Agenda item

This report provides an update on the Defend Council Homes Policy and the boroughwide consultation with all council housing tenants and leaseholders.

Councillor Lisa Homan, Cabinet Member for Housing, introduced the report, provided the context of the Defend Council Homes Policy and summarised the work which had been conducted in the past year. It was noted that resident involvement and engagement had developed significantly since 2014, and despite the consultation for Defend Council Homes  falling within the pandemic, over a thousand residents had responded to the online consultation. Councillor Lisa Homan thanked officers and the Defend Council Homes Unit for all their hard work and the comprehensive consultation that was conducted.

Shirley Cupit, Defend Council Homes Unit Chair, explained that a joint presentation would be provided by Daniel Miller, Resident Involvement & Service Improvement Manager and herself. The presentation outlined what the Defend Council Homes Policy was and provided details on the recent consultation with council housing residents. The video that was used as part of the consultation process with residents was also shown at the meeting.

The Chair thanked Shirley Cupit and Daniel Miller for the presentations / video and invited Councillor Lisa Homan to comment.  Lisa Homan confirmed it was extremely timely the DCH policy consultation update had come to PAC so any comments it did have could be incorporated into the final report to be considered by Cabinet in January 2021.

Councillor Rowan Ree noted that the last policy was unable to proceed due to changes in Government policy. With the Developers Charter legislation on the horizon, he asked whether the DCH policy would be able to operate effectively. In response, Councillor Lisa Homan confirmed that the DCH policy should work because it was based on good practice and on redevelopment rather than for a major planning application. However, it was essential that the DCH Policy was endorsed before these governmental changes.

Councillor Adronie Alford asked how much it was going to cost to amend the land register and what would the implications be for leaseholders wishing to sell their homes. In response, Shirley Cupit confirmed the cost implications were currently under review and an answer could not be provided at the present time. In relation to the second point, leaseholders and right to buy would not be affected in any way. Mark Meehan, Chief Housing Officer confirmed that discussions were on going with the Land Registry, but the cost implications of the DCH Policy would be included in the Cabinet report. Councillor Lisa Homan confirmed that with regards to leaseholders, the scheme would afford then greater protection and so would be a positive move.

With regards to the Land Registry, Councillor Adronie Alford asked how the DCH Policy would work and whether this would be an individual property or estate restriction on title, Mark Meehan confirmed that legal negotiations were ongoing, and he would provide Councillor Adronie Alford with further information outside the meeting.

Action: That Mark Meehan provide Councillor Adronie Alford with further information relating to the legal negotiations surrounding the Land Registry.

At the invitation of the Chair, Mr Flynn, resident in attendance asked several questions. Firstly, in relation to the consultation figures, Mr Flynn confirmed that he had calculated the consultation responses were greater than 1000. In response, Daniel Miller confirmed that the consultation platform used by the Council (Common Place) automatically generated the response statistics and this anomaly was something he would need to investigate. Secondly, Mr Flynn asked Shirley Cupit what the implications were for leaseholders, if the landlord decided to make changes and whether this would prompt a large legal battle. In response, Anthony Mason, DCHU, Independent Expert,  confirmed that where the Council was the leaseholder, two of the three legal provisions that underpin the policy would still apply and but the restriction on title would not apply (as the Council did not own the freehold title).

Shirley Cupit thanked the Resident Involvement Team and key Housing officers for their assistance and confirmed the Defend Council Homes Policy was a really positive example of residents working with the Council. The Chair welcomed the large number of responses to the consultation which illustrated that residents had really engaged with it. The Committee noted that respondents were very positive about the DCH proposal and strongly supported it moving forwards.

In relation to the DCH Policy, the Chair asked what a redevelopment proposal meant. In response, Peter Bevington, DCH, Independent Expert, confirmed that a definition of redevelopment had been included at the start of the policy and pertained to loss of a resident’s homes through being demolished, rebuilt or in the loss of amenities such as green space or other community facilities.

Marilyn Mackie, resident, remarked that the Defend Council Homes proposals had been developed by residents and she thanked officers and the Defend Council Homes Unit for what had been had accomplished -  preventing redevelopment without good practice consultation first having taken place.

Summing up the discussions, the Chair thanked everyone in attendance for their contributions in devising such a thorough Defend Council Homes policy. He reiterated it was important that residents were fully engaged with any future proposals to redevelop their properties. He hoped the policy would be endorsed and implemented by Cabinet following the January 2021 Cabinet meeting. 

RESOLVED

That the Committee reviewed and commented on the report.

The Committee endorsed the Defend Council Homes Policy report to Cabinet.