Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from those Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

Apologies were received from Jonathan Milner and Chris Friend.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on the 26 February 2024.

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 26 February 2024 be approved as a correct record.

Members will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have any disclosable pecuniary interests or any other interests, which may prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items.

No interests were declared.

Most agenda items take place in public. This only changes where there is a need to consider exempt information, as contained at Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. You will be informed at this point which items are to be recommended for exclusion and to be resolved by the Panel.

All agenda items were considered in public session.

The Panel will receive any petitions and/or deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also submit a petition at the meeting relating to a matter on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Members of the Public must submit a deputation in writing, at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting and shall subsequently be notified if the deputation shall be heard. A maximum of four deputations shall be heard at any one meeting.

No deputations of petitions were received.

The Panel will receive an update on Housing Growth which was originally presented to the Scrutiny Panel in July 2023.

Contact:  Liz Jefferson, Strategic Partnership Lead, Housing Growth Tel: 01484 221000

Cllr Graham Turner, Portfolio holder for Growth and Regeneration, introduced the item, advising that, there would be a presentation to the Panel, which would provide a progress update on the housing growth programme.  He explained that the  information aimed to show the positive aspects, and that officers should be thanked for delivering many positive projects, in very challenging times.

Liz Jefferson, Strategic Partnership Lead, referring to the presentation advised the Panel that the update would cover projects that span the following programmes:

•          Strategic Allocations

•          Accelerated Construction delivery

•          Specialist and Supported Housing

•          Affordable Housing

•          Registered Providers programme

•          Brokerage service

•          Pipeline sites

The Panel was informed that in terms of important context, nothing that is delivered in housing growth is done in isolation, and is undertaken collaboratively working with many external and internal partners.  For example, funding bodies, housing associations and consultants who support this work, as well as a wide range of teams across the Council.  This partnership approach is at the heart of everything that is undertaken and is dependent on the resources of both internal and external teams to help deliver housing.

The Panel was provided with an outline of the following projects:

Dewsbury Riverside

The Panel was informed that the strategic site at Dewsbury Riverside, is the largest housing allocation in Kirklees and is a key site in the West Yorkshire Strategic place, partnership priorities and there are multiple landowners on this site.  Key milestones achieved in the last year include:

-        the new allotments have been finished and work is being undertaken with capital delivery, external partners AHR and Casey, and that site opened in May 2023

-        Communities colleagues presented work on Dewsbury Riverside as an exemplar at Homes England national community engagement training in July

-        In August 2023, planning permission was granted to create a main access road and deliver the first 350 homes

-        Joint working with Homes England, has allowed the undertaking of due diligence, infrastructure costing viability work, master planning, a build to rent market assessment and master developer audit reports

-        In November 2023, Cabinet gave approval to enter into legal agreements with Homes England and Network Rail to undertake an appropriate procurement route for master developer

-        Strategic highways work is ongoing to understand the cumulative impact on the highways network and legal advice has been commissioned to inform collaboration and equalisation principles and the appointment of a master developer

Bradley Park

The Panel was informed that the next strategic site is at Bradley Park. This is also a local plan housing allocation, mostly in Council ownership, and the overall allocation is 68 hectares. £800,000 of capital funding has been secured, which was approved by Cabinet to help progress the site. 

Currently being undertaken is detailed highways work on the feasibility of delivering key junctions and discussions has commenced on strategic property acquisitions to help support that highways work. Procurement documents have been drafted and legal advice has been secured.

Ashbrow /  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To provide a progress update on the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Panel Residential Stock Health and Safety Compliance report and recommendations.   

Contact: Naz Parkar, Service Director, Homes and Neighbourhoods and Martin Cooke, Interim Head of Assets and Building Safety

Cllr Moses Crook, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Highways, introduced the item, advising that the report provides an update on progress to date against the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Panel’s health and safety compliance report and recommendations to Cabinet from December 2022.  The report has been brought to both the Homes and Neighbourhoods Improvement Board and to Cabinet in September and October 2023, with both agreeing to the officer recommendations going forward.  Of the 17 recommendations made by the ad hoc panel:

-          two are completed

-          six are identified as continuous ongoing issues and are now included as part of best practice

-          nine are assessed to be at 50% progress to completion or better

Cllr Crook informed the Panel that the improved recommendation is that, less frequent but regular reporting to the Building Safety Assurance Board is now needed in order to provide ongoing assurance since the change and good practice is now embedded.  It is positive to have the alignment between the cross party Homes and Neighbourhoods Improvement Board, officers and Cabinet especially in light of the regulators recent finding.  The response needed requires working together constructively across the whole Council to drive improvement and to demonstrate and ensure safety of tenants is and remains collectively the highest priority.

Naz Parkar, Service Director for Homes and Neighbourhoods informed the Panel of some of the key achievements since the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Panel, took its recommendations to Cabinet in December 2022.  For the last 12 months there has been focus ensuring that there is a system of safety, and a fire safety system matrix has been put in place, the recommendation from the ad hoc panel has now been completed.  As part of that work, focus has been on the management plans for fire safety, asbestos, and lifts, with a review of where things were with gas safety  and electricity checks as that is a well-managed risk within the Council.

In March 2024, Cabinet approved the Fire Safety Management Plan, and work is being undertaken to ensure that the process the policy relates to, is robust, particularly in the current context as part of the regulators notice to improve the way fire safety is managed.

There has been good progress ensuring that the processes and the data that falls out of those processes is currently being finalised before being embedded in the teams, ensuring there is training, communication and a good operation of that new management plan.  The Asbestos Plan is ready, as is the lift plan which will need to go to Cabinet for approval.

With regard to the asset system implementation, work is currently being undertaken on implementing the housing management system which has been slightly delayed, and Cabinet approved the revised strategy for the delivery of that.  That will be the master system for all the homes and neighbourhoods activity and holds unique reference points for all asset data.  This needs to be implemented first before scoping out the requirements for the asset  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To inform the Growth & Regeneration Scrutiny Panel on the position with regards to complaints handling within Homes & Neighbourhoods.

Contact:  Michelle Anderson-Dore, Head of Partnership, Homes and Neighbourhoods, Robert Scott, Partnership Strategic Manager

Cllr Crook introduced the item advising the Panel that the report provides an update on the position with respect to complaints handling performance within Homes and Neighbourhoods, as well as measured outcomes in terms of the tenant satisfaction measures.  This is to align with the new requirements on complaints handling for social housing landlords and the updated Ombudsman Complaints Handling Code, which was published on 8^th February 2024, and requires statutory compliance by the 1^st April 2024. Ahead of April, a review is needed to identify where the Council remains compliant with the change and work is needed to ensure ongoing compliance.  Following implementation, regular self-assessment will be required, and the results will be published annually along with the tenant satisfaction measures. 

From 1^st April, the Ombudsman, has to monitor performance on complaints handling and compliance and homes and neighbourhoods could be inspected on the consumer standards at any time from then. Feedback from this Scrutiny Panel is very much welcomed to support ongoing improvement in tenant satisfaction.

This report also provides a contemporary update on complaints handling which shows that overall numbers are up on the previous period, however this forms part of a more complex picture with response times continuing to improve.  The number of cases referred to the Ombudsman has also increased slightly, however remains low and with no severe maladministration findings.  There is an opportunity to interrogate this data in detail to learn from trends and to improve both broader services, and complaints handling.

Michelle Anderson-Dore, Head of Partnerships informed the Panel that there is a new regulatory framework in relation to complaints handling, however, in terms of background from December 2020, all social landlords, including Kirklees Council, were mandated to undertake a self-assessment to measure performance in terms of complaints handling.  That was against the original Housing Ombudsman Complaints Code.

In 2022, also in line with the Complaints Handling code at the time a new complaints handling strategy was published and that was with support from the Housing Quality Network that included a new policy updated the compensation procedures to ensure it was fully in line with the code.

The latest version of the code becomes statutory from April 2024,  and work is now ongoing to ensure that all mandatory requirements are met, which will align with the new inspection regimes which will follow from April, led by the Regulator for Social Housing.

The latest consultation that informed the new code was launched last September and concluded in February.  Initially, during the consultation there was proposals around a joint code for local authorities which was joining the Housing Ombudsman Code and Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Code.  The government has moved away from a joint code and the focus is now on alignment where possible with both codes and that will be effective from 2026.

This will be useful for local authorities because it will support the Council’s longer term aim to have one corporate approach in how complaints are handled  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.