Guildford Borough Council Tenants Advisory Group

Guildford Borough Council Tenants’ Advisory Group

Minutes of Meeting held 23 June 2016 at the Council Offices, Millmead in Meeting Room 3

Present:Alan Wood (Chair) (AW), Edna Yarham (EY)

In attendance:Geoff King (GK), Cllr M Parsons (MP), Bob Habgood (BH), Sam Hutchison (SH),Stephen Bennett (SB), Helen Buck (HB), Lesley Thomas (LT) taking Minutes

Apologies:Tony Rooth (TR), Stella Howarth (SHo), Tony Reardon (TRe), George Richardson (GR), Dennis Paul (DP), Siobhan Rumble (SR)

1.Welcome and Apologies

1.1The Chair welcomed everyone and apologieswere made.

2.Matters arising from Minutes of meeting held 26th May 2016

2.3Fencing for 1-14 Birch Grove: GK advised Area Inspector for Bellfields had visited the site and tried to contact TRe but no success. Left card for him to contact him. LT advised TRe had been on holiday and only returned last night. Action: TRe

3.438 Homestall: HB to come back at next meeting. Action: HB

3.5Grills Birch Grove: BH advised there are protected flue guards but will look into this. AW to speak to TR. Action: AW

3.6HB apologised for not emailing AW meeting dates with TSG. She has meeting with them tomorrow (Friday) but will email future dates. Action: HB

3.9HB advised colours and format of pie charts has been amended by LN and LT and hopes this is okay with everyone.

8.5Mays Grove: GK reported that PG had visited the site and met with AW. Has looked at the other bungalows and everything is now okay but if other issues arise to let GK know. AW advised he can foresee another problem because of the rain last night (Wednesday) and that the moss on the roofs should have been cleared. GK advised for the Council to accept responsibility for the roofs is not viable due to moss being a natural phenomenon and an health and safety issue with regard to scaffolding and clearing the moss with water. AW also suggested that operatives do the whole run and not where the blockage is. GK will speak to the Depot direct about this rather than the Call Centre. Action: GK

3.Service Unit Feedback

3.1HB advised she is still working on TSG figures. Admin issues are being resolved at the moment but figures are still going up. Work is in progress and she hopes to see an improvement in July.

3.2GK went through the spreadsheet. AW thanked GK’s team for all their efforts but was also bemused at the amount of surveys being sent out. TSG’s responses are low at 12% whereas RATS etc are much higher despitebeing sent out to the same tenant groups. AW queried whether TSG are actually leaving the surveys with tenants after works are completed and HB assured him they were. She also advised that she has put an article in Contact Point stressing the importance of returning the surveys. AW suggested introducing a draw where individual surveys are given a number and then put into a draw and the lucky tenant receives a prize of say £50. SH advised she will speak to POD as there is no problem with the budget. Action: SH

Everyone happy with the anti-social behaviour figures.

4.Estate Management update by SB

4.1Environmental Improvement Budget: Copies distributed to the group. Bedford House cycle racks and cost of £3,360 was discussed as has to be approved. MP suggested SB speak to Matt Furniss, Councillor, to see if the cost could be incorporated in the local plan. Action: SB

4.2SB gave details on the work being carried out by his team. They are currently targeting estate inspections where properties are run down, poor condition of gardens and fencing. With gardening issues they try to deal with the tenant direct but if a wider issue they take up with neighbours and recharge back to the tenant.

4.3SB gave details of community events thathave been held. On 23 May, a garden fete was held to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday and 35-40 attended. There was also an event at Bedford House on 7 June and 20 tenants turned up. Was a success. Purpose of the event was to engage with 60 tenants in that block as there had been issues there. He also advised that on 24 December 2015 a Public Spaces Protection Order was erected which has reduced issues in that block and have engaged feedback to see if it was working. Surveys received back are currently being reviewed.

4.4SB advised Maggie Cook is working on a victim centre approach following introduction of the new Anti-Social Behaviour Act as an attempt to try to engage and keep in contact with vulnerable tenants to help them sustain their tenancies. AW expressed his concern that more should be done for the victim not the perpetrator.

4.5The next piece of work Estate Management is concerned with is Leaseholder certificates, which go out every May and they are currently receiving queries about service charges.

5.Contact Point

5.1SH advised there are loads of articles to go in. She was hoping to have them at the meeting for the group to have a look but the Printershas been busy with EU Referendum work. She hopes to receive them Friday and once received will send out to the group. She assured the group the magazine won’t go to print without the group seeing it.

6.ANY OTHER BUSINESS

6.1EY asked what the latest position was with regard to the house burnt in Clover Road. HB explained that matters are being hampered by the amount of Insurance Companies and Loss Adjusters involved. Also the tenants doesn’t want the Council to destroy their burnt belongings without them seeing them first. GK advised it looks like Whirlpool are going to reimburse the tenants for the loss of belongings in which case they will have to pay us.

6.2AW advised he met Paula Cliff yesterday (Wednesday) to carry out a viewing for a proposed tenant and found it very interesting. He was however sad to see though that in the welcome packs new tenants receive TAG details are not included. SH advised these are given out by Mick Raynor, Warden, when carrying out introductory visits as part of the settling in visit. SH advised she will bring a pack to the next meeting for the group to view. Action: SH

6.3AW advised that it had come to the group’s notice that they should be working as part of the team including Councillors and the need to share the problems/complaints that are being given to them by tenants. GK advised that this depends on the nature of the complaint and if tenants are happy for the issues to be made public. Information received by Councillors is normally fed back to Council officers who should feed this back to TAG. MP suggested sending an email to all Councillors asking them to involve TAG or send to Council Leaders of the individual parties.

8.4AW asked if there is a policy for EY or himself to attend Council meetings, e.g. EAB as the group need to get the Councillors on their side? SH said she would approach POD to ask that question.MP advised the next EAB meeting is 11 July, which he sits on. He also advised Tony Rooth has a meeting and the closing date for items to be added to the agenda is 4 or 5 July. SH said she would ask if this can be added. Action: SH

8.5LT advised it has been agreed with AW and SH that from now on Minutes of TAG meetings will be distributed separately from the performance report to enable staff and group members to deal with any action issues prior to meetings. SH advised that the Minutes will also be put on the Council’s website, together with details of Project Aspire.

Date of next meeting:

Thursday 21 July 2016 (Meeting Room 3) at 10.00 for TAG only and at 10.15am for the main meeting. This will be followed by Tenant’s Workshop on Grounds Maintenance at 11.15am which was cancelled due to lack of numbers.