Agenda item

To consider a report (copy attached) by the Lead Officer - Community Housing, on the feedback from the STAR survey of Council tenants and the Council’s Community Housing Service’s proposals to respond to the Survey’s findings.

11:00 – 11:30

The Lead Member for Housing and Communities, Councillor Tony Thomas introduced the report (previously circulated) informing the committee that of the 3277 Standardised Tenants and Residents (STAR) surveys sent out there had been 381 responses (11%).  The survey results would also be shared with Denbighshire’s Tenants Federation.

Whilst there was a statutory requirement to undertake the survey every 2 years some Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) had submitted data compiled pre Covid -19. Denbighshire County Council had undertaken the survey during the autumn/winter of 2020/2021 and it was subsequently noted by Welsh Government that its response was impacted by the pandemic.

Overall satisfaction rates were lower than the 2019 survey results reflected in the increase in non-committal responses (neither satisfied or dissatisfied) – indicating that tenants were not able to fully rate the service due to the pandemic lockdown.

The Lead Officer – Community Housing (GD) expressed disappointment at the reduced overall satisfaction rates but they were as could be expected on a limited service (emergency only during lockdown). Whereas previously residents prioritised the service standards for their own homes, during the pandemic their focus had transferred to the safety of their neighbourhood and community.

Areas for improvement had been identified including a re-running of the STAR survey at the end of the year to reset the data in order that all councils and RSLs could be compared with data within the same date range.

In response to members’ questions the Lead Officer – Community Housing advised:

·         it was important that tenants of social landlords received a similar service for the rent they were paying. Benchmarking data was published by Welsh Government. Information and would be circulated to members.

·         That a good working relationship existed between the Council and RSLs in the county.

·         There were more online and younger respondents to the survey than previous years.

·         Endeavours were made to ensure that a representative sample responded to the survey. Dynamic surveys were also undertaken throughout the year.

·         The biggest maintenance concern for residents was damp/condensation issues in older housing stock, whilst problems in relation to dog fouling featured amongst the highest number of complaints on a continuous basis.

·         The quality of work on capital projects drew a high satisfaction rating on a regular basis, whilst communication with tenants registered a far lower level of satisfaction despite every effort being made to improve and adapt interaction and communication methods with the Council’s tenants.

·         There was an opportunity going forward under the carbon efficiency agenda to replace heating systems with energy efficient ones – air source heat pumps and solar panels etc.

·         Tenants were responsible for their own garden maintenance. There was a proactive inspection routine by Housing Officers. Consideration was given to initiatives such as ‘no mow May’.  Where necessary the Council could help tenants maintain their gardens by providing them with necessary equipment.

·         Tenants housed by Adra Housing Association at the new development in Trefnant were all selected from the common housing register – used by the Council and all RSLs which required prospective tenants to evidence a connection to the local area

The Committee:

Resolved:  subject to the above observations to –

(i)   endorse and support the Community Housing Standardised Tenants and Residents (STAR) Action Plan 2021 drawn up to respond to the findings of the October 2020 survey of the Council’s housing tenants and support the delivery of the Housing and the Resilient Communities corporate priorities; and

(ii) request that an Information Report be provided to Committee members detailing the benchmarking and satisfaction survey results of Registered Social Landlords operating in Denbighshire.