Agenda and minutes

Venue: Woodside Room - George Meehan House, 294 High Road, N22 8JZ. View directions

Contact: Philip Slawther, Principal Scrutiny Officer, Email: philip.slawther2@haringey.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

86.

FILMING AT MEETINGS

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.

Minutes:

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’.

87.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

88.

Urgent Business

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).

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

89.

Declarations of interest

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.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

90.

Deputations/Petitions/Presentations/Questions

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

Minutes:

The Panel received a public question from Alex Davies on behalf of the senior leadership and governing body of Chestnuts Primary School, in relation to the St Ann’s development:

How will our pupils and their families be protected from the increase in pollution and vehicle traffic caused by the proposed permanent vehicle entrance opposite the school?

The Chair read out the following pre-prepared response to the question:

The planning application reference number HGY/2022/1833 submitted by Hill Residential, Catalyst Housing Limited and Catalyst by Design Limited for the St Ann’s Hospital site was considered by the Council’s Planning Sub Committee on Tuesday 29 November 2022.

 

After considering a detailed report and hearing from objectors of the scheme including from the School, as well as supporters, the Committee resolved to grant planning permission subject to various conditions and legal obligations being agreed.

 

The report and discussions addressed concerns from school children about the access opposite Chestnuts Primacy School being used for construction traffic.  There are two proposed site access points and the majority of the works will use an access point to the east of the school and the developers have committed to minimising traffic opposite the school.  The level of traffic using this entrance once the development is complete will be low due to the low level of parking on the site and the inclusion of measures to promote the use of sustainable transport. 

 

The Committee’s resolution referred to ‘heads of terms’ of legal agreements including the following to help improve air quality and safety:

 

·         Highway Works - Creation of 2 new pedestrian crossings on St Ann’s Road (1 signalised crossing and 1 zebra crossing)

·         Traffic Management Measures - Provide a contribution of £80,000 towards the feasibility, design and consultation relating to the implementation of traffic management measures in the area surrounding the site

·         St Ann’s Cycle Lane - Provide a contribution of £150,000 towards a study of the feasibility and design of a protected cycle track on St Ann’s Road.

·         Construction Logistics and Management - Provide a contribution of £10,000 towards the assessment and monitoring of a detailed construction logistics and management plan (secured by condition).

·         Accident Vision Zero - Provision of a contribution of £24,000 towards reducing traffic accidents in the vicinity of the application site and supporting ‘healthy streets’

·         Residents Liaison Group - The applicant shall use reasonable endeavours to run, facilitate and organise quarterly meetings with local residents’ groups, schools and businesses during the demolition and construction works relating to the whole development.

 

The Committee’s resolution referred to conditions which also include a Demolition Logistics Plan, Demolition Environmental Management Plan, Construction Logistics Plan and Construction Environmental Management Plan where approval from the Council will need to be sought in due course. Discharging these conditions will require evidence of engagement with the Liaison Group mentioned above

 

In relation to a follow-up question, Mr Davies thanked the Chair for the response and requested that the Council ensured that the health and safety of the children at Chestnuts  ...  view the full minutes text for item 90.

91.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 248 KB

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting. 

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters and Planning advised that she would bring the housing repairs improvement plan to the February meeting of the Panel as an agenda item. (Action: Cllr Carlin/David Joyce).

 

RESOLVED

 

That the minutes of the meeting of 1st November were agreed as a correct record.

92.

Housing Repairs Performance pdf icon PDF 2 MB

Minutes:

The Panel received a report which provided an update on repairs performance in the housing service, following its transfer from the ALMO to the Council. The Report was introduced by Cllr Carlin, Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters and Planning as set out in the agenda pack at pages 9 to 16. Judith Page, Assistant Director for Property Services was also present for this agenda item. The following arose as part of the discussion on this report:

a.    The Cabinet Member acknowledged that a significant level of improvement was still needed in the housing repairs service to reach the standards that the Council and residents expected. At the point of transfer to the Council in June 2022, the service had experienced significant instability both internally and externally for the previous two and a half years.  The key issue was that a lot of the housing stock was old and in need of major works.

b.    In response to a request for clarification, officers acknowdged a typographical error on page one of the report and that the chart should state that restricted repairs came to an end in June 2021, rather than repairs.

c.    In response to a query about what was meant by a limited digital offer, the Panel was advised that repairs emails went into a centralised mailbox to customers services and that these had to be allocated from there.

d.    In response to a questions around KPIs and the percentage of appointments made and kept, the Cabinet Member advised that that this could be impacted by differing levels of priority. It was noted that the service was looking to publish reporting standards so that people would know how long they could expect to wait for a repair.

e.    In response to a question about the timeframe for improving repairs, the Cabinet Member advised that that this would be set out as part of the improvement plan coming to the next Panel meeting. February would fit with in with the wider project planning for this as well as the recruitment of the AD for Housing Services and an AD of Housing Management in January.

f.     Members advised that the stated 2.5% of repair jobs which resulted in a compliant, did not seem to reflect the level of complaints they were seeing in their casework. In response, the Cabinet Member commented that she would like to see this figure down to under 0.5% of complaints being escalated. Officers advised that they were bringing in a complex case team to deal with cases that had more than four repairs jobs scheduled. It was envisaged that adopting a casework management approach would help to bring down instances of complaints being escalated. Officers advised that part of the approach being adopted was to look at the wider culture of how the Council dealt with complaints.

g.    Members commented that their own experiences, even if it was just a perception, it seemed as though things only got done once a councillor had become  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.

93.

SCRUTINY OF THE 2023/24 DRAFT BUDGET / 5 YEAR MEDIUM TERM FINANCIAL STRATEGY (2023/24 - 2027/28) pdf icon PDF 392 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel received a covering report with a number of appendices, that set out the Council’s draft budget and 5 Year Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2023/2028 proposals relating to the Panel’s remit. The report was introduced by John O’Keefe, Head of Finance (Capital, Place & Economy) a set out in the agenda pack at pages 17 to 92. Cllr Carlin, Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters and Planning was present, along with Cllr Gordon, Cabinet Member for Council House Building, Placemaking and Development. A number of officers from the Housing and Placemaking Directorate were also present.

 

By way on introduction, the Panel was advised that the report contained a summary of the draft budget proposals that were submitted to Cabinet the previous week. The proposals related to the revenue and capital General Fund budget as well as the HRA revenue and capital budgets and the HRA business plan. The report noted that at present there was a £3.1m budget gap and that this was after circa £5m of additional one off funding (reserves) had been utilised. An updated report would be presented to Cabinet In February, which would reflect the updated financial position, having taken in to account the latest government funding settlement and other sources of income, such as grants. The Panel noted that the Council continued to maintain a wide ranging capital programme, however rising interest rates had affected the ability of the Council to self-finance some of these schemes. 

 

The following arose during the discussion of this item:

a.    The Panel sought clarification about the barriers to moving on from Temporary Accommodation (TA). The Panel also enquired whether this related to people who had been in Temporary Accommodation so long that the Council could not discharge its housing duty to them by placing them in the private rented sector. In response, the Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Private Renters and Planning advised that there was around 500 families who had been in TA for a very long time, some as long as 20 years. Many of these families were settled and had little desire to move elsewhere. The problem was that there was a cost to the Council in making up the 10% difference between the London Housing Allowance Rate and the rate for the Temporary Accommodation, and that this put additional pressure on an already very stretched budget. Saving AHC_SAV_009 related to a piece of work that was being done to work with some of these families to find permanent accommodation that they would be willing to move into. This would save the Council money as the rates for permanent Council owned accommodation were cheaper. The Cabinet Member assured Panel members that this was not about discharging families into the private sector and that for many of the families in question they would not be allowed to do so due to the fact that they had been there before the regulation change came into effect.

b.    Members asked whether, in making them a direct offer,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93.

94.

Work Programme Update pdf icon PDF 421 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

The work programme was noted.

95.

New items of urgent business

To consider any items admitted at item 3 above.

 

Minutes:

N/A

96.

Dates of Future Meetings

27 February 2023

Minutes:

27 February 2023