to have regard to the Tenancy Strategy when setting their own tenancy policies. Given this influencing role of the Strategy, it also included details of the Council’s approach to affordable rents, these being rents of up to 80% of local market rents, introduced in 2011. The draft Tenancy Strategy had been produced following thorough and detailed consultation with residents, registered providers (also known as housing associations or registered social landlords) and other stakeholders.

At present there were approximately 12,000 people on the Council’s Housing Waiting List with only approximately 700 properties being let each year. Therefore it had been agreed to introduce a residential qualification of two years thereby only allowing households in the borough to be able to register.

People in bands D and E were unlikely to be offered a property as the need in the higher bands was outstripping the amount of properties that were available. Under the new system the five bands would be replaced with a new Homeseeker band that allowed for priority to people who had been given a Community Contribution Reward by the Council.

Under the proposed strategy new tenants would be given fixed term tenancies of five years, or three years if there were children over the age of fifteen living at the property, which would be reviewed at the end of the period and renewed if there had been no change in circumstances.

During the debate regarding the requisition of the Cabinet decision members noted that the new fixed term tenancies would only affect new tenants and not existing ones.

Members were also advised that there were currently over 700 properties in the borough that were under occupied and that the Council had no way of asking people to downsize to smaller properties

It was agreed that additional initiatives were needed to tackle the problem of downsizing tenants to properties more suitable and that it was important to carry on building new properties in the borough to offset the loss of properties that had come about partly due to the success of the Right to Buy initiative.

The specific grounds of the requisition and officer responses were as follows:

1. To review the responses received through the various consultation processes;

Members noted that the proposals had been the subject of a extensive consultation process that had included residents, registered providers (also known as housing associations or registered social landlords) and other stakeholders.

2. To consider the delegation authorities contained in the recommendations within the Cabinet Report;

Officers advised that each case would be looked at on its merits. On occasions there would be no need for hard and fast rules so officers would use delegated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

The report before members gave a detailed overview of the resources and performance levels of the Parks and Open Spaces Section. The report covered the scope of the many aspects of maintenance and tasks undertaken by the service. It also provided comparison figures with other providers and detailed the role of the Friends of Parks in the help they provided in maintaining their local parks.

The Open Space Service was asked to attend the Overview and Scrutiny Committee following questions from Councillors of the Committee, who requested details concerning the frequency of inspections and grounds maintenance tasks such as hedge cutting, litter collection, emptying dog bins and shrub bed maintenance. Further requests were made on issues surrounding lake cleansing programmes, tennis court maintenance and dog fouling problems.

Members noted that the borough’s parks and open spaces were maintained by a company called Mayrise.

Council officers monitored approximately ten percent of the works carried out however several members felt that this was not a high enough percentage to be able to gain an insight as to whether a good standard of service was being received.

Members also noted that no more Green Flags were to be awarded to parks in the borough, the only possible exception was Raphael Park may in the future qualify for a Green Flag as there had been a commitment to funding for improvement works.

Members noted that the amount of complaints received regarding the borough’s parks had been steadily falling and public satisfaction levels had increased from the mid fifties to nearly seventy five percent.

During the discussion members stated that they wished to see regular maintenance being carried out in the parks rather than sporadic concerted efforts usually just prior to an event or inspection taking place.

It was noted that some Friends of Parks groups had received external funding to help with improvements and that external funding was ongoing.

Members also agreed that it would be useful if in the future they could be advised of the nature of complaints the Council was receiving about parks and open spaces.