Hexthorpe 12-Month Review Effectiveness of Selective Licensing

Hexthorpe 12-month review

Effectiveness of Selective Licensing, Public Space Protection Order and other Multi-agency work

January 2017

Contents

Executive Summary ...... 3

1. Background ...... 5 2. Delivery Method for Selective Licensing ...... 7 3. Added Value from the Home Safe Approach to Selective Licensing ...... 9 4. Background of Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) ...... 10 5. Progress of Implementation for Selective Licensing ...... 11 6. Progress of Implementation for PSPO and community initiative ...... 12 7. Impact of Selective Licensing in Hexthorpe ...... 14 8. Comparison to other areas in Doncaster where Selective Licensing was proposed ...... 16 9. Impact of PSPO in Hexthorpe and community projects ...... 18 10. Aims and Objectives for year 2 ...... 20

Executive Summary

1-year after implementation of Selective Licensing and a Public Space Protection Order in Hexthorpe the evidence clearly shows that these are effective tools to manage issues with Anti-Social Behaviour in problem areas. It is importance to recognise that these tools are not able to resolve underlying issues such as deprivation and transient population, but they do give an effective framework to manage an area in these circumstances. The Council has evaluated the effectiveness of Selective Licensing and the Public Space Protection Order in Hexthorpe by comparing the trends in the area with two other similar neighbourhoods in Doncaster, Bentley and Edlington. These neighbourhoods were considered during the initial Selective Licensing implementation but it was at that time felt that the Council should consider if effective partnership working could achieve an improvement in these areas without the need of Licensing. The comparison show: 1. There has been a substantial decrease in complaints received in Hexthorpe after the implementation of Selective Licensing. This includes a reduction in noise complaints by 35%, nuisance complaints by 44%, housing complaints by 25% as well as a 20% reduction in reports of unkempt properties. Fly tipping incidents have also shown a substantial reduction.

2. The partnership approach in Edlington has also achieved some reduction in anti-social behaviour complaints such as noise complaints which have reduced by 15% and nuisance complaints which has reduced by 22%. However the reduction achieved is only half of the magnitude achieved in Hexthorpe and the number of Housing Complaints has remained static in this area.

3. The partnership approach in Bentley has not been as effective in achieving results as in Edlington. Whilst there has been a slight improvement in noise complaints (11%) and has housing disrepair (12%), the amount of nuisance complaints reported has risen considerably by 17% whereas Hexthorpe has seen a 43% reduction for the same period. Fly tipping investigations have also increased by 21% in this area. A summary of the performance in Hexthorpe over the last 12-months can be seen in the figure below:

1. Background

On 1st October 2015 following consultation by Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council a Selective Licensing scheme came into force in the area of Hexthorpe with the aim to improve tenancy management and reduce anti-social behaviour (ASB) from private rented properties. Around the same time a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) was also implemented to tackle ASB in the wider community’s public spaces. Hexthorpe is a small urban village located in Doncaster. It has a population of around 3000 and contains approximately 1800 domestic properties. The area consists of predominantly Victorian terraced properties, built around the once influential plant work, famous for building the Flying Scotsman and Mallard locomotives. The low local house prices, together with the close distance to Doncaster Town Centre has made the village attractive to buy to let investors, creating a large proportion of private rented properties in the village predominantly managed by landlords with very small portfolios. Approximately 35% of all domestic properties in Hexthorpe are in the private rented sector. This is nearly 3 times more than the average for Doncaster Borough. Prior to the scheme Hexthorpe was seen to be the worst affected area in the Borough of Doncaster in terms of housing standards, property management and ASB. It has the highest instance of enforcement action reported in Doncaster with the top four streets being in Hexthorpe and the majority of instances linked to private rented properties, in some streets there is a 100% correlation between the two. One of the concerns by enforcement agencies working in the area was the very quick turnaround of tenants. This made the Council’s three-step approach of education, engagement and enforcement ineffective.

Table 1; The table show the number of Environmental ASB reports made to the Enforcement Team and formed part of the Selective Licensing Consultation Evidence. Hexthorpe is in the central ward in the Borough (this was renamed in 2016 to Hexthorpe and Balby North). As demonstrated above, 50% of instances of ASB reported to the enforcement team across the whole borough in 2012/13 were in the 5

central ward. Of the 1,815 incidents; 1,413 were fly tipping, 180 noise nuisance, and 168 refuse nuisance. Prior to the scheme Instances of ASB in the area continued to increase every year for the past 5 years. In 2014, Hexthorpe hit the national and international headlines after raised community tension due to an increase in anti- social behaviour, which some residents blamed on a recent influx of EC-migrants. As well as increasingly high rates of ASB Hexthorpe was also considered to be an area of low demand. The housing values were considered during the schemes consultation period revealing the values of properties within Hexthorpe were between 53-69% lower than the average value of properties within the DN4 postcode. The Council and the police agreed that private landlords had an important role to play in improving the situation therefore a consultation to introduce Selective Licensing was launched in June 2014. Parallel to the introduction of Selective Licensing, the Council also introduced a PSPO to signal that firm action was being taken in respect to ASB anywhere in the community, not just in private rented properties and that all partners including the Council, Private Landlords, Social Landlords, Owner Occupiers and Tenants have an equal role to play in improving their community.

2. Delivery Method for Selective Licensing

During the Selective Licensing consultation process representation was made by a group of landlords encouraging the Council to consider an accreditation scheme delivered by landlords as an alternative to Selective Licensing. Consultation concluded with the following concerns from landlords:

 The cost of Selective Licensing may be untenable in an area where property/rentable values had taken a substantial hit during the recession.  Money spent on regulation would be better spent on property improvements.  Payment of an upfront licensing fee would not be commercially viable for many smaller landlords with large mortgages.  The consultation unfairly blames landlords for the behaviour of residents in the area, which they felt they had little power to change.  The Council needed to do more to support landlords, deter bad tenant behaviour and share more information about bad tenants.  The Council should focus enforcement on known poor landlords using existing legal powers. The Council took on board the concerns, but felt that based on evidence from previous accreditation schemes, accreditation alone would not have the ability to reach the objectives of the consultation as it tended to only attract good landlords. However the Council also recognised that Selective Licensing would not provide any safeguards for continuing positive engagement with landlords, which would be essential in providing long-term prosperity of the area. The idea of a hybrid scheme, based on the principles of co-regulation was instead considered. The ambition and overall aim was to create a scheme that could deliver all the benefits of accreditation, whilst still having the legal safeguards of selective licensing to allow the Council to step in if progress was not made. The scheme would also need to ensure that non-engagement by landlords was not an option. The co- regulation idea fit in well with the Council’s Corporate Plan by working with and providing support for local businesses, whilst at the same time ensuring adequate protection for the local environment as well as improving housing standards.

When setting the objectives for the scheme both the Council’s and local landlord’s interests were considered. Resulting in the following aims:

 Make Selective Licensing more landlord friendly by making it fit with the reality of today’s buy to let market and allow monthly membership payments rather than a large upfront fee.  Build a scheme which addresses irresponsible tenants as well as landlords, by sharing adverse tenancy outcomes in a regulated manner to reduce the ability of tenants with proven ASB moving between properties.

 Give landlords in the area a voice and allow them to be a recognised stakeholder with whom the Council communicates regarding matters that concerns the area or landlords in general.  Give smaller and more inexperienced landlords a local support organisation who they can trust and who can provides them with the information, guidance and support they need to run a profitable business in a responsible manner.  Engage and educate landlords to be competent to manage their properties well, including regular effective self-assessment of compliance.  Make landlords take responsibility to educate their tenants of community expectation in relation to domestic waste and ASB at the start of every tenancy with the assistance of translated material provided by the Council.  Reduce the amount of visits the Local Authority makes to private rented properties in the area by giving landlords the option to in the first instance resolve complaints regarding their properties themselves with support and assistance of a landlord scheme. An offer to set up an independent landlord accreditation scheme to go hand in hand with Selective Licensing was published by the Council together with strict criteria for such scheme including key performance indicators. In response to this a group of landlords came forward with a proposal to set up an independent company called the Home Safe Scheme to deliver Selective Licensing in partnership with Doncaster Council. Under the co-regulation approach, landlords in the selective licensing area could either apply directly to the Council for a licence or apply to become members of the Home Safe Scheme. Meeting the set criteria of Home Safe would ensure members exceed the minimum standard required of the Selective Licensing scheme. One condition when obtaining a licence through Home Safe is that the landlord remains a compliant member of the scheme for the full Selective Licensing period. If at any time a landlord leaves the scheme, the licence would lapse requiring the landlord to apply for a new licence directly to the Council. Home Safe has their own system for monitoring compliance of their members which has been approved by the Council as well as the ability to terminate membership in cases of serious non-compliance. As termination of membership would result in the selective licence no longer being valid, it gives the scheme the tools and autonomy it needs to achieve its high expectations on landlords, something that is normally a weakness of accreditation schemes. Home Safe is the first point of contact regarding properties managed by scheme members, saving Council resources by resolving concerns without Council input. The Council will carry out annual audits of the scheme including random sampling of Home Safe properties to ensure the partner achieves the objectives set.

3. Added Value from the Home Safe Approach to Selective Licensing

Home Safe offers additional support to both landlords and tenants that restricted Council resources may not have allowed otherwise, this includes;

 Weekend reactions to emergencies, e.g. Assisting a young mother who did not feel safe sleeping in her home due to the front door being insecure, Home Safe reported the incident to the landlord on Saturday morning explaining the situation as well as the schemes Maintenance Mandate. Within a few hours of the incident being reported the landlord had repaired the door as requested.  Landlords who have requested a service from Home Safe regularly contact them again to arrange other maintenance requests. Members have also utilised this service to support some of their other properties outside the Hexthorpe area.  The Home Safe team have assisted numerous landlords in understanding their Periodic Electrical Reports as some have found it difficult to determine the difference between what constitutes an Unsatisfactory/ Satisfactory Electrical report. Home Safe will explain the different categories of hazards and check with the governing body if necessary to offer the correct expert advice and support where necessary regarding their reports so they can interpret the correct remedial works required  Landlords regularly call Home Safe for advice with repossession queries and legislative requirements, as well as utilising the free tenancy agreements accessible on their website.  Home Safe officers are equipped with Portable Technology so that they can utilise Google Translate if required for ease of communication with non- English speaking tenants. They also provide landlords with translated documents relevant to the scheme. Testimonials “I would like to say the Home Safe Scheme is fantastic. I found it very easy to send all my certificates through. Every time I ring up the phone is picked up by staff quickly. Staff have got the knowledge on housing and Landlords. Emails have come through with different opportunities for boilers and discounts for landlords. The Customer Service is excellent 10 out of 10. The website is easy to understand and follow. It is affordable too.”

4. Background of Public Space Protection Order (PSPO)

Based on the responses received from the Selective Licensing consultation it was clear that both landlords and residents agreed that there was a problem with Anti- Social Behaviour in Hexthorpe. However, many landlords raised concerns that this was not solely linked to Private Rented Properties and further actions in the wider community was required to tackle this problem. Residents reported through well attended PACT meetings that they felt intimidated walking within their own community, unable to settle within their own homes on an evening, and constantly concerned about the level of waste being deposited within communal areas / alley ways that not only caused odour issues but also attracted vermin and ‘dragged the area down’ from how it previously was. All of the issues were seen by residents as having a severe detrimental effect on the area and their quality of life.

With the introduction of the new Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 , the Council decided in 2015 to consult on the introduction of Public Space Protection Order in Hexthorpe. The order came into force in September 2015. The prohibitions were set out to target issues which include:

 Groups congregating  Playing street games on the public highway and pavements  People making excessive noise (in public areas)  Use of the play area and MUGA on Urban Road from 21:30 to 07:00  Consumption of alcohol  Use of legal highs  Possession of opened alcohol containers in a public place

The introduction of a PSPO allowed the Council and South Yorkshire Police to further complement existing enforcement tools and powers to ensure that swift action could be taken against perpetrators to reduce the level of impact on the community. The new tools and powers were intended to be an early intervention and prevention method at a local level to deter anti-social behaviour in all part of the community, not just private rented properties.

5. Progress of Implementation for Selective Licensing

Of the 858 rented properties in Hexthorpe Doncaster Council has identified 636 of these that meet licensing criteria. Legislation lists a number of exempt properties that do not meet the scope of the licence including social landlords, registered charities and licenced Houses in Multiple Occupation etc. Over 70% of applications were made through the Home Safe Scheme, this was expected due to the benefits the scheme offers, including the flexibility of the licensing fees as opposed to a one of payment through the direct route. However 25 Home Safe members have since been expelled from the scheme for either failing the fit and proper person test or non-compliance throughout the application process. These cases have had to reapply for a licence directly to the council. Within the first year of implementation the council have issued 545 licences. 471 of the 636 licensable properties (approximately 75%) have been inspected by either the Council’s Enforcements Team or Home Safe to monitor compliance with the licence conditions and assess the property under the Housing Health and Rating System. A small number of properties inspected have been of an excellent standard and not required any remedial works. The remainder have revealed a variety of issues from minor to severe determining the response time for remedial works required and the level of enforcement action required to bring the property up to a decent standard. Enforcement for non-engagement with the scheme has been implemented in a timely manner as initially promised. So far 46 cases have been prepared for prosecution as well as 63 cases pending legal action due to incomplete applications. The area has also benefited from proactive visits from the Council’s Enforcement Team targeting some of the notorious issues in the area, including waste in gardens, fly tipping and dropping litter, for which Fixed Penalty Notices are issued. In addition to the powers provided by Selective Licensing, the Council has continued a strong enforcement focus in the area and a zero tolerance approach to any form of anti-social behaviour and Envirocrime. In the time period 01/10/2015 to 30/09/2016 the Council took the following enforcement actions in Hexthorpe:

 Issued 101 fixed penalty notices for littering and waste offences.  Served 266 legal notices for waste, noise and property disrepair problems.  57 cases were heard in court in relation to waste/litter offences, anti-social behaviour and failure to licence properties in the Selective Licensing Area,

The prosecution cases for non-compliance with Selective Licensing have to date resulted in 31 convictions in court cumulatively resulting in:

 £15,474Fines.  £12,620 Costs.  £2,314 Victim Support.

6. Progress of Implementation for PSPO and community initiative

Separate to the Selective Licensing work, communities’ area team highlighted the need to bring together various departments within the council and other agencies, as a joint initiative and starting to identify streets and properties where the above issues were creating perceived hot spots.

To date a total of 731 properties/families have been assessed to identify repeat involvement with several agencies covering a variety of issues:  Inclusion within the Stronger families initiative  Previous Environmental issues  Community intelligence of alleged overcrowding  Known to the Education welfare service  Receiving housing benefit and potential change of circumstances outstanding  Previous issues reported to the ASB team  Police intelligence

The vast majority of the families identified were living in private rented accommodation and therefore also formed part of the Selective Licensing work. Therefore it was decided that a collaborative approach would be taken to undertake work, hence to date we have visited and physically assessed 114 separate properties and family situation under this initiative. This exercise has also allowed the Council to more reliably estimate the perceived problem with transient tenancies in this area. Of the families visited in this programme, 60% were no longer living in the same property at the point of the revisit 3/4 months later. This clearly demonstrate the transient nature of many low income families in this area, which is likely to be a main contributing factor to problems in the area as the Councils education and support approach are unable to effectively reach these families.

Further community events coordinated by the communities area team to encourage community cohesion and engagement include:  Twice weekly youth club with (60+ attending each session)  Weekly football sessions X2 (20 attending each session)  3X weekly street based youth engagement delivered by Youth Association using part PCC funding (18 attending each session)  Monthly meetings with the community both at TARA and ward level via residents meeting  Regular adult groups meeting for a range of social interactions. 8X (Ave 10 attending each session)

 Hexthorpe Social Enterprise established as a result of this ongoing work and is now being supported by the area team to run regular events  12 different activities every week in Hexthorpe delivered by partners and DMBC

Recent successful Events that have aimed to reinvigorate and nurture community cohesion. All of which are joint work with the Communities area team and key partners

 Music in Hexthorpe last week  Summer Fayre in August  Party in the Park  3 seaside trips  Stronger Families Camping Trip  School Summer Fayre  Weekly community litter pick  International food day  Cleaner Hexthorpe day July

7. Impact of Selective Licensing in Hexthorpe

Within the first year the scheme has seen some positive results. The chart below demonstrates the amount of complaints received by the council’s Enforcement Team for 12 months prior to the decision to implement the scheme compared to the first year of operation.

Number of enforcement compaints in Hexthorpe prior to Selectice Licensing and after the first year 250 of operation

200 218

150

127 100 123

83 50 59 44 10 8 12 14 0 Noise Complaints Nuisance Complaints Housing Complaints Unkempt Properties Nuisance Vehicles *

01/01/14-31/12/14 15/09/15-14/09/16

Table 2: Comparison of the number of complaints made to the Enforcement Team regarding Hexthorpe in the year prior to the SL decision compared to the first year of implementation. Please note nuisance complaints include waste in gardens, accumulations and bonfires. Fly tipping investigations in Hexthorpe have reduced enormously by 83% since 2014 however the area has benefited from an allocation of commercial sized refuse receptacles provided for community use. There has also been a change in how incidents are recorded therefore this data is not fully reliable for comparison. For the reliability of this review only the complaints reported to the Council directly from the public have been compared to determine the true success of the scheme. The additional conditions of the licence were tailored specifically to reduce these incidents and improve the quality of living in the area. Already in the first year the scheme has made a positive impact on enforcement complaints noise complaints have reduced by 35%, nuisance complaints by 44%, housing complaints by 25% as well as a 20% reduction in reports of unkempt properties. Reports of nuisance vehicles have increased by 17% in Hexthorpe since 2014. However this increase is reflected Borough wide with a substantially higher number of reports recorded in other area’s suggesting the proactive enforcement of the scheme has deterred the issue slightly from Hexthorpe. The relative impact of Hexthorpe boroughwide can also be seen when comparing the total number of Environmental ASB complaints received by ward. As could be seen in table 1, in section 1 of this report, the central ward used to be the largest hot spot for Environmental ASB in Doncaster. When comparing the same type of complaints 14

in the period after Selective Licensing this is no longer the case. Although the ward boundaries have changed between the two time periods, the results clearly show that Hexthorpe and Balby North ward (formerly Central Ward) no longer is the most affected area. It is also worth noting that only 306 out of the 842 or 36% of the ASB reports made in Hexthorpe and Balby North ward related to the area covered by Selective Licensing. If Hexthorpe was considered on his own without inclusion of Balby North, the level of reported environmental ASB is now similar to many other wards in the Borough.

ASB Reports to the Enforcement Team 01/10/15-30/09/16 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0

Table 3; Total number of Environmental ASB reports made to the Enforcement Team per ward in the first year of implementation of Selective Licensing, using the same methodology as the table presented in the consultation report (Table 1). The first year’s results are positive however the transformation is slow. The Council has raised the bar for landlords and residents in Hexthopre with the scheme providing additional enforcement powers to aid this. The change is not instant but over the period of implementation the Council aim to encourage behavioural change which in turn offers sustainability in the gradual improvements.

8. Comparison to other areas in Doncaster where Selective Licensing was proposed

Prior to consultation Selective Licensing was also proposed by residents and politicians in Edlington and Bentley, two areas of Doncaster suffering with similar problems as Hexthorpe. Following consideration it was decided to initially implement the scheme in one area to determine whether that was the solution to improving the area. Hexthorpe was chosen as there was evidence of excessive ASB in comparison to the other two. Since then Edlington and Bentley have been allocated additional proactive enforcement resources and partnership plans with other agencies as an attempt to tackle ASB, but did not benefit from the additional enforcement powers provided by Selective Licensing or a PSPO.

Enforcement complaints for the same period of time in Edlington 250

200 213

150 166

100

50 63 53 24 24 32 18 7 22 0 Noise Complaints Nuisance Complaints Housing Complaints Unkempt Properties Nuisance Vehicles

01/01/2014 15/09/15-14/09/16

Table 4: Comparison of the number of complaints made to the Enforcement Team regarding Bentley using the same methodology and the same time period as presented for Hexthorpe in Table 2 and Edlington in Table 5. Edlington has seen a reduction in the number of incidents reported since 2014 although it is approximately only half of that achieved in Hexthorpe. Noise complaints have reduced by 15%, nuisance complaints by 22% and the biggest reduction seen in unkempt properties which has almost halved. The amount of housing disrepair reports have remained the same.

Enforcement complaints for the same period of time in Bentley 160

140 143 120 122 100 100 80 89 60 54 54 40 47 20 11 13 10 0 Noise Complaints Nuisance Complaints Housing Complaints Unkempt Properties Nuisance Vehicles

01/01/14-31/12/14 15/09/15- 14/09/16

Table 5: Comparison of the number of complaints made to the Enforcement Team regarding Bentley using the same methodology and the same time period as presented for Hexthorpe in Table 2 and Bentley in Table 4.

Bentley has also seen some reductions but overall the amount of enforcement complaints in the area has increased. Fly tipping investigations has increased by 21% since 2014, however the majority is recorded by Council Officer’s carrying out proactive visits to the area. Incidents of noise complaints has improved by 11% and housing disrepair by 12%. The amount of nuisance complaints reported has risen considerably by 17% whereas Hexthorpe has seen a 43% reduction for the same period. Unfortunately reports of nuisance vehicles in Bentley have increased by 440% and 214% in Edlington since 2014. This is the only issue in Hexthorpe that has increased since the implementation of the scheme however the number of incidents remains considerably lower than other areas in the Borough. Bentley and Edlington have shown gradual improvement in some aspects of enforcement however these figures show that partnership working alone does not offer results of the same magnitude as selective licensing and a PSPO combined.

9. Impact of PSPO in Hexthorpe and community projects

Both the Council and South Yorkshire Police feel the Public Space Protection Order has had a dampening effect on recorded anti-social behaviour in Hexthorpe. It’s worth noting that the aim of this scheme is not to criminalise people particularly young people. The key aim is to educate and engage and promote “good citizenship” If people respect, comply and cooperate to make the area a community to be proud of Officers have often opted to adopt an informal approach in the first instance. However as a partnership we have been clear that enforcement of the PSPO will take place where appropriate and perpetrators and persistent Results from the first year of implementation include:

 561 recorded cases where council officers have actively engaged and spoken to people about behaviour to avoid the potential for escalation. In essence early intervention and prevention  31 other occasions where officers have attended groups of young people in particular and the groups have been dispersed and not returned to the area on that occasion and have not been identified further for any PSPO related breach  117 PACE book entries have been made and submitted (via Blue book system) for possible further enforcement to the enforcement team. Based on this the Enforcement Team issued 27 written warnings and 76 fixed penalty notices. This is backed up by the statistics from the police. In the 12 month period April 2015 to March 2016 South Yorkshire Police and Doncaster Council jointly received 328 calls regarding non environmental ASB which compares to 511 the same period the previous year, so a reduction of 36%. The reduction has continued in quarter 1 and 2 of 2016. Crime and ASB figures reported to the police regarding in Hexthorpe are overall at their lowest since 2011.

In addition to this the multi-agency visits conducted in the community has also achieved some great results. The main issues the visits highlighted from a Housing Benefit point of view was the number of undeclared people found in these properties.  From the 64 benefit properties visited 26 claims will need to be amended or reviewed. 4 of these are still awaiting confirmation form the claimants.  At a further 5 properties the benefit has been reviewed and an overpayment of £1081 has been identified.  8 claims have been suspended giving a saving of £328.98 per week.  11 claims have had their benefit reduced due to undeclared people in the property giving a saving of £227.92 per week.

Of the 56 properties of note for Educational Welfare, 22 new referrals for Roll in primary and identified 14 young children who required signing up for nursery provision. In respect to Environmental and Housing Conditions;  77 properties where tenant did not know if a gas safety check had been done or hold a copy of a gas safety certificate  44 properties did not have working smoke detectors  17 properties was in disrepair, of which 4 was serious disrepair  17 properties were overcrowded  84 properties tenants were missing bins, boxes or showed a lack of knowledge of how to correctly dispose of their waste  14 properties been passed to utility companies as possible by pass of electric/gas meters were found.  2 previously unknown HMO was identified  2 breach of Emergency prohibition notice was identified which will result in a prosecution.

Work on improving property standards and conditions will continue as part of Selective Licensing Inspections of all private rented properties.

10. Aims and Objectives for year 2

The focus of year 1 has been issuing licenses, taking strong action against landlords who are not engaging with the scheme, carrying out property inspections on licenced properties to assess compliance with the scheme and taking enforcement action to remediate serious defects. The biggest priority has been ensuring all properties have fire detection, gas safety and electrical safety certificates. Going forward year 2 aims and objectives will be:

 Complete all property inspections and assess remedial works required prior to scheduling the second year’s inspections prioritised on initial findings.  Continue to take legal action for non-engagement with them scheme.  Assisting residents in improving the thermal efficiency of their home through a government funded Gas Central Heating grant scheme. Residents will be eligible if; 1. The property they live in does not have a central heating system. 2. They have high fuel costs combined with a low income.  Partnership working with Home Safe and Landlords to implement a garden wall project. A cost effective way of securing defective property boundaries with the aim to discourage crime, anti-social behaviour and fly tipping. The scheme will offer materials at cost price or free once property inspections are completed and numbers are established.  Partnership working with Home Safe and Landlords to implement a flood reduction project. Flooding of cellars has been a costly problem for residents of Hexthorpe for some time. The aim is to work together to map and understand the problem, seeking expert advice to try resolve the issue on a community level. Alternatively the Council will look at a joint cost effective solution to prevent flooding.  Continuation of Stronger Communities Targeted visits to households where issues and incidents have been reported to multiple agencies.  A partnership approach to continued education and where appropriate enforcement of the PSPO.  Particular attention to given to dealing with “transience” issues faced in the locality therefore a joining up of information sharing, targeted visits and partnership initiatives of both the PSPO and Selective Licensing projects. As joint work on these two projects will serve to support each other.  Review compliance with occupancy levels of all licenced properties.  Borough wide review to consider if additional schemes would be a beneficial and cost effective way to better address similar issues suffered by other local communities.