Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Sandwell Council House, Oldbury. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services 

Items
No. Item

32/21

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors Ashman, Fisher, G Gill and K Singh.

33/21

Minutes pdf icon PDF 297 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 25 November 2021 as a correct record.

Minutes:

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 25 November 2021 were approved as a correct record.

34/21

Declarations of Interest

Members to declare any interests in matters to be discussed at the meeting.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made.

35/21

Additional Items of Business

To determine whether there are any additional items of business to be considered as a  matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There were no additional items of business to consider.

 

Councillor Smith raised a question on behalf of Councillor Shackleton in relation to the housing neighbourhood office in Blackheath.  The Director of Housing confirmed that the Library was available for residents who needed help to make contact with the Housing team, either over the phone or via email.  Housing resources had been relocated to the One Stop Shop in Oldbury and further resources had been put into the Contact Centre, predominately for repairs calls.  The Council had also begun home checks and had visited 213 residents so far.  It was envisioned that this initiative would be a rolling programme to help identify tenants in need.

36/21

Review of Tenancy Conditions pdf icon PDF 255 KB

To consider the progress made to date in reviewing the Council’s Tenancy Conditions and the results of the statutory consultation exercise.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Director of Housing introduced the item and explained that the Tenancy Conditions was an agreement on the rights and responsibilities of having a council tenancy.  The tenancy conditions had last been reviewed in 2009 and had been refreshed to help provide clarity for tenants and to align them with the modernisation of the Council’s Housing Service. 

 

The Strategy and Research Manager for Housing Management outlined the Council’s consultation process.  The Council had recently concluded a statutory consultation regarding the proposed amendments to its Tenancy Agreement. The Preliminary Notice had been sent to all tenants the week commencing 18 October 2021 with a closing date of 12 November 2021 for receipt of responses.  In compliance with Section 103 of the Housing Act 1985, the Preliminary Notice invited tenants to comment on the proposed changes and tenants had the opportunity to respond in three ways:-

1.             By completing a free text questionnaire via a dedicated consultation webpage on the Council website;

2.             By e-mail using a dedicated e-mail address;

3.             By completing a feedback form at the back of the Preliminary Notice and forwarding it to the Roway Lane postal address.

 

Members were advised that just short of 1,600 responses (1,597) had been received, which was a response rate of 5%.  Detailed findings of the consultation had been included in the report.  The following points were highlighted:-

·                82% (1,309) of respondents answered ‘Yes’ to ‘Do you agree to the proposed changes in the agreement’ with no further comment.  A further 21 respondents answered ‘No’ with no further comment.

·                95 answered ‘Yes’ to the proposals and added comment, 70 answered ‘No’ with comment and 102 made comment only.  In total 88% of respondents agreed with the proposals.

·                The amendment which received the highest volume of objection was Condition 5.2, Paying Rent in Advance, with 52 (3% of all respondents) in total objecting to this requirement.  The second highest volume of objections was to Condition 4.11 - the proposal to restrict tenancy succession rights to spouses, civil partners and common law partners for tenancies that commenced after 1 April 2012.  This attracted a total of 27 (2% of all respondents) objections.  The next highest volume of concerns and objections related to who should take responsibility for fencing between properties (excluding privacy panels).  This attracted 8 critical comments where the view was that the Council should take responsibility.

·                In addition to the above responses the proposed Condition 10.10 involving the use of Social Media generated a considerable amount of media interest.  However, from the consultation itself, the Council received 7 comments; 6 against and 1 in support.

 

From the comments and questions raised by members of the Scrutiny Board, the following responses were made, and issues highlighted:-

-                 Council staff deserved to be treated with respect in the same way as  a business or organisation.

-                 The sentiment of the condition 10.10 remained the same but the wording had been amended to be less punitive.  In particular the reference to visitors in a tenant’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36/21

37/21

Cabinet Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 529 KB

To consider items on the Cabinet Forward Plan.

Minutes:

Following a question raised by Councillor Smith regarding the decisions made by the Cabinet, the Democratic Services Officer explained that decisions would be reflected in the minutes.  The Cabinet member could also be brought to a meeting of the Scrutiny Board to discuss their decision and, for recommendations made by Scrutiny Boards to The Cabinet, a report should be bought back to the Board after two months.  Sandwell Council was not in the practice of producing private minutes and all minutes were public.  If members had specific queries they were advised to contact Democratic Services for additional guidance.

38/21

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 258 KB

To consider items on the work programme for upcoming meetings of this Scrutiny Board.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Democratic Services Officer explained that the Chair and Vice-Chair had met with Director of Borough Economy and Director of Housing to discuss topics for the upcoming work programme of this Scrutiny Board.  These included the Council’s Housing Strategy, Homelessness Strategy and Safe Sandwell Partnership.

 

Members agreed in principle to the items proposed being scheduled for consideration at future meetings of the Safer Neighbourhoods and Active Communities Scrutiny Board.