Verbal update
Minutes:
The Committee received a verbal update from the Leader of the Council, Cllr Ejiofor, on his policy priorities for the coming 12 months. Zina Etheridge, the Chief Executive of the Council was also present. The Leader advised that the Borough Plan sought to demonstrate how the Council would work closely with stakeholders and the wider community to deliver its objectives. The priorities for the administration were closely aligned to the objectives of the Borough Plan.
The Leader set out key areas of delivery in the past 12 months, which also closely reflected Labour’s manifesto commitments.
· To build 1000 new houses by 2022. The Leader advised that, as of the first year, there were 227 new homes in the pipeline and that there was a natural time delay between acquiring sites etcetera and those houses being delivered. It was anticipated that the majority of homes would be delivered in years three and four. The Committee was advised that the decamp of two blocks at Broadwater Farm was a key challenge and had put additional pressures on the Council’s housing stock. The Leader identified that the Council had received £262m from the Mayor of London and that there was due to be nearly £1 billion investment scheduled for housing across Haringey, including renovating derelict homes.
· Violent crime in the Borough – The Youth at Risk Strategy was taking a public health approach to tackle this. The Council had consulted widely on this strategy and had received significant buy-in from partners and local stakeholders. The Council received £1.5m from the Mayor’s Young Londoner’s Fund. As part of the Haringey Community Gold there was a dedicated team of outreach social workers in place to engage with young people at risk. The Leader also set out that the Council had added an additional £250k into the youth services budget.
· Fairness Commission. 1500 people had contributed to the engagement work around the Fairness Commission. Work was continuing about how we would take the issues raised and tarry them up to the Borough Plan.
· Making Council Tax fairer through the Council Tax Reduction scheme. The Leader advised that through this scheme the administration had taken 6000 people on the lowest incomes out of paying Council Tax.
For Year 2, the Leader set out the following five priority areas for his administration.
· Insourcing. Following a number of changes to the portfolios of Cabinet Members, Insourcing had been centralised and would now be the responsibility of the Leader. The Committee noted a lot of other Councils were looking at similar undertakings. Insourcing provided the Council with a lot more flexibility and control over how the money was spent.
· Community wealth building. This was around ensuring that as much of public sector spending stayed within the local economy in Haringey. The Leader advised that he had established a Cabinet Member for Local Investment and Economic Growth to push this agenda.
· Housing. The administration was looking to build its first new homes in July at Templeton Road in Seven Sisters. The Leader set out that the administration would be using all available levers to build 1000 new homes and to ease the pressure on overcrowded housing and Temporary Accommodation.
· Budget Pressures. Over the course of the last nine years the Council had seen funding per household reduced by around £1000 and the Council was continuing to implement changes to its services in response to budget reductions. The Leader advised that the Council needed to have honest and frank conversations with its residents and stakeholders about how it could continue to meet those ongoing budget pressures.
· The Committee noted that there had been a frank Peer Review undertaken by the Council, which had identified some structural issues that needed to be addressed. One issue highlighted was around the need to have a better HR function, particularly in relation to potentially employing a lot more staff through the insourcing agenda. A report was scheduled to come to July Cabinet which would set out what the Council was doing in response to the Peer Review.
The following was noted in relation to the discussion of the Leader’s update:
a. The Committee requested further information in relation to a breakdown of the 227 new properties in the pipeline. In response, The Leader advised that 131 of those properties were on the Welbourne site and included one, two, three and four bedroom properties. Whilst the properties on Templeton Road were due to be built in the Autumn of 2020. The Committee noted that at present it was not possible for the Council to build its own homes as it didn’t have its own architects and builders. However, the Council was looking to build this capacity and it was envisaged that the Council would start to build its own homes by the end of the term of this administration. In response to follow-up questions, the Leader advised that he was hopeful of having 500 more new homes pass through the planning stage this year. The Committee were advised that the Leader was happy that the pledge to build 1000 new homes was broadly on track.
b. The Committee requested an update on the future of the St. Ann’s site. The Leader advised that the GLA had bought the site and had set out very clearly that they were looking for one developer to develop the whole site, so the Council buying it was not feasible. The Council were in discussion with the GLA however to ensure that as much of the site was social housing as possible and to potentially purchase as many of the affordable homes as possible. The site would be in line with the Mayor’s target of 50% affordable homes.
c. In response to a question about START, the Committee noted that the Council was engaging with the Community Land Trust but was limited in the influence it had over the St Ann’s site, as it was not owned by the Council. The Committee expressed a desire for the Council to explore the Community Land Trust model further. In response, the Leader acknowledged this request but suggested that the Council needed to consider what its priorities were and focus on those.
d. In response to concerns about the GLAs approach, the Committee was advised that ultimately the scheme would have to come to Haringey’s Planning Committee which would then have the ability to set out the number of affordable and the number of social homes it would like to see.
e. The Committee raised the issue of key worker accommodation and suggested that this should be a key priority in terms of housing needs. In response, the Leader acknowledged this issue and reassured the Committee that this was on his agenda.
f. In response to a question about the insourcing agenda, the Leader advised that there were a large number of contracts being looked at from £150k upwards, not just the large value contracts such as Veolia and Highways. The administration was going through a process of looking at which of those contracts could potentially be delivered in-house, how this could be done and trying to build this into the wider contract renewal process and timescale.
g. The Committee enquired about the Amey contract and whether that was being considered for being brought back in-house. In response the Committee noted that there was a report scheduled to come to July Cabinet which would provide further information on this.
h. The Committee raised concerns about burglary and street robberies and asked the Leader what conversations he was having with the new Borough Commander around this issue. The Leader advised that his first conversation would be around vacancies and the need for a full strength police presence in Haringey to deal with a number of crime and disorder issues. He was also looking to see what the Council could do to better work in partnership with the police to address joint priorities.
i. The Chair raised concerns that she had received a number of complaints from residents of instances where police were batting back issues to the Council and there was a perception that no one was taking responsibility. In response, the Leader acknowledged these concerns and the need to emphasise the role of community trust building to the police. The Committee also noted the role of the new Borough Plan and the need to examine crime from a Place perspective. The Committee noted that the Community Safety Strategy was due to come to Cabinet in June.
j. In response to number of questions, the Committee requested that a Member Briefing session take place on the Youth at Risk Strategy and that the Partners be invite to attend, as well as the Borough Commander. (Action: Leader).
k. The Chief Executive agreed to write to OSC Members with further details of the School Exclusions Review (Action: Zina Etheridge).
l. The Committee expressed concern about a lack of communication around the Fairness Commission and a feeling that residents had given information but it hadn’t necessarily gone anywhere. In response, the Leader set out that a significant amount of consultation work had been undertaken and there were a number of potential strands to take forward that didn’t necessarily have to be within the Fairness Commission. At present, the Council had taken forward the five key areas that had come out of the consultation process and would be reporting on those in due course. It was suggested that Scrutiny could continue to monitor this going forward and that the Cabinet Member could come to a future meeting to discuss this in detail. The Chair emphasised the need for the Council to close the feedback loop and ensure that it was reporting to residents about what it had done with the information provided to it.
m. The Committee enquired about whether the Council had started the process of capacity building in relation to housing and employing a range of in-house staff. In response, the Committee was advised that an overall Head of Housing Delivery Programme had been recruited, along with a number of other members of the same team. The Chief Executive suggested that there were around 10 people in post so far. The idea was that talent would also be developed within the existing pool of staff as well. The Chief Executive agreed to circulate a briefing to Members on what was being done to build capacity around delivering new housing. (Action: Zina Etheridge).
RESOLVED
That the Committee noted the verbal update.