Area Board Meeting s1

Area Board Meeting

Minutes of meeting held on 13 February 2014 – The Brave Room, DDC Offices, Dover.

Present: Area Board Members:

Tenant Reps:

June Bailey (JBai) Sarah Kidney (SK) Sandra Murray (SM) Sam Morris (SM) John Battles (JB) Brenda Lyons (BL) Dennis Haywood (DH) Dave Quarrinton (DQ) Roy Barlow (Chair) (RB) Vee Philpott (VP) Michael Felicien (MF) Anthony Ovenden (AO)

Tenant Board Member Chris Hanagan (CH)

Cllr Board Members Cllr Sue Chandler Cllr Pip Russell

East Kent Housing

Louise Taylor (LT) Brian Manley (BM) Janet Oxborrow (JO) Tim Goss (TG) John Titterton (JT) Keith Cane (KC)

Dover District Council

Paul Whitfield (PW)

Observers Babs Hutton

1. Welcome and Apologies

Roy Barlow welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies were received from Cllr Brivio, Tessa George and John Williams

2. Minutes of last Meeting and Matters Arising

In response to a question from RB -TG agreed to include a running total of sold properties on each report in future.

The minutes were agreed as a correct record – proposed by SM and seconded by JB.

1 Action Points

All the action points had been completed.

3. Performance Report

LT explained that the front cover of the performance report had a number of errors in it. LT apologised for this and said that JO would send out a new front cover once the figures had been amended.

LT went through the report in detail.

To prevent complaints being responded to outside the prescribed time limits LT said that reminders were now put in diaries by Senior Support Staff to remind staff of the timeline for responding to complaint letters.

TG explained that responsive repairs had been affected by the weather since Christmas and he gave the following figures:

In January Mears would expect to receive between 700-800 calls but they received over 1,500.

In the same period EKH would expect 600-700 calls but we received over 1,500.

Prima windows received double the amount of calls in the same period.

AO raised the issue of Universal Credit and was concerned that when implemented the arrears figure would increase dramatically. LT explained that two welfare officers had been appointed to assist tenants but at the present time no details of when or if Universal Credit would be implemented. Cllr Chandler confirmed that the timescales were fluent and that strong representations were being made to Government on the scale of the effects of this process.

Learning from Comments, Complaints and Compliments

JBai asked for the Service Standard time for people waiting in reception. LT agreed to find out and report back to next meeting.

Operations Manager Update Responsive Repairs

Emergency repairs (4 hour) 593 Urgent repairs (3 days) 2374 Routine repairs (15 days) 4535

Total number of repairs 7502

Performance Indicator 97% completed in time

2 Current performance 97.36% year to date

There has been a slight drop in performance due to additional works created by the storm damage suffered in October.

The more recent storm on Christmas Eve was more severe and caused greater damage. The impact of this will be reported in the Q4 report.

Void Performance

Number of properties completed 221 (193 at same time last year)

Performance target 7 days

Completed on time 97%

Following an excessive number of voids during the first quarter, 98 compared to 63 last year, performance continues to improve as the volume of voids returns to usual levels.

At this point TG introduced John Titterton and Brian Manley to the Area Board.

Operation Manager’s Report

Louise gave an update on:

 The Sheltered Housing Review (and distributed a handout).  Staffing changes: Kelly Flannery will be returning from maternity leave on 1.4.14 – on her return she will be job sharing with Elaine Ford (who will be going part-time).  A vacant post of NM is being advertised and it is hoped that the new person will be invited to the next Area Board meeting.  New software being purchased that will assist Housing Services.  New Tenancy Agreement going to Cabinet on 26 February 2014. Introductory and Flexible Tenancy to commence from 1 April 2014.  Pat Turley (Benefits Advisor) has been accredited by Dover/Deal Food Bank to give out vouchers for Food Hampers for people in crisis. This is linked to a crisis in someone’s life and not benefits.  NM’s have worked with Save The Children to provide a number of tenants with new appliances (fridge, freezer, washing machines) as well as beds, prams and children’s toys.

TICI Update

Janet explained that EKH had been short listed in two categories at the 2014 Housing Innovation Awards which took on Thursday 6 February at the Grand Connaught Rooms, London. Sam Morris was one of four tenant representatives to attend.

3 Applications for KEG – (Kent Engagement Group) Tenant’s Conference 10 April 2014 – Maidstone United Football Club – need to be made as soon as possible. There are eight places available – two tenant reps from each area.

Janet thanked Roy and Dennis for attending site meeting with Laura Sandys MP re bollards at Hazelwood Meadow.

Tenant Conference Feedback – incentives – report sent out – plan to hold a Tenants Meeting in April to approve Scrutiny Reports and Incentive Package.

Training for Digital Inclusion – start with Area Board Members – two types of categories - complete beginners and intermediate (those who have very basic skills and want to improve) – will be done on a one to one basis. The following Area Board members volunteered to attend:

Beginners: Roy Barlow, Sandra Murray, Brenda Lyons, Barbara Hutton and Dennis Haywood.

Intermediate: Michael Felicien, John Battles, Vee Philpott and June Bailey

Tenant Awards – to be held each year – October 2014

Resident Involvement Strategy will form the basis of the new Compacts for each area.

Transfer of Funds from HRA

The group had asked Janet to contact Paul Whitfield about the transfer of funds from the HRA and the following is his response:

The funds were transferred in 2012/13, and shown in the accounts, which have been signed off by the auditors. The funds are currently held in an earmarked General Fund reserve and have not yet been committed to any project or use.

The Department of Communities & Local Government (DCLG) have written to all councils asking about any transfers from the HRA. There is no suggestion that the transfers were improper or unlawful, and the DCLG has not done anything other than make a general enquiry.

Cllr Chandler said that this money cannot be spent without the approval of full Council. She went on to say that DDC are building three two bedroomed Council Houses in Elvington. Small plots of land all over the district are being looked at to see if they are feasible building plots.

4 Cllr Chandler gave details of partnership working with a Housing Association in respect of William Muge and Snelgrove sites. 4. Matters for Information and Consultation – EKH

Questions via the Chair

RB asked Cllr Chandler if there was any progress on the Area Boards request to have an increase in their Environmental Budget.

Cllr Chandler said that she was pleased that so many great projects had been completed around the district. She said that the group should prioritise the list of projects and that she would be prepared to double the budget from £50,000 to £100,000. This would then be reviewed again at the end of year. Cllr Chandler said that this was subject to it be confirmed by full Council in early March.

Date and time of next meeting:

Next Area Board Meeting – Thursday 8 May 2014 – Brave Room DDC Offices 6pm – 8pm.

Action Points

Page Action Person Number 1 Provide running total of sold properties on TG future reports 2 Find out waiting times re reception area LT

Signed …………………………………………. Date: ………………