Agenda and minutes

Please note that this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method. Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting. Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on. 

By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

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 Chair referred Members present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein’.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Harrison-Mullane.

Apologies for lateness were received from Cllr Moyeed.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business (late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with as noted below).

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.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting. 

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting on 28 June were agreed as a correct record.

The Panel received a report which provided an update on the Council’s Housing Delivery Programme. The report was introduced by Robbie Erbmann, AD for Housing, as set out in the agenda pack at pages 11-26. Cllr Ruth Gordon, the Cabinet Member for Council House-building, Placemaking and Development was also present for this agenda item. The following arose during the discussion of this item:

a.    The Panel noted that to date, 1503 homes had received planning permission, with 1444 homes started on site. In response to a clarification, the Panel was advised that these two figures did not necessarily directly correlate. Some of the homes that had started on site, had not received planning permission yet and vive-versa. It was not the case that 2947 homes had either received planning permission or started on site.

b.    The Cabinet Member set out that Haringey was doing well in comparison to other boroughs, lots of councils were building homes but not at the scale that Haringey was and not with the focus on homes at social rent that Haringey was. The Cabinet Member suggested that she was also proud of the quality of the housing that was being built, with the use of Passive Haus design techniques were possible, and accompanying public realm improvements to compliment new developments. This would improve areas for existing residents as well as those in the new developments.

c.    The Cabinet Member highlighted the impact of the current financial situation on borrowing costs and that this would inevitably increase the financial risk associated to the programme. The Cabinet Member advised that she would update the Panel with further information once the situation and possible impact was made clearer.

d.    The Panel sought clarification about whether the Ashley Road development was included in both of the figures referenced above in paragraph a. In response, officers advised that the site had recently received planning permission as so would be included in both. Officers agreed to come back with further information about the relationship between the figures of homes started on site and those with planning permission and the degree of overlap in these figures. (Action: Robbie Erbmann).

e.    In relation to a clarification, officers confirmed that 35% of new homes would be 3 beds and 10% would be four bed or more and that these figures were independent of each other, so that 45% would be 3 bed or more.

f.     In response to a question, the officers advised that the BCIS index was a measure of indices used to determine inflation within the building industry.  

g.    The Panel raised concerns about financial risk associated with the homes for private sale and the fact that mortgage rates were going up.

h.    The Panel sought assurances about what was being done about re-provisioning businesses in Wood Green, where the site was being developed for new homes. In response the Cabinet Member advised that the Council was exploring how best to support these businesses stay within their local areas and that Cumberland  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

The Panel received a report which informed members about the changes to housing legislation which support the Council’s use of the private rented sector as a housing option for households who were facing homelessness or living in temporary accommodation. The paper set out the legislative context and provided details on the Council’s approach to sourcing private sector lets to meet housing need. The report was introduced by Denise Gandy, Assistant Director of Housing Demand as set out in the agenda pack at pages 27 to 35. Cllr Carlin, the Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters and Planning was also present. The following arose during the discussion of this item:

1. The Chair raised concerns that what was called temporary accommodation was often much longer term than a placement in the private rented sector and that if that person/s were then made homeless then the fact that they were placed in the private sector may prevent them from getting help from the Council in the future. General concern was also raised about putting vulnerable people into a poorly regulated marketplace. The Panel queried whether length of tenancy was considered when making an offer to place someone in the private sector, particularly given that the average stay in temporary accommodation was nine years and no private sector tenancy lasted that long. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that in an ideal world, the Council would not place anyone in the private rented sector, but the problem was a shortage of housing stock and there was 2600 families living in temporary accommodation. Because Haringey had less housing sock than some other boroughs, it just did not have the social housing stock to offer to those in Temporary Accommodation. The Right to Buy scheme exacerbated this problem further.   
2. The Cabinet Member also cautioned that the Council’s housing grant was not secure and the government could theoretically take this away. The Council could not afford to keep everyone in temporary accommodation indefinitely. Without using the private rented sector, the Council would have to make very difficult decisions at the front end of the process, which would likely be to turn away every TA application from people without children, regardless of their circumstances. The Panel noted that the average cost to the Council when a family accessed or remained in temporary accommodation was £4425 per year, whereas the incentive payment through sourcing schemes was £3853.
3. The Panel questioned what incentives there were to prevent landlords evicting those placed by the Council and whether there was a minimum term for such a tenancy. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that the minimum in legislation was two years. The Cabinet Member set out that the person or family in question would have a needs assessment carried out which would last for two years, if the tenancy broke down within two years the Council had a responsibility to pick up and use the existing needs assessment. After two years, a new needs assessment would be carried out, and this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

The Panel received a report which provided an update on Wards Corner, in response to a request from the Panel for assurances on the Council’s approach to ensuring the right scheme and assurances about the viability position. The report was introduced by Cllr Ruth Gordon, Cabinet Member for Council House-building, Placemaking and Development as set out in the agenda pack at pages 35 to 38. Peter O’Brien, the AD Regeneration and Economic Development was also present for this item. The following arose during the discussion of this item:

a.    The Panel noted that the Wards Corner acquisitions was agreed by Cabinet in July 2022, which involved the acquisition of 43 third party properties and land interests within the Wards Corner site. This included 36 owned by Grainger and six held by private third party owners, as well as one parcel of land owned by TfL.

b.    The Cabinet Member set out that TfL had advised that health and safety works were progressing and that she was looking forward to TfL announcing the Chair of the new joint partnership board. As far as the Council was concerned, the next steps were carrying through with the acquisitions that had been announced and then developing the site on the back of this. The Cabinet Member advised that the key task was to get the temporary market up and running and to get traders back on site. The Council was seeking to work closely with the local community in order to achieve this.

c.    The Panel sought clarification about how the Council would be able to deliver on the aspirations of the Community Plan if the Community Plan bid to operate the market was not successful. In response, the Cabinet Member advised that the Council had made it clear that it supported the aspirations of the Community Plan and that it was hopeful that they would submit a strong bid. The Cabinet Member set out that the ideal solution was that that all parties came together and submitted a joint bid. The Cabinet Member welcomed the commitment from TfL that the site would be leased on the basis of it being a community asset, rather than a commercial lease.

d.    In response to a question about a council representative on the partnership board, the Cabinet Member advised that she had asked for this but that no final decisions had been made. It was cautioned that the Council would have to recuse itself from the award of the lease. In response to whether it would be an officer or a Member on the partnership board, the Cabinet Member advised that she had not had this discussion with TfL yet and that she would need to see the terms of reference for the board.  

e.    The Panel welcomed the report setting out that the Health and Safety works were the responsibility of TfL, as it was their site and promulgated the need for continued emphasis of this to the wider community. The Cabinet Member set out  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

Verbal Update.

The Panel noted that the feedback from the Scrutiny Café Event would be presented to Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 13^th October, along with an outline work plan and that the work plan would be circulated to them for approval before the next meeting of the Panel.

To consider any items admitted at item 3 above.

None

1st November 2022

12th December 2022

27th February 2023

1st November 2022

12th December 2022

27th February 2023