Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Hall, Leeds, LS1 1UR. View directions

Contact: Kate Arscott (0113) 24 74189  Email: kate.arscott@leeds.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

71.

Late Items

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration.

 

(The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes.)

Minutes:

There were no late items.

 

72.

Declaration of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

To disclose or draw attention to any disclosable pecuniary interests for the purposes of Section 31 of the Localism Act 2011 and paragraphs 13-16 of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Minutes:

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests declared to the meeting.

 

73.

Apologies for Absence and Notification of Substitutes

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutes.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were submitted by Councillors C Campbell and G Wilkinson. There were no substitute Members in attendance.

 

74.

Minutes - 20 January 2015 pdf icon PDF 74 KB

To confirm as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2015.

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 January 2015 be approved as a correct record.

 

75.

Housing Investment Strategy pdf icon PDF 113 KB

To update the Scrutiny Board on the latest position regarding capital investment requirements for the Council housing stock

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A report of the Property and Contracts (Investment Strategy Team) was submitted which updated the Scrutiny Board on the latest position regarding capital investment requirements for the Council’s housing stock over the next 30 years.

 

A copy of the investment requirements was appended to the report for Members’ information.

 

The following were in attendance:

 

-  Councillor Gruen, Executive Board Member (Neighbourhoods, Planning and Personnel)

-  Steve Hunt, Chief Officer (Property and Contracts)

-  Mark Grandfield, Head of Strategy and Investment

-  Phillip Charlton, Investment Strategy Manager.

 

The key areas of discussion were:

 

·  Managing the short-term shortfall in resources and excess investment requirements.

·  Confirmation that a report was being submitted to the March Executive Board.  Housing Advisory Board had established a working group to identify solutions.

·  Confirmation that the department adopted a city wide approach to prioritising works.

·  Support for the substantial investment to upgrade heating in high rise buildings over the next 5 years.

·  Potential to increase borrowing gap, although dependent on central government response to a request for the cap to be increased.

·  The benefits of a whole estate approach to investment and renewal, particularly in terms of keeping track of works undertaken and sharing information with tenants.

·  Confirmation that the detailed programme was set and revised on an annual basis.

·  Improvements in the information on stock condition.

·  Improvements in the procurement of components and spares.

·  Acknowledgement of the need to provide Members with more detailed ward based information.

 

RESOLVED – The Scrutiny Board notes the contents of the report and:

 

·  The 30-year investment requirements set out in Appendix 1; and

·  The smoothing options for 2015/16 - 2018/19.

 

(Councillor D Collins joined the meeting at 1.40pm during the consideration of this item.)

 

76.

Work Schedule pdf icon PDF 82 KB

To agree the Board’s work schedule for the remainder of the municipal year

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Head of Scrutiny and Member Development submitted a report which detailed the Scrutiny Board’s work schedule for the current municipal year.

 

The following information was appended to the report:

 

-  The Scrutiny Board’s work schedule

-  Minutes of the Tenant Scrutiny Board meeting held on 21 January 2015

-  Minutes of the Executive Board meeting held on 11 February 2015.

 

The Board was informed that consultation on the lettings policy was not due to start until May, so the working group in March had now been postponed.

 

Members briefly discussed processes for the allocation of affordable housing.  It was suggested that the Board reviewed the processes of other local authorities.

 

RESOLVED –

 

(a)   That subject to the above amendment, the Board’s work schedule be approved.

(b)  That the Board reviews the processes of other local authorities for the allocation of affordable housing.

 

77.

Date and Time of Next Meeting

Tuesday, 24 March 2015 at 1.30pm (pre-meeting for all Board Members at 1.00pm)

Minutes:

Thursday, 24 March 2015 at 1.30pm (pre-meeting for all Board Members at 1.00pm)

 

(The meeting finished at 2.05pm)