Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Centre, High Road, Wood Green, N22 8LE

Contact: Dominic O'Brien, Principal Scrutiny Officer  Email: dominic.obrien@haringey.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

26.

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’.

27.

Apologies for Absence

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies for absence had been received from Cllr Sarah Williams.

 

28.

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.

 

29.

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.

 

30.

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:

None.

 

31.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 172 KB

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting. 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In relation to the action point in the minutes about anti-social behaviour on the Love Lane estate it was noted that the response from Sean McLaughlin, Managing Director of Homes for Haringey, had said that Estates Watch system [involving a high-spec CCTV and intercom system in the communal areas of the blocks to monitor problems, speak directly to perpetrators and direct police] would be rolled out from April 2019. However, Cllr Barnes said that the reports of anti-social behaviour were continuing and suggested that the Safer Neighbourhood Team should be involved to support residents during the winter months.

In relation to the item in the minutes on the Tottenham and Wood Green landowner forums, Peter O’Brien, Assistant Director for Area Regeneration, reported that a paper had been submitted to a meeting of the Housing & Regeneration sub-group on 4th December. The steer from Members at that meeting was to cease the Tottenham landowner forum and to take more time to consider political representation on the Wood Green landowner forum. Members had been keen to stress that the Borough remained pro-business and wanted to ensure that there are mechanisms and structures for effective engagement with businesses and landowners in line with the draft Borough Plan and the Business Pledge. These proposals remained in draft until such time as the Council’s wider approach to business engagement had been established through the Borough Plan process.

In relation to the action point in the minutes about loading bays potentially being placed at the front of retail premises rather than rear access as part of the redevelopment of the Wood Green High Road area, Cllr Adje confirmed that this was indeed the case with minivans used to deliver goods to the High Road, as happens in a similar way elsewhere in London. However, this was predominantly a planning issue and so further questions would need to be directed to those responsible for planning policy. 

AGREED: That the minutes of the Housing & Regeneration Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 15th November 2018 be approved as an accurate record.

 

32.

Scrutiny of the 2019/20 Draft Budget / 5 Year Medium Term Financial Strategy (2019/20-2023/24) pdf icon PDF 2 MB

That the Panel considers, and provide recommendations to Overview and Scrutiny Committee, on the 2019-20 Draft Budget and on the MTFS 2019/20 - 2023/24 and savings proposals relating to the Panel’s remit.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Helen Fisher, Director of Housing, Regeneration and Planning, introduced the report on the 2019/20 draft budget and the five-year Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2019/20 to 2023/24 with a focus on Priority 4 (Economy/Regeneration) and Priority 5 (Housing). The Council’s overall proposed budget reductions are £7m in 2019/20 rising to £12.8m by 2023/24 but it is currently estimated that £6.5m of further budget reductions will be required to address the current gap in 2019/20.

The figures for Priorities 4 and 5 are included in Appendix B of the report. This shows a significant drop in the budget for Priority 4 from 2019/20 but this is mainly due to movements out of Priority 4 into Priority 3. It also shows gradual reductions in the Priority 5 budget which is mainly due to savings in the Temporary Accommodation budget. The Priority 4 budget (£4.7m in 2018/19) and Priority 5 budget (£19.8m in 2018/19) combined represents less than 10% of the overall Council budget. The figures from the revised plan are £6.3m for Priority 4 (which comprises of £18.4m of expenditure and £12m of income) and £15.8m for Priority 5 (which comprises of £55.8m of expenditure and £40m of income).

Responding to a query on the overall staffing budget, Helen Fisher agreed to provide further details about this to the panel in writing. (Action – Helen Fisher) Overall staff numbers across the whole directorate is around 240 but this shifts significantly and often involves agency staff for certain functions. A staffing structure chart was circulated to the panel with details of the senior management within the directorate. The directorate was increasingly moving towards a model of bringing in more planning income and external funding to reduce the impact on the General Fund. Peter O’Brien, Assistant Director for Regeneration, said that the regeneration budget was around £3.3m with around £1.7m to £1.8m coming from the General Fund with the rest covered largely by external funding.

On property services, Helen Fisher said that additional agency staff had been brought in to help with ongoing work to meet the increased income target but it would be better to move to permanent posts in this area. Some properties had not had a rent review for 10-15 years so assets owned by the Council are being reviewed and there is a large backlog to work through. This included reviewing the conditions and health and safety compliance of the properties as well as the rent levels. On a query about the void rate and current rental income, Helen Fisher said that this information would need to be provided in writing. (Action – Helen Fisher) It would not be possible to provide an estimate of how much additional rental income could be brought in as this would only be known as each property is reviewed. As an example, one recently reviewed property had seen the rent increase by 50%. The impact of rent increases on local businesses also needed to be taken into account. It was expected that the review  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

33.

New items of urgent business

To consider any items admitted at item 3 above.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

None.

 

34.

Dates of Future Meetings

Additional documents:

Minutes:

·         15th January 2019

·         14th February 2019

·         14th March 2019