POOLE HOUSING PARTNERSHIP
REPORT TO THE HOUSING CONSULTATIVE PANEL
WEDNESDAY 9 TH JUNE 2004
DEVELOPMENT OF THE HRA BUSINESS PLAN
1.0 PURPOSE AND POLICY CONTENT
1.1 The Housing Strategy sets the overall strategy on housing in Poole.
1.2 The Business Plan focuses on the Council housing stock and seeks to ensure the use of the stock supports the wider Council strategies, and the Housing Strategy.
2.0 DECISION REQUIRED
2.1 No decision is required but Housing Consultative Panel representatives are invited to consider to what degree they wish to be involved in the development of the new Business Plan.
3.0 BACKGROUND
3.1 In previous years, reports have focused on the content and layout required of the Plan.
3.2 As this is unchanged, this report does not go into detail on this.
3.3 The Government Office assess Business Plans and Housing Strategies.
3.4 The assessment of the 2002/2032 Business Plan was very positive, and contributed to the overall assessment of the Poole Housing Service as “well above average”.
3.5 The Government objective is to have all Business Plans “fit for purpose”.
3.6 To assist in achieving this, the Government Office for the South West (GOSW) has given us written feedback on where our Plan could improve to achieve “fit for purpose”.
3.7 This feedback is shown as Appendix I.
4.0 TIMETABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT
4.1 Officers are currently working on updating the Plan, using the GOSW guidance. 4.2 The Business Plan development process is as follows:
Update Decent Homes information Mark Jones Summarise “Reinvestment Process” Mark Jones Update Stock Valuation Survey District Valuer Update demand/housing needs information Simon Hendey Input information into the new spreadsheet Adam Richens/ Columb King Develop Performance Monitoring package within Academy Sue Phillips/ Bill Shaw Summarise progress on Resident Participation Dorothy Allen Develop the overall Business Plan Action Plan Joe Logan Report progress to stakeholders Joe Logan
4.3 Consultation Process
Business Planning presentation to ALMO Board Joe Logan Business Planning Report to HCP 9th June 2004 Joe Logan Community Support Overview Committee 22nd June 2004 Joe Logan Cabinet 22nd July 2004 Joe Logan Full Council 27th July 2004 Joe Logan Submit Business Plan to GOSW 31st July 2004 Joe Logan
5.0 CONCLUSION
5.1 This year’s business plan will be an update on the previous plans with the feedback from GOSW taken into account.
5.2 Poole Housing Partnership has contracted to produce the plan on behalf of the Council.
JOE LOGAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE JPL/slw/270504
Background Papers HRA Business Plan 2002-32
Name and Telephone Number of Officer Contact: Joe Logan – 01202 633402 APPENDIX I
BUSINESS PLAN FEEDBACK FROM GOSW
The information provided in the BP meets the fit for purpose (ffp) criteria in this respect. A helpful cross-referencing to other relevant plans and strategies. As the HS update has done, it would be helpful to provide details of how these can be accessed/obtained.
A need to achieve greater consistency between the HS and BP on the way price, rent and income data is presented. (Also to ensure tenure split is identical.)
Council has demonstrated that it has an extensive range of data to inform its investment decisions. Next year’s BP will, presumably, incorporate the outcome of the Sheltered Housing Review and we would ask that you cover more comprehensively the issue of special needs in/for Council accommodation and the extent to which re-modeling within the Council’s stock is being considered to address pressures, (we note the references to mobility standards and disabled access under “financing improvements” on page 12 of the BP) or whether homelessness and the demand for family size accommodation remains the most acute pressure.
See 1.1 above.
Linkages to the wider Capital Strategy are implicit rather than explicit. As the BP needs to “stand alone” it would be helpful to summarise briefly Housing’s relationship to/place in the Corporate/Capital Strategy and financial decision making context.
Evidence that the available data has been tailored to allow the Council to address Decent Homes but in so doing, resources will not be sufficient to meet all tenants aspirations which fall outside the DH category. As referred to at 1.2 above we would expect needs/demands issues to be kept under regular review so that the Council can respond appropriately where needs become acute within its own stock.
The BP would benefit from a more comprehensive account of energy efficiency issues in the Council’s stock.
Currently ffp in this respect. We would expect future updates to update stock condition data based on new in-year information.
The general expectation of ffp is that HS and BPs will inform how stakeholders can obtain more detail on the various strategies/plans/reports referred to. It is unclear the extent to which more comprehensive stock condition information is available. That will be important as comprehensive data moves towards 100% over 2-3 years.
In view of the reliance on the Statistical Appendix it should be attached to the hard copy BP as an annex. It is unclear how stakeholders would access this more detailed statistical information.
References to the Council’s place in the relevant quartile is important. Stakeholders might benefit from an additional comparison e.g. against LA or all unitaries average.
Building on the consultation summary already provided, we would expect next year’s BP to report progress on the 9 bullets at the top of page 10 of your BP (widening resident involvement etc). Specifically addressing how your BV performance is reported back, how regularly and by what means.
To achieve ffp in this respect, the BP would need to supplement the text on page 18 and the stock investment strategy on page 33, include a summary of the last two years of capital as well as revenue spending indicating against the main heads of spending the source of funding used to finance that particular expenditure. (This is also reflected in the HS feedback.)
To achieve ffp, BP will need to set out how housing investment decisions are being taken at the corporate level and by whom, given that housing - along with a range of other services - falls within the Single Capital Pot, and secondly, how decisions are taken on the allocation of housing capital resources to HRA and other themes. BP should contain a more detailed account of its place within the Council’s Capital Strategy and Asset Management Plan.
The BP meets the ffp standard in this respect. Future BPs need to repeat this format by describing all identified works needed on HRA stock and setting them in order of importance (and highlighting any re-prioritisation as a result of changed circumstances).
Currently ffp. As immediately above, if priorities change as a result of ongoing tenant consultation, this will need describing in the new BP.
See 6.1 above.
The ffp standard would require a more detailed HRA works related action plan with lead officers identified in addition to the helpful strategic action plan you have provided.
Presumably, that will centre on Decent Homes and some of the other works identified on page 12 of the BP and be consistent with anticipated capital and revenue resources.
See immediately above (8.1).
See 8.1 above.
We’d suggest in future BPs monitoring performance could be covered as a specific theme. This section could list the monitoring procedures in place, capture actual performance against targets in each case (for works to HRA stock, in addition to strategic targets), the arrangements by which stakeholders are (including residents) are engaged in monitoring the Council’s performance including updates on tenant satisfaction surveys.
See immediately above (9.1).
See 9.1 above.
Good progress towards ffp. Consistent with the HS (but because the BP needs to “stand alone” we would suggest annexing a list of all other relevant strategies/plans with details of how these can be accessed/obtained).
Ffp.
Progressing well towards ffp. A generally good structure. The glossary will be very helpful to stakeholders but we would suggest this might be expanded to cover definitions of some references in the BP and not confined solely to abbreviations e.g. What is -
Capital Strategy Asset Management Plan Supporting People, etc
See 10.1 above. As with the HS, if the Council agrees to append a list of partners plans and strategies, contact points in those organisations could be added.
Telephone e-mail contact points within the Housing Management Structure at Annex C might be considered.