Agenda item

Report of the Divisional Director of Housing

The Forum agreed to consider the report as a matter of urgency for the reasons set out on the supplemental agenda.

An officer introduced the report which updated the Forum on the progress of the Garage Strategy from July 2012 to the present date.  The officer made comments including the following:

·                     within the borough there were 69 individual garage blocks containing 959 garages and carports.  At present, 400 were let and 162 others were in a lettable condition.  There were 50 people on the waiting list;

·                     site visits had been made to all the garage blocks by the Housing Portfolio and the Vice-Chairman of the Forum;

·                     Appendix 1 to the report included details of the sites which had been identified as having potential for development of affordable housing.  Feasibility studies of the sites were now  required;

·                     the results from the garage strategy regarding sites with potential for development would be included in a wider project regarding development options analysis.  The initial report on this wider project was anticipated in April 2013;

·                     a bid had been submitted to the Greater London Authority under the Mayor’s Housing Covenant for funding to develop some low cost home ownership properties on some of the potential development sites, which would be ringfenced for existing tenants to purchase.  An update on the bid would be submitted to a future meeting;

·                     10 garage sites had been identified which had the potential for repair and subsequent letting.  The criteria for identifying these sites were; sites with no development potential, sites where there were voids, locations with a waiting list and sites where repair costs represented value for money;

·                     the Garage Strategy Steering Group would receive estimated repair costs for the 10 sites at their next meeting;

·                     23 garage blocks had not been identified for either development or repairs.  The options for these sites now needed to be considered

Members of the Forum made the following comments;

·                     Hazeldene Drive should be deleted from Appendix 1 as there was potential for wider redevelopment opportunities;

·                     there were existing car parking issues at Stuart Avenue and the removal of the garages would extenuate these;

·                     further consideration was required for Stuart Avenue as there had been issues with a Compulsory Purchase Order in the past and the site was on a flood plain;

·                     an additional play area at Masefield Avenue was not required as there was one nearby and there had been anti-social behaviour on the previous play area located there;

·                     most of the existing garages were too small for modern cars;

·                     as most garages appeared to be used for storage, consideration should be given to increasing the rent for garages used for storage;

·                     it was welcomed that action would be taken to address anti-social behaviour in the vicinity of garages;

·                     storage of flammable products and gas canisters in garages was a safety issue for the Fire Brigade and nearby residents.  The terms and conditions of renting a garage should be explained when an individual rented one;

·                     there were concerns that some of the sites identified for development, such as Latimer Close and Milman Close, were not large enough for the potential number of units;

The officer made the following comments in response;

·                     the list would be refined and was a working document;

·                     officers were aware of the issues such as broken locks and weak garage doors;

·                     clarification would be sought on the current situation regarding the underground garages and external area at Churchill Place;

·                     Masefield Avenue was listed twice as there were two sites.  Consideration was being given to the re-introduction of a play area on one of the sites;

·                     the size of garages varied but the results from the stock condition surveyor indicated that the average garage was 2.4 meters wide and 5 meters deep;

·                     legal advice would be sought with regard to what actions could be taken with assets stored in garages;

·                     the licence agreement was clear on what the garages could be used for and actions were being taken to invest in and manage the garage stock correctly;

·                     the Council had no legal rights to gain entry to rented garages.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.