Agenda item

To consider a report by the Strategic Housing and Planning Manager (copy enclosed) for Communities Scrutiny Committee Members to review the emerging Housing Strategy and provide input prior to it being reported to full Council in December 2015.

11.00 a.m. – 11.40 a.m.

The Lead Member for Modernisation and Housing, Councillor Barbara Smith, introduced the report (previously circulated) to present the Council’s Draft Housing Strategy and associated Delivery Plan for members’ observations, prior to its presentation to the Lead Members’ Steering Group the following week.

The Strategy, which would support the delivery of a number of the Council’s Corporate Priorities, would be presented to County Council in December, 2015 for approval and adoption.  The progress in delivering a number of the Strategy’s actions would also likely feature in the Wales Audit Office’s (WAO) Corporate Assessment of Denbighshire County Council, due to take place in the autumn of 2016.

During the discussion on the Strategy and Delivery Plan, members raised the following points:

·       More stringent enforcement of planning and licensing conditions in relation to holiday caravan sites in the county, as proposed in the earlier report on the Committee’s business agenda on “Better Regulation of Caravan Sites Project”, could potentially impact on the Housing Strategy’s proposed delivery plan

·       Now that the Council had voluntarily withdrawn from the Welsh Government’s (WG) Housing Revenue Account (HRA) arrangements, it would be expected to utilise at least part of the former HRA monies for the purpose of house building.  Although there would be other pressures on the HRA budget, the new arrangements provided the Council with opportunities to maximise the benefits from the utilisation of the former HRA monies

·       The restrictions of the current Hamlets Policy were highlighted i.e. the fact that some hamlets did not want affordable housing as there were no employment prospects or local services available to attract people who needed affordable housing in those areas – no local schools or bus services.  This was further underlined by the fact that three local housing associations that had been approached by a landowner with a view to developing on land in an area which was within the Local Development Plan (LDP) had refused the offer on the grounds that they would not be able to deliver any development on it due to the constraints of the Hamlets Policy

·       The availability and use of Council owned land also needed to be included in the Strategy’s delivery plan

·       The need to ensure that the Council Housing waiting list was up to date, and the numbers waiting for council housing was regularly checked and verified.  There was also a need to make sure that the Council’s Affordable Housing register was current and to promote it across the county

·       The Lead Officer – Community Housing was asked to consider keeping the housing ‘walkabouts’ at which local members accompanied housing officers visiting housing estates, as councillors were of the view that these were beneficial and useful.

Responding to members’ points the Lead Member for Modernisation and Housing and officers outlined the aims of each of the five themes in the Strategy and explained the how each theme complemented each other.  They advised that:

·       The constraints of the Hamlets Policy had been discussed by the Steering Group and action 1.5 of the Strategy’s Delivery Plan for 2015 – 2020 was aimed at addressing the difficulties caused by the Hamlets Policy

·       Council owned land would be discussed as part of the actions to deliver the Delivery Plan once the Strategy had been approved and adopted by County Council.  The actions in the Delivery Plan would be incorporated into each Service’s business plans

·       With respect to the Council Housing list there were circa 3K applicants on the list at present, the current validity of these figures were checked on a regular basis, but it was an onerous and time consuming process as it had to be undertaken manually

·       There were also other people in the communities who would not register for council housing as there was not any such housing available to them in the areas they wanted to reside.  The same was true of the Affordable Housing list.  Reference was made to work underway with Llandyrnog Community Council with a view to promoting the Affordable Housing list in that particular area.  This was also a manual time consuming process.  The Lead Member emphasised that local elected members had a role to play in promoting the availability of this list in their areas and the benefits to all concerned from promoting the list’s existence

·       The synergy between the five different themes in the Housing Strategy were outlined as was the need for effective cross-service and cross-sector work in order to realise the Strategy’s outcomes

·       Work was required in a bid to understand why developers were still reluctant to come forward to develop sites already identified under the LDP – whether there were any underlying economic  or other factors contributing to this reluctance

·       The WAO was keen to know whether the Council was putting sufficient pressure on Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) to develop affordable housing.  It was also enquiring regarding the Council’s intentions for its HRA monies

·       There was a need to secure the development of appropriate housing for residents, to meet all vulnerable individuals’ needs

·       The well-established Tenants Forum was still operating and there was a good level of tenant engagement with the Council.  However, there was always scope for improvement.  Generally tenant dissatisfaction seemed to stem from very local issues

·       There may be a need to review Theme 5 of the Strategy, ‘Sustainable Communities’, with a view to strengthening it with respect to dealing with anti-social behaviour (ASBO)

·       The Council’s Corporate Executive Team (CET) were currently exploring governance options for the Strategy’s delivery.  The preference was not to have a Board oversee it.  There would definitely be a role for scrutiny in monitoring the Strategy’s delivery, in particular with respect to the delivery of the expected outcomes.

Members acknowledged that all councillors had been given ample opportunity to contribute towards the draft strategy.  They would also have an important role in ensuring its delivery.  With a view to initiating the monitoring of the Strategy’s outcomes once adopted members agreed to seek advice from the Head of Business Improvement and Modernisation on the most appropriate time for commencing the monitoring role, having regard to the forthcoming Corporate Assessment.

The Strategy would give the Council an opportunity to develop the full range of housing opportunities to suit residents’ needs from cradle to grave and improve the quality of life across the county.  The Committee:

RESOLVED that subject to the above observations and completion of the listed actions to

(i)    recommend that County Council, at its meeting in December 2015, approve and adopt the Draft Housing Strategy and associated Delivery Plan for the period 2015-2020; and

(ii)   that Scrutiny should periodically monitor the delivery of the Strategy’s outcomes.