Agenda item

Next Inquiry Discussion

The Board is requested to discuss with the Chair of Environment, Housing and Communities Scrutiny Board, the work and ambitions of the Tenant Scrutiny Board including possible future.

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Councillor Barry Anderson to the meeting and explained he had been invited to share with the Board his thoughts around possible inquiry topics the Board may want to investigate in the coming year.

 

Councillor Anderson began by explaining some of the work which the Environment, Housing and Communities Scrutiny Board will be looking at this year, which includes

 

·  Financial health, in relation to Housing Revenue Account expenditure

·  ASB – carrying out further investigation into street intervention in the city centre

·  Looking at how drink, drugs and mental health issues can be prevented, alongside looking at the managed controlled zone.

 

Topics which Councillor Anderson suggested could be looked at included:-

 

·  Refuse collection – why some areas are experiencing problems in having their bins emptied; is there a way that more tenants could have a green and brown bin collections; how do we get tenants in mutli storey flats to recycle more.

·  Council Housing Growth Programme – acknowledging there needs to be more Council housing, but how do we address issues such as tenant perception – an example was given that it can take 72 months to be rehoused in some areas and this is because of other tenants getting priority.

·  Review of Housing Advisory Panels and how they can bring in more money to support projects. Also how can we gain more tenant representation on Boards such as these and understanding why tenants don’t want to be involved.

 

Picking up on the suggestions made by Councillor Anderson, a question was asked around the ‘One Council Approach’ when it came to waste and wasn’t a bespoke approach surely an advantage given it isn’t appropriate to apply a standard approach in some of these estates?

 

Councillor Anderson acknowledged this and agreed in some estates a more bespoke

service would be more appropriate in order to provide a more efficient service to residents, he gave two examples where a more bespoke approach would be more appropriate firstly where residents are living longer in their homes and as such it is not always easy for them to move the bin out to the kerbside for collection, and secondly given that some families are larger than others, some have children and others not which has an impact on the amount of waste being produced.

 

There was a question asked concerning fly tipping, a member recalled an incident when a tenant reported this only to find the Council tried to charge the tenant for having it taken away, even though it wasn’t theirs to begin with. Councillor Anderson noted in those instances, Housing Management needs to work closer with the refuse service and also try to identify who was carrying out the fly tipping in the first place.

 

A member noted that the size of bins is an issue, and also issues around what sort of plastics can be recycled and not. Councillor Anderson noted that in the case of recycling, that there are issues around where contamination of the recycling can be caused by just one person putting the wrong thing in the bin, and that recycling targets had not been met. Education of tenants on what can and cannot be recycled continues to be a focus.

 

The Chair asked about the Grenfell inquiry carried out in Leeds and what happens next. Councillor Anderson noted that a pause would be right at this stage whilst we understand what the national approach would be as it was noted that money which the Council requested for sprinklers was turned down by central government.

 

The Chair thanked Councillor Anderson for the continued support he gives to the Tenant Scrutiny Board

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