Agenda and draft minutes

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

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

Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act 2011, they are required to consider in advance of each meeting whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI), some other registrable interest (ORI) or a non-registrable interest (NRI) in relation to any matter on the agenda. If advice is needed, Members should contact the Monitoring Officer in good time before the meeting.

If any Member or co-opted Member of the Council identifies a DPI or ORI which they have not already registered on the Council’s register of interests or which requires updating, they must urgently complete the disclosure form which can be obtained from Democratic Services at any time, copies of which will be available at the meeting for return to the Monitoring Officer.

Members and co-opted Members are required in general to disclose any relevant DPIs, ORIs or NRIs at the meeting.

-       Where the matter relates to a DPI they may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not stay in the room unless granted a dispensation.

-       Where the matter directly relates to the financial interest or wellbeing of an ORI they may not vote on the matter unless granted a dispensation.

-       Where a Member or co-opted Member has an NRI which directly relates to or affects their or a relevant person’s financial interest or wellbeing, whether they can participate in any discussion or vote on the matter or stay in the room depends on the detailed rules in paragraphs 7 to 9 of Appendix B of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

The Chair will invite Members to make their disclosure of interests orally at the meeting and they will also be recorded in the minutes.

There were no disclosures at this meeting.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, 30 July 2024 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, 30^th July 2024 was agreed as an accurate record.

Presented by Sue Hanlon, Interim Director of Housing Assets & Repairs.

Councillor Ben-Hassel entered the virtual meeting at 6.38pm. Councillors Reshekaron & Ponnuthurai entered the virtual meeting at 6.40pm.

Councillor Flemming entered the Council Chamber at 6.45pm.

The Chair introduced the item and invited the Interim Head of Repairs and Maintenance to address the Panel. The Interim Head of Repairs and Maintenance conducted a presentation to the Panel, which can be found via the following link: https://civico.net/croydon/meetings

In response to questions from Panel members, officers informed the Panel that:

·       There had been an existing Decant Policy in place since 2021. The new Decant Policy was currently being drafted and due to be reviewed by the Departmental Management Team by the end of November. It was likely to be published in December 2024.

·       In response to a question about overflows, residents were encouraged to report dripping and running overflows to the Repairs Contact Centre. The caretakers, tenancy services officers and repair inspectors were also expected to log the issue if noted during visits or estate inspections.

·       Mould washes were undertaken by Wates and Mears as part of the Stage 1 visits. The Interim Director would discuss with contractors for the requirement to wear PPE including safety goggles/glasses when using sprays.

·       Damp and Mould training was being rolled out to the housing department including specialist training for the damp and mould team. The technical training also included on-site visits to voids to support diagnostics and remediation of damp and mould.

·       The Council had been investigating the installation of humidity devices. ‘Switchee’ devices had been used by around 100 organisations including local authorities and housing associations in the UK. The devices would help identify potential damp and mould in homes. The Council was currently planning for a pilot to install 300 devices from January 2025.

·       The Housing team acknowledged the nationwide challenge of fuel poverty leading to colder homes. The contractors would refer any concerns or issues from visits to the Housing Team.

·       Tenancy Audits visits were being undertaken to access homes to seek information about the residents and their needs so that the team could tailor services to meet their needs and signpost residents to wider agencies. The team had been prioritising audit visits for the elderly, families with young children and residents with long term health conditions, where known.

·       Discretionary support could be provided, such as support fund for energy or debts. Residents with financial needs were encouraged in the ‘Open House’ newsletter to reach out for further advice and guidance.

·       The repairs team were investigating alternatives for accessing roofs/gutters such as cherry pickers and drones. The use of drones would allow roof inspections to be carried out without the requirement to erect a scaffold. The team was exploring whether they would secure a drone licence or use a licenced service provider.

·       Stock condition surveys had been ongoing, with 60% of homes already completed. The results from all areas would be triangulated and reviewed, and that would support the team to plan the investment work programmes for the next 5-10 years.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 109/24

Presented by Lara Ashley, Housing Transformation Lead.

The Chair introduced the item and invited the Housing Transformation Lead to address the Panel. The Housing Transformation Lead conducted a presentation to the Panel (available in the Appendix), which can be found via the following link: https://civico.net/croydon/meetings

In response to questions from Panel members, officers informed the Panel that:

·       The response time for complaints within the Service-Level Agreement (SLA) was 10 days plus 5 days of acknowledgement.

·       The Housing Ombudsman would normally encourage the complainants to exhaust the complaint process within the local authority before lodging complaints to them, albeit not mandatory.

·       The new complaint process would ensure the team to contact the complainant as the part of the acknowledgement process and capture the accurate information.

·       The staffing issue was recognised while the transformation process was underway for the team.

·       The performance monitoring issue had been prioritised in both the Housing Directorate and the organisation.

·       The Transformation Lead agreed that it would be good practice if a resident could be contacted by a designated officer to acknowledge and proceed with the complaint.

·       The Housing Ombudsman reviewed cases dependent on the resource and availability.

·       It was hoped that the complaint process could be a regular part of scrutiny under the customer influence and assurance group within the new resident engagement structure. The details were under discussion and yet to be confirmed.

·       The response to a complaint had to include guidance for complaint escalation if not satisfied with the solution.

·       The issues of data capture and insufficient triangulation of complaints data were recognised. Data analysts were reviewing the information to identify the hotspots for investment.

The Panel NOTED the report.

Presented by Sue Edgerley, Resident Involvement Manager.

Before introducing the item, the Panel congratulated David Palmer who was awarded the ARCH Community Champion Award in the ARCH Conference. The Chair thanked him for his tireless involvement in the community over the last 28 years. David Palmer thanked the Director of Housing Management and the Resident Involvement Team, and hoped that the Council would build a better working relationship with residents by furthering the resident engagement work and recognising the input from resident volunteers.

The Vice-Chair introduced the item and invited the Resident Involvement Manager to address the Panel. The Resident Involvement Manager conducted a presentation to the Panel, which can be found via the following link: https://civico.net/croydon/meetings

In response to questions from Panel members, officers informed the Panel that:

·       260 residents had already expressed their interest in engaging with the Council within the new resident engagement structure.

·       The Resident Involvement Team had received over 300 enquiries and over 100 applications for the recruitment of the customer influence and assurance group. Due to the limited spaces of the assurance group, the team was looking at different panels that may suit the unselected applicants.

·       The team would also proactively invite residents who expressed their dissatisfaction in tenant satisfaction surveys to panel meetings.

The Panel NOTED the presentation.

To receive verbal updates from Resident Representatives.

The reports were NOTED by the Panel.

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

Ishia Beckford raised the following question to the Interim Director of Housing Assets and Repairs. As the Interim Director had already left the meeting, Ishia requested the Democratic Services to note the question in the minutes.

‘What is the difference between a temporary decant and permanent decant? Why is home loss not afforded to the tenant or leaseholder, when returning after works have been carried out?’

Closing Remarks

In marking the final Tenant and Leaseholder Panel meeting, the Chair and Vice-Chair thanked the Panel members and officers for their contributions since April 2002.

Panel members thanked the Chair and Vice-Chair for their service in the Tenant and Leaseholder Panel.