Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Sue Bennett, for which Councillor Nikhil Sherine Thampi was in attendance as a substitute. Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor Kola Agboola.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 27 February 2023 as an accurate record.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on the 27 February 2023 were approved as an accurate record.

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and other registrable and non-registrable interests they may have in relation to any item(s) of business on today’s agenda.

There were no disclosures of interest made at the meeting.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There was no urgent business for the consideration of the Homes Sub-Committee at this meeting.

The Homes Sub-Committee is provided with a Cabinet report providing an update on the delivery of the Housing Transformation Programme. The Sub-Committee is recommended to:

1    Review the update report and consider whether there are any areas of the programme that feel may benefit from a ‘deep dive’ to be scheduled on an agenda of the Homes Sub-Committee later in the year.

2    Consider whether there are any recommendations on the Housing Transformation Programme the Sub-Committee may wish to submit for the consideration of the Mayor.

The Sub-Committee considered a Cabinet report, set out in the agenda supplement, which provided an update on the delivery of the Housing Transformation Programme. The report had been included on the agenda to enable the Sub-Committee to review the progress made in the delivery of the programme and to consider whether there are any areas that may benefit from a ‘deep dive’ to be scheduled on an agenda of the Homes Sub-Committee later in the year. The Cabinet Member for Homes introduced the item and summarised the report, followed by some additional information provided by the Senior Strategy Officer.

Members asked how the 67 projects under the eight workstreams would be prioritised and scheduled, and requested a full list of the projects. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that the full list could be provided, but noted that the list was subject to change as projects merged. The Sub-Committee heard that there was close work with a project management office (PMO) to prioritise projects, and that projects featured as standing items at the Housing Transformation Steering Board. The Chair welcomed the use of ‘Red, Amber, Green’ (RAG) ratings, and asked which of the ‘Amber’ actions were at the biggest risk of turning Red. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that these would be the five key risks of the directorate, which were mobilisation of the Responsive Repairs Contract; increased cases of Damp and Mould; risks around Large Panel System (LPS) Blocks; and General Needs Blocks failing to meet fire safety standards. It was explained that actions were defined as Red where it was out of the Council’s control with no plan to bring the action back to Amber.

The Chair asked how interdependencies between projects were being managed, and what the key milestones at risk of slipping were as a result of these. The Head of Homelessness & Assessments explained that risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies (RAID) charts were used, and that PMO colleagues were keenly aware of interdependencies, which were mapped to allow them to be better managed; it was accepted that some interdependencies were beyond the control of the Council. For key risks, there were multiple redundant mitigations to try to alleviate interdependencies and to minimise risk. The Chair asked for reassurance that those who were named against risks were aware and would be accountable. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that there was close work with the Corporate Risk team, and that the CEO and Directorate Management Team reviewed and updated risks quarterly and were named against specific risks. There were quarterly meetings with the Corporate Risk Function to ensure that risks were being properly updated and mitigated using JCAD, which was the risk management software used by all departments to allow for a whole Council approach to risk. The Head of Homelessness & Assessments explained that there were a number of bodies to hold the department to account, alongside regular meetings with tenants, but that it was important that work took place at pace, which could make communication difficult in some  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17/22

The Homes Sub-Committee provided with an update on the mobilisation of the new responsive repair contracts. The Sub-Committee is recommended to:

1     Review the information provided and consider whether there is sufficient reassurance that the mobilisation of the new responsive repairs contracts is on-track for delivery.

2     Consider whether there is sufficient mitigation in place to manage the risks to delivery.

3     Consider whether there are any recommendations on the mobilisation of the responsive repairs contract to submit for the consideration of the Mayor.

The Sub-Committee considered a report set out in the supplementary agenda, which provided an update on the mobilisation of the new responsive repair contracts. The report had been included on the agenda to enable the Sub-Committee to review the information provided and consider whether there was sufficient reassurance that the mobilisation of the new responsive repairs contracts was on-track for delivery; whether there was sufficient mitigation in place to manage the risks to delivery; and whether there are any recommendations on the mobilisation of the responsive repairs contract to submit for the consideration of the Mayor. The Cabinet Member for Homes introduced the item and acknowledged the hard work officers. The Interim Head of Repairs and Maintenance summarised the report.

Members asked whether there would be a full service from the start of the contracts, what the key risks to core slippage were, and what mitigations were in place. The Interim Head of Repairs and Maintenance confirmed that a full service would begin from 1 August 2023; a key risk was that appointments would not be able to be raised through the NEC system, but jobs could be raised through the contractor’s system as a redundancy should this not be resolved. The Sub-Committee heard that residents would be able to ring one number and receive service and were assured that any information entered into the contractor’s system, should this need to be used, would be collated for later entry into the NEC system.

The Chair asked how contract management would be undertaken across the three contracts. The Interim Head of Repairs and Maintenance explained that there was a Head of Service assigned to each contractor to manage the day-to-day operations, as well as a Strategic Client Team across all of the contracts to ensure governance and performance were monitored effectively. The Council would be in control of all repairs data, which had not been the case previously, which would allow for interventions where things were not working. The Chair asked if there was capacity to analyse this data to ensure that performance issues were caught early, and Members heard that this was the case, and that capacity would be increased as new contracts were signed.

The Vice-Chair asked where the data on the backlog of legacy repairs had been gathered from, and whether there was a risk of additional repairs the Council were not aware of where residents had given up reporting issues to the previous contractor. The Interim Head of Repairs and Maintenance explained that Wates and Mears had specific teams to deal with legacy repairs, to ensure that new responsive repairs could be deployed quickly. Members heard that residents with legacy repairs had been contacted to explain that a new contractor would soon be in contact to organise their repair. The Vice-Chair explained that they had seen some of these communications, and were concerned that there had not been triaging of the legacy repairs. The Interim Head of Repairs and Maintenance explained that the Council was reviewing the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18/22

The Homes Sub-Committee is provided with a presentation on the development of a Housing Strategy. The Sub-Committee is recommended to:

1             Review the information provided and consider whether there are any conclusions or recommendations it wishes to make to be fed into the development of the new Housing Strategy.

The Sub-Committee considered a report set out on pages 15 to 28 of the agenda, which provided a presentation on the development of a Housing Strategy. The report had been included on the agenda to enable the Sub-Committee to review the information provided and consider whether there were any conclusions or recommendations it wished to make to be fed into the development of the new Housing Strategy. The Cabinet Member for Homes introduced the item.

The Chair asked what had informed the development of the key strategic objectives, and how these compared to other well-rated London authorities. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that the broad strategic themes were the same across London, and these had been taken to form the five key priorities with 14 objectives underneath in Croydon’s Housing Strategy. Members heard that there had been 20 Vision & Mission sessions to understand what ‘good looked like’ with residents, tenants, leaseholders, and staff. Following this, Housing Strategy leads had been identified from across the Council directorates to feed in Council wide priorities to the Strategy.  The Strategy had been developed with attention to the legislative context.

Members asked how the Housing Strategy had been developed to be complimentary to the Local Plan, and if there was a focus on improving the supply of social housing in the borough. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that the Council was looking at working with housing associations and registered social landlords in the borough to increase social housing stock, as it was not viable for the Council to build additional units. The Sub-Committee heard that one of the directorate leads was a Planning colleague who was working on the Local Plan. The Local Plan was developed using the Strategic Housing Market Assessment from 2019, and this would be reviewed over Summer 2023 to ascertain housing needs in Croydon and how this should be delivered. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that they had been involved in testing the priorities of the Local Plan with Planning colleagues. The Chair asked if officers were confident in finalising the Housing Strategy before the completion of the Local Plan, and it was explained that the Local Plan would be the mechanism for delivering the homes and that the Housing Strategy was developed so that it would be strategically broad enough to support the delivery of the Local Plan.

The Chair invited Councillor Fraser to ask a question on whether there would be a sufficient supply of affordable housing stock in the borough and engagement with housing associations. The Senior Strategy Officer explained that the Council was engaging with housing associations, and would be setting up a forum for this as it had been identified as a gap in the development of the Strategy.

The Sub-Committee asked for reassurance that these were the correct priorities for Croydon residents and asked how the Strategy would improve resident outcomes. The Cabinet Member for Homes explained that the priorities were being developed with residents at every step to ensure that they were correct,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19/22

The Homes Sub-Committee is presented with a draft version of its work programme for 2023-24. The Sub-Committee is recommended to:

1    Note the Work Programme, as presented in the report.

2    Consider whether there are any other items that should be provisionally added to the work programme as a result of the discussions held during the meeting.

The Sub-Committee noted the report.