Agenda and minutes

The Panel Members, Councillors and officers in attendance introduced themselves.

Apologies were received from the Interim Corporate Director of Housing, Alison Knight and Dave Mundy.

Councillor Lynne Hale and Councillor Stephen Tate sent their apologies for lateness.

Members will be asked to confirm that their Disclosure of Interest Forms are accurate and up-to-date. Any other disclosures that Members may wish to make during the meeting should be made orally. Members are reminded that unless their disclosable pecuniary interest is registered on the register of interests or is the subject of a pending notification to the Monitoring Officer, they are required to disclose relevant disclosable pecuniary interests at the meeting

There were no disclosures at this meeting.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 28 July as an accurate record (Copy of minutes to follow).

RESOLVED – That the minutes from the meeting held on 28 July 2021 were agreed as an accurate record.

The Chair informed the Panel that he would sign the minutes once the recent social distancing measures had been relaxed enough to allow him to do so.

Verbal Update from Alison Knight, Interim Executive Director of Housing

The Director of Housing, Resident Engagement & Allocations informed the Panel that there was an ongoing restructure of the senior leadership within the Council, from the Chief Executive to the Heads of Service. This was being consulted on and the Council was at the recruitment stage of the restructure. There had been a permanent appointment in the Chief Executive position and they were now looking to fill other positions in senior leadership within the Council. The Director of Housing, Resident Engagement & Allocations explained that in the current structure at the Council, there were Executive Directors in place but once the restructure had taken place they would be addressed as Corporate Directors.

The Director of Housing, Resident Engagement & Allocations then went on to explain that there was now a Housing Director to monitor the new structure and that the recruitment process for the Corporate Director of Housing position had begun and this would be a permanent appointment.

The Director of Housing, Resident Engagement & Allocations informed the Panel that there were currently two Directors of Housing and a new Director of Housing, Estates and Improvement had been appointed.

The new Director of Housing, Estates and Improvement would have three Heads of Service reporting to him: these would be the Head of Responsive Repairs, Planned Maintenance & Safety; the Head of Household Services, Planning & Delivery and the Head of Policy and Performance.

The Director of Housing, Resident Engagement & Allocations stated that there would be three Heads of Service reporting to her, these being: the Head of Allocations, Lettings, Income and Collection; the Head of Homelessness & Assessment; and the Head of Tenancy & Resident Engagement. The Council had recently made an appointment to the Head of Homelessness & Assessment post, and the position had gone to an individual who was previously a Head of Service in a different department within the Council. The recruitment process had begun for the Head of Allocations, Lettings, Income and Collection and the Head of Tenancy & Resident Engagement positions.

Across the Council, the recruitment process for all of the Director and Corporate Director positions were being supported by an external organisation. Once the Council had recruited to all of the Heads of Service positions, attention would then turn to the teams that were reporting into them and those departments would be redesigned to improve the service that was being delivered.

In response to a question from a resident the Director of Housing, Resident Engagement & Allocations informed the Panel that prior to the restructure the Council did not have a Housing department. The coverage of the Regina Road incident, the Housing Improvement Plan, the Ark Report and staff feedback led to the introduction of the Housing department in the new structure within the Council. This had brought all of the housing services back together under one directorate. 

In response to a Councillor[MC1] , the Director of Housing, Resident Engagement & Allocations stated that the ‘estate walkabouts’ had been ongoing for years but they had been reduced due to lockdown during the pandemic. The Cabinet  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5/21

Verbal update from Alison Knight, Interim Executive Director of Housing

The Senior Strategy Officer conducted a presentation to the panel which provided an update of the Housing Improvement Board and informed them how resident members will be selected. This presentation can be found via the following link: https://civico.net/croydon/13358-Tenant---Leaseholder-Panel.

In response to a question from the chair, the Senior Strategy Officer informed the panel that successful applicants would be expected to have some experience in performing similar roles, however they would welcome applications from individuals who were willing to develop their skills and they would provide briefings to all board members so that they would be kept well-informed of what issues would be discussed.

A resident and the Chair expressed their displeasure at there being only one space for a member of the Tenant & Leaseholder Panel on the Housing Improvement Board. In response the Cabinet Member for Homes stated that the Housing Improvement Board needed to have an independent chair and every Croydon resident had their own experiences which would need to be heard in order to improve the service. The Cabinet Member for Homes also mentioned that intention would be to have task and finish groups alongside the Housing Improvement Board and these groups would feed the opinions of residents to the board so that they could take action.

In response to a Councillor, the Senior Strategy Officer informed the panel that the advert for the position of Independent Chair of the Housing Improvement Board closed at 00:00 on the 12 October 2021 and a shortlist would be drawn up by the end of that week. The Senior Strategy Officer also mentioned that the applicants that had applied had extensive experience in the housing sector, working in housing associations and across Local government. They planned to have the Leader of the Council, the Chief Executive, the Interim Executive Director of Housing, the Cabinet Member for Homes and the Chair of the Tenant & Leaseholder Panel on the interview panel to ensure that there was a breadth of experience when interviewing the candidates. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that the housing improvement board would make quarterly reports to cabinet with recommendations and will be treated just as seriously as any other report that goes to cabinet.

In response to a resident the Senior Strategy Officer stated that the advert closed at midnight for independent chair. Both applicants had extensive exp. across housing in HA’s and Local government. They are looking at having the Chair of TLP on the board as well. The housing improvement board will make quarterly reports to cabinet and it would be treated as seriously as any other report that is put forward to cabinet.

In response to a question from a resident, the Interim Head of Tenancy & Resident Engagement stated that the regulator was fully aware of the creation of the Housing Improvement Board and they had been cited on the housing improvement plan.

RESOLVED: That the panel agreed to note the verbal update.

Verbal update by Stephen Tate, Director of Growth Employment and Regeneration.

The Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement explained to the panel that his role was responsible for the responsive repairs service, the planned maintenance into the capital works and how the Council maintains its resident’s homes.

The Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement then provided and update of Regina road. In terms of integral repairs, the Interim Head of Tenancy & Resident Engagement had worked hard to open a tenancy office on Regina Road. This office was open between 10am and 2pm every day and there were two tenancy officers there who act as a point of contact for residents in that area. The Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement did acknowledge that the opening hours of the office may not be ideal for some residents and stated that his department would have to consider how to solve this issue.

The Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement went on to explain that there was an inspector on site two days a week, so if a resident had a particular issue that needed to be resolved they can come to the office without an appointment and an inspector would go out immediately to assess the problem.

The Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement also mentioned that Axis, the Councils contractor, would also be present on site from the following week and that there would be a Resident Liaison Officer on site in order to discuss any issues with the service with the residents.

In regards to the back office the Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement acknowledged that the Council needed to be able to identify problems before they get escalate and outlined how the Council would be more proactive with their repairs service.

The Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement explained that in order to gain a better understanding of their housing stock and determine the work required to improve their properties, the Council has conducted a number of surveys across various sites. The information gathered from these surveys would then be collected and be fed into future capital works programmes.

The Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement stated that the Council were already aware of a number of issues within their properties which was being collated into a programme. These repairs would not be immediate as they would require planning before work to resolve these issues can be carried out. However, the Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement acknowledged that residents cannot be left in poor conditions which is why reactive maintenance was being conducted ahead of the major works which were required.

In response to question from a resident, the Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement stated that part of the reason for doing the additional surveys across the 26 tall buildings across the borough was to get a clearer understanding of the issues within the Councils housing estates, this would then enable him to provide residents with accurate information about what the capital programme would consist of in the coming years.

The Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement went on to explain that while the focus was on Regina  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7/21

Verbal update to be received.

The Interim Director of Commercial Investment informed the panel that as he had recently joined the Council, he was unaware that the panel had requested written rather than verbal updates but assured the panel that he did not have an issue with producing written reports in future.

The Interim Director of Commercial Investment explained to the panel that his role had recently been created within the council and stated that he had procurement responsibilities which included contract management.

The Interim Director of Commercial Investment acknowledged that there had been numerous issues with Brick by Brick over the past year and stated that after three important Cabinet meetings earlier in the year, the decision was made that Brick by Brick would wind itself down. The Council exercised its shareholder function to change directors and therefore change the course of Brick by Brick. In the past year there had been a review into whether the company would be dissolved or sold to another organisation and they decided not to. The strategy would now be to trade out Brick by Brick’s 23 sites, 21 of which were due to be completed this financial year. This would result in an around extra 370 homes being delivered into Croydon this year and there was a proposed acquisition 104 of these properties by the local authority. The Interim Director of Commercial Investment mentioned that he believed this would be completed by the end of the calendar year but accepted that there would be some issues such as GLA funding etc.

The Interim Director of Commercial Investment informed the panel that there are six other sites that would be looked at and of the six sites, five would shortly be going on the market. In terms of personnel changes at Brick by Brick, there was an advert for some new directors with expertise in terms of housing to make sure that the housing that was built would be suitable for residents.

The Interim Director of Commercial Investment explained that there were two sites that would take longer than this year to complete. He mentioned that he had a report which was the first quarterly update and would be taken to the next cabinet meeting. This was an update report so no decisions would be made from it.

In response to a question from chair, the Interim Director of Commercial Investment informed the panel that Brick by Brick had planning permission and had started to appoint builders and those sites would be fully developed and traded out in line with their plan. The mix and ratio of London affordable rent, social rented houses, private for sale houses as well as some shared ownership homes would continue to be delivered. These were the 23 sites and there were six sites where they had received planning permission but had not placed those contracts, these were the six sites that he had referred to in his earlier comments.

In response to a question from a resident, the Interim Head of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8/21

The Resident Involvement manager conducted a presentation to the panel which provided an update of the Resident Involvement Roadshow and provided a summary of the Door Step Survey. This presentation can be found via the following link: https://civico.net/croydon/13358-Tenant---Leaseholder-Panel.

In response to a question from a resident, the Resident Involvement Manager informed the panel that they had advised residents in advance that they would conduct door step surveys for their feedback. The Resident Involvement Manager then explained that the Council would be doing tracker surveys in future and the housing regulator would review the questions and amendments could be made in the new-year.

In response to a question from a Councillor, the Resident Involvement Manager stated that the data from his presentation could be broken down further if required and that knocking on doors enabled him to receive the best response. In order to improve the survey, the Resident Involvement Manager acknowledged that they could vary the times of the door step survey. He suggested that they could schedule the survey for between 10am-1pm or 2pm-5pm and they would also consider weekend and evening calls to try and reach people who work during the day. The Resident Involvement Manager felt as though there was more value gained from face to face surveys than those conducted by post as they were able to receive extra information that could not be obtained from a posted survey.

In response to a question from a resident, the Resident Involvement Manager stated that he could do a more detailed breakdown of the data from the survey for example, if an estate had a particular issue, he could conduct a more specific survey in order to explore the residents issues in more detail. The only potential issue would be down to resourcing as door step surveys required many hours from staff however they were worth the time they opened the lines of communication between officers and residents.

RESOLVED: That the Panel agreed to note the presentation.

Verbal update from Les Parry.

The Chair introduced the item and invited a resident to provide a scrutiny update regarding voids to the panel. The resident informed the panel that various tenants’ involvement groups had expressed concerns that the council had failed to meet the target of 20 days in dealing with void properties. There had been correspondence with senior management and Councillors and tenants put forward six recommendations however there has not been a significant improvement in the turn around on void properties.

The resident explained that a recent tenant health and safety group had been created but members of tenant involvement forum’s had not been invited to this group to discuss void properties.

RESOLVED: That the Panel agreed to note the verbal update.

Verbal update provided by Yaw Boateng.

AGREED:That the Panel decided that this item would be omitted due to a lack of time and that the update would be put in writing to the members of the Panel.

To discuss any other business at the discretion of the Chair.

The Chair introduced the item and suggested that members of the panel should complete a survey about how they felt about attending meetings in person. The Chair also suggested that once the panel were able to meet in person, they should hold surgeries for residents to raise personal or community issues ahead of meetings.

In response to the Chairs suggestions, the Interim Director of Commercial Investment informed the panel that he was responsible for all of the council’s premises and that the recent full council meeting had a reduced number of Members in attendance. The Council had tried their best to ensure that people had proper engagement whilst to ensuring that people operated in a safe way.

In response to the proposals regarding meeting formats, a Councillor stated that hybrid meetings had made meetings easier to attend for many people. The Councillor suggested that she could put ideas to the Chair who could then inform members of the panel about any proposals.

In response to a question from a Councillor the Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement stated that the accounts were fine and the Council were looking at their 30 year business plan. The 30 year business plan would go to Cabinet in February however the Director of Housing, Estates & Improvement intended to bring the business plan to the Tenant & Leaseholder Panel beforehand.

In response to a suggestion from a Councillor, the Chair explained to the panel that he felt that any figures or accounts that were relevant to the Tenant & Leaseholder panel were welcomed however he did not feel as though it needed to be a regular item if it was not necessary.

In response to question from a resident, the Director of Housing, Resident Engagement & Allocations stated that the Council had reviewed the decant policy which had been in operation for a number of months and they were reviewing the allocations policy which had fallen under the housing strategy that the Council was revising.  The Director of Housing, Resident Engagement & Allocations informed the panel that the allocations policy would be in line with the timelines from the Senior Strategy Officer’s presentation.

The Resident Involvement manager informed the panel that the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH) had a tenant panel and they asked for nominations for each member to serve on the panel for two years. The Resident Involvement manager asked the panel whether they wanted to support the nomination of the Chair to continue representing Croydon Council on the ARCH tenant panel. The members agreed to support the decision to put the Chair forward for nomination.

8 February 2022 at 6:30pm, venue TBC.

It was confirmed that the next meeting would be held on8 February 2022 at 6:30pm, the venue would be confirmed closer to the meeting date.