Area Board Meeting
Minutes of meeting held on 8 August 2013 – The Brave Rood, DDC Offices, Dover.
Present: Area Board Members:
Tenant Reps:
June Bailey (JBai) Sandra Murray (SM) Tony Troth-Alexander John Battles(JB) Brenda Lyons (BL) Dennis Haywood (DH) Dave Quarrinton (DQ) Roy Barlow (Chair) (RB)
Cllr Board Members Cllr Sue Chandler
East Kent Housing
Louise Taylor (LT) Brendan Ryan (BR) Janet Oxborrow (JO)
Dover District Council
Paul Whitfied (PW)
Geoff Golding – Gas Contract Services
1. Welcome and Apologies
Roy Barlow welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies were received from Cllr Russell, Cllr Brivio, Chris Hanagan, Sarah Kidney
2. Minutes of last Meeting and Matters Arising
JBai asked if Swale Heating had appointed a Tenant Participation Officer and if a dedicated phone line had been set up. Janet agreed to make enquiries and report back to next meeting.
RB asked if the stock figures were now correct and BR confirmed that they were.
The minutes were agreed as a correct record – Proposed by JBai and seconded by SM
1 3. Performance Report
Louise went through the report that had previously been circulated and made comments on each page. She highlighted the fact that Dover had 91 re-lets (much higher than other areas). This was down to the proactive work Dover had undertaken to move tenants affected by the bedroom tax.
Cllr Chandler said that the void figures and arrears figures highlighted the huge amount of work that EKH and the Housing Options team had undertaken and she was pleased to see this reflected in the figures.
RB and DH asked about the cycle for gas checks and GG confirmed that they were on an 11 month cycle. RB & DH said they had had two checks since May and SM said she her property had also had two checks in that period of time. SM said she waiting for her properties certificate to be amended as it was issued in the wrong name.
JBai asked if it would be possible for EKH to supply the number of tenants that had eviction notices pending. LT said she would supply information at next meeting. In response BR explained that EKH is not in the business of evicting tenants and this is a last resort. EKH works with tenants to try and find a solution so they do not lose their homes.
Comments, Complaints and Compliments
LT distributed a paper detailing compliant handling in quarter one. During this period EKH Dover received 9 Stage One complaints and 2 Stage two complaints. These were broken down by service area as:
4 complaints for asset (of which one complaint was Stage 2) 2 complaints for estates (of which 1 complaint was stage 2) 4 complaints for income recovery 1 complaint for sheltered housing
5 of these complaints were partially upheld, 1 complaint was fully upheld and 5 complaints were not upheld.
Managed Budget Report
This report had been circulated prior to the meeting. Brendan Ryan said that John Titterton had been appointed as the Stock Investment Manager and he would invite him to the next meeting of the Area Board.
Gas Performance Information
Geoff Golding explained in detail the process of monitoring the work carried out by Swale Heating. He produced data to support his report and answered questions from the Area Board members.
2 4. Matters for Information and Consultation – EKH i) Area Manager Update
Louise gave an update as follows:
The Housing Services team had now moved offices and she apologised for the problems with the telephones. Katherine Manser (SHO) had been temporarily appointed as a Neighbourhood Manager and it was hoped that a temporary appointment could now be made to cover Kelly’s maternity leave. Staff had received a new Code of Conduct. Sheltered Housing Review being undertaken – with the report due by end September. Welfare Reform Update.
With regard to the welfare reform update Cllr Chandler said that it was pleasing to see so many larger family homes being released to families that needed them.
JBai asked about the incentives policy and PW explained that this was now only available to tenants of pensionable age. ii) TICI Update
1. Babs Hutton – tenant rep from Deal won a regional housing award from the Kent Housing Group. The judges said that they were ‘blown away’ by her nomination.
2. Cleaning Contract update –
Cleaning Contract with Town & Country was approved by DDC Cabinet and Section 20 notices to leaseholders have gone out. Contract will start 01 September 2013 for a 5 year period with a possible 1 year extension so that both this contract and the current SDC contract will need renewing at the same time. Major changes to contract are:
All T&C vans are to carry their own hot water supplies and use this for cleaning.
Sheltered properties are being cleaned 5 days a week rather than the current 3.
Recesses to external stairs on Canadian Estate are having litter removed and being cleaned once a week in an effort to help resolve some of the issues with rubbish etc on this estate.
All problems/queries are to go direct to T&C, with whom we will have monthly meetings – these meetings will cover DDC & SDC contracts.
3 Specifications for individual blocks and schemes will be posted on relevant notice boards also giving T&C contact details and in communal blocks which days the cleaners will attend.
Communal refuse bins are being cleaned and disinfected twice yearly
Cleaning meetings to be held monthly – alternating between Dover & Shepway.
3. Merger of Groups – vote held – 13 votes received – 9 for and 4 against. Formally asking Area Board to ratify this decision. Next stage to hold informal meeting to amend constitution and decide name – dates – membership. Janet explained the procedures in other areas. Next meeting to discuss the way forward agreed for 4 September 1-3 Tracker Room.
4. Social media course A number of tenants have attended a Social Media Course run by Kent Housing Group. Lucy has asked if Area Boards would consider setting up a Facebook group/page for their local area board. If this was agreeable, a meeting would be arranged to discuss all the details – to ensure the Facebook group met local area board constitutions/protocols. It is vital that the Facebook Group is set up with a number of administrators ad follows social media best practice. This meeting should include representation from local TPO’s, Communications Manager, Chair/Vice Chair of area board plus tenants who attended the social media training.
The area board agreed to trial the use of Facebook.
Resident Involvement Update
A paper by KC had previously been distributed and BR emphasised that resident involvement is at the heart of the organisation (EKH). He gave details of the proposed staff structure.
Matters for Information and Consultation – Dover District Council
PW confirmed that the Housing Options Team was changing from a points based system to a banding system (area board previously consulted on this). The new procedure was being tested and would be going live next week.
Questions via the Chair
RB said that JBai had a question about her expenses. JBai said that Keith Cane had promised to sort out the time delay in paying tenants expenses. She said that she had now been waiting two weeks for payment. Janet said that the person in Folkestone who pays these was on holiday and she assumed that was the reason for the delay. Other tenants expressed the view that two weeks did not seem to be too long to wait.
4 BR said that he would make enquiries of the finance department to see if there was a quicker way that re-imbursements could be made.
Date and time of next meeting:
Next Area Board Meeting Thursday 7 November 2013 – Brave Room DDC Offices, 11 am – 1 pm
Action Points
Page Action Person Number 1 To find out if TPO for Swale has been appointed and if the dedicated phone line has been set up. JO
2 Number of tenants with eviction notices pending LT
2 Invite John Titterton to next meeting BR
5 Investigate ways of paying expenses quicker BR
Signed …………………………………………. Date: ………………
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