Venue: Civic Centre, High Road, Wood Green, N22 8LE
Contact: Dominic O'Brien, Principal Scrutiny Officer
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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. Additional documents: 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’. |
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Apologies for Absence Additional documents: Minutes: No apologies for absence had been received.
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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). Additional documents: Minutes: None.
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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. Additional documents: Minutes: None.
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Deputations/Petitions/Presentations/Questions To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution. Additional documents: Minutes: Tashan Bonner put forward a deputation to the panel on behalf of the TAG (Temporary Accommodation Group) Love Lane resident’s group. In addressing the panel he focused on concerns that the group had relating to transparency and mistreatment. On transparency issues Mr Bonner said that, like many of the Temporary Accommodation tenants, they were not informed when moved on to the estate that it was a future demolition site and had received no indicative or definitive answer as to where they will be housed after demolition of the site. Residents are concerned that they could be moved into the private rented sector. With regards to mistreatment, residents felt that they had no housing security. Furthermore there were a number of families living in overcrowded spaces and unliveable conditions, including in housing that have problems with damp and mould. Mr Bonner recommended that the Council should stop the practice of moving more Temporary Accommodation residents into the estate. This is continuing to make the situation worse as it meant that more people have the same insecurity and uncertainty and will also need to be moved out prior to demolition. He added that all Temporary Accommodation residents on the Love Lane estate should receive an offer of permanent housing. In response to questions from Panel Members, Mr Bonner said:
Another member of the delegation, Reverend Paul Nicolson, commented that there were 4,400 Haringey families currently in Temporary Accommodation, 3,200 of which were housed within the Borough with the reminder moved out of the borough. In response to a Freedom of Information request, he had received information that 671 families had been moved into the private rented sector which results in a significant increase in the levels of rent thereby causing poverty for families. Another resident commented that a lot of people on the estate felt emotionally drained by their experience, by not knowing where they will eventually be moved to and by bringing up children in the current living conditions on the estate. These difficult living conditions included problems with anti-social behaviour on the estate such as drug abuse and prostitution. Lifts in the blocks were often out of service and sometimes hazardous as the lift car did not always line up with the floor when the doors are open. Water sometimes leaked through internal ceilings within flats. Cllr Ruth Gordon thanked the delegation for attending the meeting and putting their concerns forward to the panel. She informed the delegation that, as a scrutiny panel, they were not a decision making body. However, the panel was able to take up questions on behalf of residents and investigate issues further as part of their work ... view the full minutes text for item 17. |
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To approve the minutes of the previous meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: In relation to item 9 of the draft minutes of the panel’s previous meeting on 17th September 2018, Panel members asked for further clarification about the Cabinet Member for Housing and Estate Regeneration’s comments about proposed changes to Appendices C & D of the Council’s existing Housing Strategy and about the consultation process for a new Housing Strategy. Dan Hawthorn, Director of Housing & Growth, commented that at a meeting of the Cabinet earlier in the week (on 13th Nov 2018) changes to Appendix C were approved – this does not change the percentage of affordable housing required in new developments but addresses the preferences that the new administration has for the types of affordable housing. On the Council’s Housing Strategy, this has a formal planning status so the review of it requires a public consultation, which will take place over the course of 2019, and must be considered by the Regulatory Committee and Cabinet before it is then adopted by full Council. Changing the percentage of affordable housing required by new developments would have to be done through the Local Plan which is subject to an examination by an independent Planning Inspector for viability which is a time consuming process. The Mayor of London is also in the process of updating the London Plan and this is expected to include a change in the overall strategic target of affordable housing in London from 40% to 50% when it is adopted in October 2019. Asked whether the Planning Sub Committee could begin to base its decisions on an expected forthcoming change in affordability targets, given that it could take a couple of years before the policy could be formally adopted, Dan Hawthorn commented that decisions taken on this basis could be vulnerable to being overturned on appeal. However, the further the policy went through the adoption process, the greater the weight that could be placed on it when making decisions. The Panel also queried whether discussions with developers about future planning applications would be based on the expected future affordability target. Emma Williamson, Assistant Director for Planning, (who was not present at the meeting) could supply further written information to the Panel to provide more detail on these points. (ACTION – EMMA WILLIAMSON) Cllr Barnes noted that there is a discrepancy between the figure of 3,000 Haringey households in Temporary Accommodation, as set out in Item 8 of the minutes of the previous meeting, and the figure of 4,400 Haringey households in Temporary Accommodation, as described by Reverend Nicolson in the deputation that had just been received. Dan Hawthorn confirmed that 3,000 is the figure that he works with and that he does not recognise the larger 4,400 figure. Cllr Stone noted that he had been marked as not present in the draft minutes which was incorrect. This error would be amended in the final version of the minutes. AGREED: That, following the aforementioned amendment to the attendance record, the minutes of the Housing & Regeneration Scrutiny Panel meeting held on ... view the full minutes text for item 18. |
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Cabinet Member Questions - Strategic Regeneration An opportunity to question the Cabinet Member for Strategic Regeneration, Cllr Charles Adje, on developments within his portfolio. Additional documents: Minutes: Cllr Charles Adje, Cabinet Member for Strategic Regeneration responded to questions on the following issues:
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Building Council Homes for Londoners - briefing note PDF 175 KB For the panel to receive a briefing note on the allocations for the Building Council Homes for Londoners funding as recently announced by the Mayor of London. This item will not involve an officer presentation but there will be a short time allowed for Panel Members to ask questions about any issues arising. Additional documents: Minutes: Due to time constraints, no questions were asked to officers on this report. Dan Hawthorn said that he would be happy to respond to any written questions from Members which could be conveyed via the Principal Scrutiny Officer. AGREED: That the report be noted.
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Tottenham/Wood Green landowner forums PDF 185 KB Report to follow. Additional documents: Minutes: Peter O’Brien, Assistant Director for Area Regeneration, introduced the report on the landowners forums noting that:
Members of the panel expressed concerns about the public perception of a lack of transparency of the forums, the potentially influential role of the forums including by potentially enabling decision making between the Council and major developers. Responding to questions from the panel, Peter O’Brien said:
AGREED: That the Panel consider this issue further when the report to the Housing & Regeneration sub-group has been produced.
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Priorities 4 & 5 Budget Position (Quarter 1 - 2018/19) PDF 392 KB To provide an overview of the financial performance of the services with Priority 4 (Sustainable Housing, Growth and Employment) and Priority 5 (Create homes and communities where people choose to live and are able to thrive) of the Corporate Plan as at the end of quarter 1 of 2018/19.
Additional documents: Minutes: Kaycee Ikegwu, Business Partner, introduced the report on the budget position for Priorities 4 and 5 of the Corporate Plan for Quarter 1 of 2018/19 and made the following points:
Responding to questions from the panel, Kaycee Ikegwu and Dan Hawthorn said:
AGREED: That the report be noted.
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Work Programme Update PDF 406 KB To consider potential issues for inclusion within the work plan for 2018-19.
Additional documents: Minutes: Dominic O’Brien, Principal Scrutiny Officer, reported that High Road West would be added as a potential scrutiny review to the draft work programme. The draft work programme and the scoping document for the Wards Corner scrutiny review had been submitted to the forthcoming meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. A site visit and evidence sessions for the Wards Corner review would be scheduled shortly. Cllr Ruth Gordon requested that the evidence sessions be recorded/broadcast where possible. She also said that she would circulate a possible list of witnesses for the review to the other panel members by email.
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New items of urgent business To consider any items admitted at item 3 above.
Additional documents: Minutes: None.
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Dates of Future Meetings Additional documents: Minutes: The next meetings of the Housing & Regeneration scrutiny panel are scheduled to take place on:
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