Agenda item

To receive an update in respect of Housing matters.

Cabinet RESOLVED to:

 

a.     Note the contents of the Housing Update report

 

b.     Approve the additional expenditure of up to £500,000 from the Housing Revenue Account

The Chief Executive presented the Housing Update which updated Councillors on a range of operational housing issues, and detailed what actions were being taken to rectify each problem identified.

He recommended that Cabinet:

• Note the contents of this report
• Approve the additional expenditure of up to £500,000 from the

Housing Revenue Account

 

He apologised for the lateness of the report, which was genuinely unavoidable and related to issues of damp and mould and the related return required by the government and requested at the end of November 2022. The response was submitted by the Council on 19 December 2022, following which, the report was written.

 

He said that:

• Appendix A contained the Draft Rent Setting Review which had arrived in the building on 21 December 2022, had been published within hours of receipt and would be taken in part 2 due to the proprietary information it contained
• He had not wanted to wait for the new year to report on the matter when he had the information available to bring it to this Cabinet meeting, which would mean that the important work that was necessary could commence 28 days earlier
• The key decision should have been published and notice of it been given 28 days in advance of the meeting. This was not possible so they were seeking to use the Genuine Urgency Procedure, rule 16 of the Constitution. He asked Members to note this, and said that had they known about the need for this decision 28 days ago then it would have been duly published as was routinely required and routinely carried out
• He thanked the Democratic Services Officer and her colleagues for their input and efforts to restore the audio to the meeting recording
• The public gallery was open, that there was currently no legal requirement to provide a live broadcast of the meeting and that there was no question of the validity of the meeting

 

The Chief Executive said that four issues had been identified, and that the first one related to rent. He said that:

• It was known that the rent issue had been caused by innocent Officer error, how and where the error was made and it had been confirmed that it only affected the current and previous financial years so the scale of the error was relatively modest and involved mainly pennies per week per property
• Refunds would be calculated with interest to all tenants, whether they were in arrears or not, and efforts would be made to contact former tenants and the estates of former tenants. Processing the refunds would be complex and take time to ensure that attention is paid to accommodating tenants who were on Universal Credit or Housing Benefit during the period or part of it
• An individual letter to tenants explaining and apologising had been signed off and despatched today
• It had been necessary to self-refer to the Housing Regulator as a result of this issue, and a meeting with them had been scheduled for the third week of January 2023 to look at the Council`s action plan. It was not anticipated that the Council would be put in Special Measures as a result of this issue.

 

The Chief Executive said that the second issue identified related to damp and mould. He said that:

• It had previously been reported that there were systems within the repairs and maintenance provision to ensure that each report was visited within three working days. This has not been the case, and of the 800 reports, 98 remain to be visited or acted on. 88 of the reports were received in November or December 2022 and 10 predate November back to February 2022. They were now urgently looking into the 98 cases and any additional cases that arose
• One final opportunity has been given to the provider to get qualified people through the doors to undertake the work. If it was not resolved by early January 2023 the Council will employ their own people to undertake the work as it cannot wait, and would then seek to recover the costs from the contract with the provider
• Following discussions with the Regulator of Social Housing Case Officer it was decided that it was not currently necessary to write to self refer on this issue as it was not a breach
• Many other landlords had hundreds of cases of category one mould, there were currently no known cases in Uttlesford and by the end of March 2023 there should be evidence available to prove that there were no cases
• The stock conditioning survey did not just consider damp and mould but was the foundation on which capital programmes were built to develop efficiencies and reduce any contribution to the climate crisis
• An extremely reputable supplier had been located, was available to start work in January 2023 and was charging 75% of the usual cost

 

The Chief Executive said that the third issue identified related to Reynolds Court. He said that:

• Conversations were underway with the original builder who planned to correct the faults in January 2023
• In the meantime proportionate interventions had been put in place to ensure the safety of residents. A Fire Warden was now in place overnight until the issue was resolved, as approved by the Essex Fire and Rescue Services

 

The Chief Executive said that the fourth issue was the update on repairs and maintenance. He said that:

• The five year domestic electrical compliance had stood at 75%, but was now up to 86%

 

The Leader asked that Members first considered the noting of the report and then the approval of the proposed expenditure.

 

Councillor Freeman said that the issue at Reynolds Court should never have happened, and it concerned him why it wasn’t identified by the building inspectors and what other issues could be out there.

The Leader said that there were no concerns over any other shelter schemes and that residents should not be alarmed and that the Chief Executive had originally planned to not bring the matter to Members until it was resolved to avoid any unnecessary alarm or distress to residents.

 

The Director of Planning said that:

• Building control inspectors would observe a sample of the flats in such a scheme and if regulations were met, they would take it in good faith that the remainder of the flats had been executed to the same standard
• Local authority building control tended to be more observant and considered than other authority building control
• It was not reasonable to assess everything in every building and faith should be placed with contractors

 

Councillor Caton said that:

• He was not criticising any officer past or present but he felt that the Council needed to be learning from this experience
• Cabinet made the decision to enter the partnership with NORSE and had gone from being owner operator to being the client of a contractor and  had failed to manage the consequences of that decision
• The contract had not been well managed and Uttlesford residents would pay the price in the long term as the Council paid for the remedial actions from the housing revenue accounts
• Council and Cabinet have failed on this matter and it would have immense impact on tenants and their perception of the competency of the Council

 

The Leader said that one of the main objectives given to the Chief Executive when he took up post, was to resolve the Uttlesford NORSE partnership. He had raised the issues to Cabinet, it hadn`t gone as well as would be hoped, but it was not because we were not trying to resolve the issues.

 

Councillor Hargreaves said that:

• The building of Reynolds Court and the Council rent setting were both unrelated to NORSE
• Reynolds Court was a one off unique design which means the same issue would not be present elsewhere
• Officers and the Chief Executive should be complimented for the rapid and effective action they took to achieve the waking watch to get the matter resolved
• The Chief Executive had been very good at keeping the Leader, Ward Members and the Portfolio Holder for Housing informed and updated
• The over-payment in rent of £160,000 over the 2 year period was related to £28.5m rental income for the period

 

In response to questions from Councillor Gregory, the Chief Executive said that the waking watch cost £1500 per week and it was anticipated would be required until the end of January 2023.

 

In response to questions from Councillor Gregory, the Director of Planning said that there were options for prosecution under the Buildings Act.

The Chief Executive said that his order of priority was:

• To ensure safety for residents
• Protect the Council`s interests
• Protect the wider interest of other owners who may have had buildings built with similar issues

 

He said that the builders who had built the building had very quickly agreed to a site meeting and were hoping to get the issue resolved in January 2023. He did not want to slow the process by taking legal action at this point.

 

Councillor Gregory thanked the Chief Executive and acknowledged the significant pushback that he had received relating to housing. He said that:

• The Chief Executive had been appointed to uncover every stone, and in doing so was identifying historical issues
• The issues being identified were not the Chief Executive`s fault, but were a result of failure of supervision over several years
• The issue identified at Reynolds Court was shameful and a result of the previous administration`s culture of complacency, an absence of supervision and wall to wall operational failure to do a basic job that put vulnerable residents lives at risk. The culture of undocumented meetings with Stansted Airport, the absence of gas and electricity safety checks, the three failed Local Plans all came about as a result of a failure of individuals to do their basic jobs over many, many years, whilst prioritising photo opportunities for the local newspapers over competence and basic safeguarding of our residents. These failures were appalling and the highlighting of them was personal not political, and should be investigated
• He would be writing to the Chief Executive asking for Officers to produce draft terms of reference for a Task and Finish Group to investigate the sequential failures in one of our most basic services over many years
• The 2000 Local Government Act removed the power of surcharge. He said that he would like to surcharge the previous Cabinet of this Council for the costs of the waking watch as they had failed to conduct the most basic of jobs

 

Councillor Smith said that Members could not be expected to conduct building safety checks.

 

In response to questions from Councillor Smith, the Chief Executive said:

• If any 1 of the 98 mould checks identified a category one case, that there was expert treatment available that included stripping out, ripping out, preventing recurrence and where immediate rectification wasn’t possible, included rehousing residents. He said that it was high risk, but with low probability
• The asbestos checks had been started again from the beginning to provide confidence in the data. A number of further visits were scheduled before the end of the year

 

Councillor Smith said:

• That it was reassuring that NORSE had been proactive in executing the asbestos checks
• NORSE had also been very thorough and quick to react to the report of cooking smells travelling between flats at Reynolds Court, and it was this good practise that had uncovered the issues highlighted
• That there were corporate challenges to overcome within the partnership, and that the fact that the rolling stock checks had not restarted after Covid was a grave concern

 

Councillor Coote said that:

• He noted Councillor Smith`s response to the Chair of Scrutiny regarding reflection on previous administrations, and he felt that his response to Councillor Caton`s comments was almost hostile regarding the challenge of Cabinet. He said that following that theme, then surely the previous administration should also be challenged
• He had initially been opposed to the NORSE partnership, but had listened carefully and had been persuaded, along with his colleagues. He felt that he had been lied to when he had asked questions. He had argued with the Chief Executive that they didn`t need a check because he was being told that everything was okay
• He had asked awkward questions, as did the Leader in her previous role, but the answers were untrue. He said that he wouldn`t call anybody a liar, and suggested maybe they had believed that the answers they gave were true
• Looking to the future he did not believe that the Council couldn`t work with NORSE, not least due to the lack of alternatives. He said that individuals from NORSE respond quickly to achieve results
• He would always ask awkward questions when necessary and enjoyed being questioned to ensure he was doing his job properly

 

Councillor Gregory extended his thanks to the Interim Director of Housing who was changing the culture and attitude and had implemented significant change in a short period.

 

Councillor Pepper said that:

• The reputation of NORSE and the Reynolds Court builders mattered
• Once evidence was available it should be possible to get compensation for the issues that have arisen
• The Chief Executive had identified a number of issues. His leadership ensured that the detail was covered and was open and transparent and was dealt with quickly and efficiently

 

Councillor Evans said that:

• It was the function of the legal department to verify that at the end of the project contract period, that matters had been complied with contractually
• If this had not happened historically he asked the Chief Executive to verify whether there might be methods of tackling the risk management at sign off

 

The Chief Executive said that:

• A new property management structure had recently been posted to ensure greater consistency
• There was a need to increase contract management capacity and there were two new staff starting in new roles in January 2023 in performance and contract management as well as a new role that has been brought in on an interim basis to act as the Council`s voice and landlord sitting in the Newport depot actively managing that interface on a day by day basis

 

Councillor Freeman said project and construction management was essential and that inspections needed to be properly conducted by Officers.

 

The Leader thanked the Chief Executive for the comprehensive report.

 

The report was noted.

 

Councillor Coote proposed approval of the recommendations.

 

This was seconded by Councillor Freeman.

 

            RESOLVED:

·        To note the contents of this report

·        To approve the additional expenditure of up to £500,000 from the

Housing Revenue Account

 

 

The meeting ended at 5:27pm.