Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 3B - Town Hall. View directions

Contact: Richard Cursons 01708 432430  Email: richard.cursons@oneSource.co.uk

Items
No. Item

40.

CALL-IN OF A CABINET DECISION RELATING TO THE APPROVAL OF THE REGENERATION LOCAL LETTINGS PLAN & DECANT POLICY AND POSSESSION PROCEDURE pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report before Members detailed the call-in of a Cabinet decision relating to the approval of the Regeneration Local Lettings Plan and Decant Policy and Possession Procedure.

 

A requisition signed by Councillors Ray Morgon and Keith Darvill had called-in the Cabinet decision taken on 17 January 2018.

 

The reasons for the requisition were as follows.

 

1) The aim of the Council should be to mitigate the impact on all residents who will be forced to move from their existing property to enable the essential regeneration to take place;

2) Council tenants who held secure tenancies would be amongst those most severely impacted during the regeneration period;

3) The Cabinet should reconsider the plan as drafted and in particular revise part(para) 4.25 (as amended) of the plan because if implemented as proposed it would impact adversely on some secure tenants who were currently under occupiers and would penalise them at a time when they had endured a forced move.

 

During the debate Members asked for and received several points of clarification which were provided by the Council’s Programme Director of Regeneration.

 

A brief summation of the call-in reasons was given.

 

It was agreed by all parties that there existed an increased housing need in the borough but it was essential that existing secure tenants were assisted and that the Council also needed residents assistance when downsizing.

 

In response to a question as to whether there was an appeals process to the re-housing officers confirmed that there was no appeals process but there was a very rigorous re-housing discussion that was had with all affected residents. The discussion identified what the housing need was required and allowed residents to provide any additional information that helped to identify the property that was offered to them. At present the Council was achieving an 80% first time success rate in offering suitable accommodation.

 

Members noted there was a huge need across the borough for two-bedroom properties.

 

Members were advised that the Council agreed that the mitigation of the impact on residents who would be forced to move from their existing property was needed and the Council was working closely with those affected as the situation was not ideal but there was a strategic need for the authority to do the regeneration and this was one of the only ways the amount of affordable housing could be increased.

 

In the first four estates that had been identified for regeneration 319 residents had been affected. 148 had already been moved to alternative suitable accommodation and there another 20 residents who had agreed to move which equated to 53%. It was felt that if the Council hadn’t have been so supportive then that figure would not have been met.

 

Properties were not let on a like for like basis but on an individuals housing need and in order to do this the allocations policy was used.

All tenants and leaseholder had been offered a right to return to their existing properties once the regeneration works had been completed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.