Agenda and minutes

1  To highlight reports or appendices which officers have identified as containing exempt information, and where officers consider that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons outlined in the report.

2  To consider whether or not to accept the officers recommendation in respect of the above information.

3  If so, to formally pass the following resolution:-

RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following parts of the agenda designated as containing exempt information on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information, as follows:

   No exempt items have been identified.

None.

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

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

The Chair asked about estate walkabouts, noting that at the informal meeting in April, it had been raised by some members that walkabouts were not being carried out. David Longthorpe was asked what happens in a situation where no Councillor or tenants attend, and what checks are in place that a walkabout has actually been carried out. DL explained that a walkabout should still take place and the relevant feedback forms completed, which should then be sent out to local Councillors and also tenants who might normally come along. DL will carry out checks and report back findings on this to the Board.

RESOLVED – DL to report back on findings on estate walkabouts to the Board.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Roderic Morgan.

To confirm as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 18^th April 2018.

The Chair welcomed Peter Middleton back to the Board after a period of absence.

It was confirmed that Olga Gailite had now resigned from the Board. The Chair, on behalf of the Board, passed on thanks for the work done in the previous three inquiries.

The Chair welcomed Colin Halliwell who attended the meeting with a view of becoming a Board Member.

It was noted no meeting has been held of the Environment, Housing and Communities Board since the last meeting of the Tenant Scrutiny Board.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 18 April 2018 be approved as a correct record.

The Board at February’s meeting received a recommendations update for the East Leeds Repairs Inquiry.

The recommendations at the time were noted, but recommendation 8 was signed off as completed. However, at the April meeting of the Board, and after further consideration, it was agreed that this response needed further clarification from the service.

Members are asked to note the response to the inquiry and make a decision whether the response is appropriate to close down that particular recommendation, or if it needs to remain open subject to further feedback.

The Chair introduced this item and confirmed that since the last meeting of the Board, a request had been sent to Leeds Building Services for guidance in regard to a recommendation made by Tenant Scrutiny Board in last years report. The response to recommendation 8 was that it wouldn’t always be possible for a named officer from Leeds Building Services to be available in the Contact Centre as planned, perhaps due to sickness or leave, as there wouldn’t be anyone there to respond to queries. It was therefore suggested the Repeat Call Team at Leeds Building Services are the named officers for the Contact Centre in case of query to ensure a response is provided quickly and effectively. It was noted that the Repeat Call Team are based in Seacroft rather than at the Contact Centre.

RESOLVED – That recommendation 8 of the East Leeds Repairs Inquiry be marked as completed.

The Chair brought a late item to the Board at April’s meeting around the length of time one of the two lifts at Cottingley Towers has taken to be put back into service.

Members are asked to note the response from Housing Leeds to the late item from the last Board meeting.

The Chair introduced this item which had been raised as a late item at the last Board meeting. The feedback received was that the wheel which takes the lift up or down had excessively worn which is an unusual occurrence for this part to go wrong and as such a new part had to be made. The part then took seven weeks to be delivered with a further week before being fitted. The Board noted there had been an acceptance that there was poor communication from Housing Leeds to tenants about this work, especially given the size of this block of flats and the excessive use the lift that was working was under. It was also noted that during this period contractors were fitting sprinklers in the block adding to that stress.

A Board Member asked would the same manufacturer be used across the City, and could this be an issue for all lifts?

RESOLVED – Housing Leeds to be asked if this issue could be a problem in other blocks where the lifts are replaced in the city.

In the previous municipal year, the Tenant Scrutiny Board undertook an in-depth inquiry into the Anti-Social Behaviour Service.  Following this, the Board produced ten recommendations from the inquiry and submitted these to the Leeds Anti-Social Behaviour Team and Housing Leeds for response.

Members are asked to consider the responses to the recommendations and provide feedback as appropriate following its inquiry into the Anti-Social Behaviour Service.

The Chair introduced this item and thanked the two Officers in attendance, Harvinder Saimbhi and David Longthorpe for their responses.

The Officers proceeded through each of the recommendations, whether accepted or rejected and gave their comments around this decision.

Recommendation 1 – That the Anti-Social Behaviour team carry out an initiative such as a ‘Noise Action Week’ to provide a wide range of information about noise, around prevention in the first place and how to deal with this if it does occur.

HS noted that this recommendation was accepted.

HS noted that there are concerns around noise and the service wishes to carry out an action week, taking advantage of social media, referencing tenancy action and also the sanctions for causing a noise nuisance. HS noted that we will change the student version of the noise awareness leaflet so that it is suitable for more general tenant usage. It was explained that we would track the progress of this work to measure its impact.

A discussion was held around laminate flooring and that this is now specified in the tenancy agreement review which will hopefully help reduce the instances of this occurring. It was noted that Housing Leeds could explain the different types of laminate flooring which is less noisy than others. It was noted that tenants themselves should have responsibility as well for preventing noise in the first place. DL noted that noise is difficult to eliminate completely.

A member asked if fire doors are checked as they can be very noisy and can be heard in individual flats. DL noted that there are daily checks being carried out by various officers who should be picking this up as an issue.

RESOLVED – The Board resolved that recommendation 1 is not fully implemented, progress made acceptable. Continue monitoring.

Recommendation 2 – That the Board support the implementation of a new computer system for Anti-Social Behaviour cases and that the Board are kept informed of the implementation of this.

DL noted this recommendation was accepted. It was noted the new system would be made up of various modules within Housing Management. It was noted that since the recommendation responses had been made, the date for the lettings module has been delayed and so the whole programme is pushed back a few months. However the principle is agreed and the intention is for the new system to manage cases whereas the current system only records. However this wouldn’t be until later next year.

It was noted by a member that during evidence gathering, officers had reported that the letters produced by the current system cannot be easily amended to reflect the current case. However DL noted they can but it isn’t straightforward and so the new system would look to address this.

A member asked if the new system would be one which could be used when officers are visiting tenants out on the estate via a tablet device. DL explained that this was the case and as it was just  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Board agreed at their last meeting in April to hold an informal meeting to review the work of the previous municipal year and identify areas for improvement of the Board and work how we can carry out recruitment of new members.

Following this, the Scrutiny Officers took away the feedback and produced a development plan for the coming year with the Board.

Members are asked to review and discuss the proposed development plan with a view to agreeing this in its current form or after further amendments have been made.

This item was deferred due to time constraints to the next meeting of the Board.

Friday 20th July 2018 at 1:15pm (pre meeting for all Board Members at 1:00pm)

Wednesday 20^th July 2018 at 1:15pm

(Pre meeting for all Board members at 1:00pm)

THE MEETING CLOSED AT 3:00 PM