Agenda and minutes

Representatives from the following Associations were in attendance:

Anthoneys Close Tenants’ and Residents’ Association

Brookside Close Tenants’ and Residents’ Association

Cottesmore Tenants’ and Residents’ Association

Eastcote Lane Tenants’ and Residents’ Association

Weald Tenants’ and Residents’ Association

In total 11 Tenants/Representatives attended.

To note the appointment at the meeting of Cabinet on 15 May 2007 of Councillor Mrs Camilla Bath as Chairman of the Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Consultative Forum for the Municipal Year 2007/08.

RESOLVED:  To note the appointment at the Cabinet meeting held on 15 May 2007 of Councillor Mrs Camilla Bath as Chairman of the Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Consultative Forum for the Municipal Year 2007/08.

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no Reserve Members in attendance at this meeting.

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee, Sub Committee, Panel or Forum;

(b)               all other Members present in any part of the room or chamber.

RESOLVED:  To note that the following interests were declared:

To consider whether any of the items listed on the agenda should be considered with the press and public excluded on the grounds that it is thought likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, that there would be disclosure of confidential information in breach of an obligation of confidence or of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

RESOLVED:  That all items be considered with the press and public present.

To appoint a Vice-Chairman of the Forum for the Municipal Year 2007/08.  

RESOLVED:  That Councillor Bob Currie be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Tenants’ and Leaseholders’ Consultative Forum for the Municipal Year 2007/08.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2007 be deferred until the next ordinary meeting of the Forum.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 26 March 2007 be deferred until the next ordinary meeting of the Forum.

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 15 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received at this meeting under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 15 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

Verbal report of the Head of Housing.

The Forum received a presentation by the Head of Housing. The presentation was given in order to update residents following a conference on Housing Strategy held on 16 May 2007.  An officer confirmed that a range of stakeholders had attended the Conference. The presentation of the Head of Housing addressed the following issues:

·                     What is a Housing Strategy?

·                     Details of the Harrow Housing Strategy Conference 2007

·                     Housing Core Objectives

·                     Feedback on objectives - Increase housing supply

·                     Needs and aspirations of vulnerable people

·                     Improving neighbourhoods and quality of life

·                     Homelessness, high demand and Temporary Accommodation (TA)

·                     Better use of resources and to deliver quality services

·                     HRA Business Plan

During the presentation, a Member commented that more provision was needed for parking spaces as the Council was currently constrained by the Mayor of London.  The Member commented that, from her observations, there were many more parking spaces on older estates than on newer estates.

In response to questions from Members and residents, officers advised that:

·                     the issue of repairs was addressed in the Housing Strategy;

·                     the HRA business plan encompassed repairs and it was accepted that the issue of repairs needed to be addressed;

·                     it had never been the intention to exclude residents who had bought their property but lived on a Council estate;

·                     officers would speak with residents outside of the meeting in relation to the needs of disabled people concerning housing.

Following the presentation, residents, officers and Members formed small groups to discuss the following questions:

1.                   Do the five strategic objectives sum up the main housing issues we should be focusing on over the next five years? If not, what objectives should we include?

2.                   Looking at the HRA Business Plan priorities do they represent your priorities for the housing service?

3.                   In your opinion what are the two most important housing issues facing Harrow?

4.                   How would you like to see these issues tackled?

5.                   What progress would you like to see over the next five years?

After discussing these questions in groups, residents and officers fed back the salient points from the discussion. The issues identified as priorities included the following areas:

·                     Increased provision for housing and social services

·                     Improved links with education

·                     More efficient use of resources

·                     Improved provision for Youth Clubs on estates

·                     Increased affordable housing

·                     A need to address the issue of homelessness

·                     Increased support for single-parent families

·                     Increased help for the elderly

·                     Improved management of inappropriate behaviour

·                     A need to address the issue of under-occupiers

·                     Increased resident satisfaction with the environment was required

·                     Some older people did not understand how the Locata scheme works

·                     Residents needed to be more aware of who their Housing Officer was

·                     The need for a people-centred strategy

·                     The repairs service needed to be improved

Following feedback from the groups, it was advised that consultation on the Housing Strategy would continue until the strategy went to Cabinet for approval in July.  A newsletter was to be sent to all tenants, leaseholders and freeholders.  In response to a question by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.