Agenda and minutes

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The Chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member for Housing, Planning referred to the notice of filming at meetings and this information was noted.

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of Urgent Business. (Late items of Urgent Business will be considered under the agenda item where they appear).

There were no items of urgent business.

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

There were no declarations of interest.

There were none.

The project aimed to upgrade the depot to make essential safety improvements, and to make much needed improvements for the wellbeing of staff in the Housing Service. Unexpected circumstances led to necessary changes to how the project would be delivered. Given the site constraints, projects at Lordship Lane could be expected to vary from the original design, scope or specification at some point during the construction works.

The variations, and their causes comprised the £244,700 uplift in the contract, from £470,012 to £714,712. These costs were made up as follows:

o Extension of Time £15,000

o Additional Groundwork £71,200

o Welfare Cabin construction £23,500

o Utility Companies’ costs circa £15,000

o Safety work circa £120,000

RESOLVED

Recommendations

1. In accordance with Contract Standing Order 16.02, the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning approved the variation of the Contract with Shawma Construction Limited for works at Lordship Lane depot, increasing the contract sum by £244,699.55 excluding VAT to £714,712.03

Alternative options considered

Do Nothing 

Not agreeing to the variations was not recommended as the Council was committed to deliver and complete this project. In order to deliver this project, it was essential to carry out these variations. The remaining works to be delivered were reliant on the variations being carried out first. Also, in accordance with Building Regulations and H&S Act, the Council had legal obligation to carry out variation works.

1. Revising the scope to stay within budget

2. This would involve removing originally intended parts of the project, to focus budget where the variations are needed. Revising the scope was not possible, as none of the works within the project were optional. They were all essential.

This report sought to gain authorisation to adopt changes to the section setting out the process of setting civil penalties imposed by Civil Penalty Notices (CPN) under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 in the existing Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy.

The team would provide warnings before civil penalties were issued; this would be in the form of two warning letters – there would be an opportunity to appeal this or provide representations.

RESOLVED

RECOMMENDATIONS

That Cabinet member for Housing and Planning:

1. Approved the revised document at Appendix 1 to this report.

2. Authorised the Director for Environment and Resident Experience, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning to adopt any further similar amendments as may be required in the future

Alternative options considered

The alternative option was to leave the current policy on the use of Civil Penalty Notices as it was and not take account of the judge’s decision in the case of Leicester v Morjaria.

Were it not to revise the policy, the Council would be likely to have CPN’s appealed and challenged.

The result of this could be a failure to uphold Civil Penalty Notices and the associated fines

This report sought approval from the Cabinet Member for a second variation of the existing contract values, for the current provision of the Hotelier Framework for Lime Tree Care Services Ltd to the Council, for the remaining contract term, to April 2025, subject to Cabinet Approval. There would be four providers on the framework.

RESOLVED

Recommendations

That the Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning

i) Approved the award of a block contract to Limetree Care Services Ltd up to a maximum value of £2 million under the call-off procedure within the Hotelier Framework Agreement. Whilst in accordance with CSO 7.01 b) (selecting a contractor from a framework) and in accordance with CSO 9.07 d) (award of contract of £500,000 and above by Cabinet) this decision was delegated by Cabinet to the Director of Adults, Health and Communities (following consultation with the Lead Member), on 17th October 2023.

Alternative options considered.

Despite being one of the best performing Councils for homelessness prevention, last year alone the Council received more than 4,000 homelessness applications because of the housing crisis. Doing nothing is not an option as the council would not be able to meet statutory duties. There was a comprehensive plan and programme structure in place to help, to ensure that there was less reliance on hotel accommodation in the future including:

· A commitment to deliver 3,000 council rent homes by 2030.

· The purchase of new homes to support the Growth of the Haringey Community Benefit Society.

· Closer collaboration with private landlords to increase the availability of private sector lets to meet homelessness need and as temporary accommodation.

· A focus on improving the turnaround time of voids through the appointment of a new contractor

Item 10 will be  subject to a motion to exclude the press and public be from the meeting as contains exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1985); paras 3 and 5, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

Items 10 and 11 would be subject to a motion to exclude the press and public be from the meeting as contains exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1985); paras 3 and 5, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

To consider exempt information relating to this public item.

The exempt information was considered.

To consider exempt information pertaining to item 8.

The exempt information was considered.