Meeting: City Wide Forum
Date: Wednesday 19th January 2011
Venue:Sheffield Cathedral
Chair Richard Palmer (SCC)
Who was there?
Councillors
Councillor Penny Baker Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration & Planning
Tenants and TARA representatives:
Jack Yates / Marian Kite / John Kite / David Hoad
Barbara Hunter / Norman Sellars / Mavis Sellars / Laura Shaw
Audrey Howard / Jack Bates / Dennis Macdonald / Brenda Hancock
Steve Wellings / Pete Sores / Paula McCartney / Susan Cowey
Billy Cowey / Steve Pendlebury / Dennis Macdonald / Ann Deely
Barbara Vevers / J. Shult / Linda Moxon / Derek Smith
Winnie Smith / Terry Wright / Roy Coles / Linda Daniels
Mick Daniels / Tracey Kerrigan / Michael Kerrigan / Bryan Greenwood
Kathleen Greenwood / Rita Fellows / Lynne Butler / William Swaby
Martin Brighton / David Fisher / Shirley Frost / Paul Page
Elspeth Lusby / Sylvia Parry / Sheree Duxbury
Total: 43
Staff: SCC / Staff Sheffield Homes / Other
Miranda Plowden (part) / Dawn Wragg / Andrew Elliott / Peter Davies (GMB)
Richard Palmer / Louise Thompson / Les Benn
Karen Lythe / Jonathan Shaw / Janet Parry
Emma Thomas / Dean Butterworth / Surjan Tiwana
Liam Conneely / John Loveless / Paul Voyse
Fozia Bi / Regina Drabble
Jayne Foulds / Peter Morton / Total: 20
Aims of the Meeting
- To inform tenants on the council’s proposals for the Housing Revenue Account 2011/12 and the Capital Programme
Welcome and introductions
- Richard Palmer introduced himself as the Chair of the meeting and reminded all attendees to adhere to the Code of Conduct. He informed the group that any persons attending with a conflict of interest should be declared to himself.
Housing Revenue Account 2011/12
- Richard Palmer delivered a presentation on the Housing Revenue Account 2011/12. Copies of the presentation slides are attached to these minutes.
- Tenants asked questions answered by Councillor Penny Baker and council officers.
Q)Last year, Councillor Bob McCann told us that if the rent went up this year, it wouldn’t go up by a great deal. Why is it increasing so dramatically? / A)I wassurprised when 6.8%was declared as the rise, especially in this economic climate. However, I’m very wary of not accepting the raise that the Government have given us, as we could end up in a situation like Rotherham, whose rents are to increase by 8%.
I have written to Grant Shapps about the rise.
Q) How many more tenants are going to be in debt due to the rent increases? What effect will it have on debt levels? / A) We are concerned about this and looking into it at the moment. If we set the rent increase lower this year instead of going with Government guidelines, it may increase even more dramatically next year.
Q) What does localism mean to the Government? What is local to them? / A) We have regional guidelines – Local Enterprise Partnerships are being set up, but seem to be different for different agendas. We are trying hard to lessen the impact for tenants, hence the use of reserves this year. Any extra is going to fund obsolete heating and decent homes. Replacing old heating systems will make fuel bills more affordable.
Q) Sheffield Homes’ fee has not increased and they are being asked to impose an increment freeze and to include £600k of work. / A) Sheffield Homes is to make the decision on increments, it has not been imposed by the Council. Sheffield Homes have been asked to mainstream commissions which were worth £600k in 10/11 but there is also additional work in 11/12 worth over £1m.
Q) YCYC – can you tell us where and when tenants were consulted on using the HRA account money and how tenants will benefit from this?
I request that that the council remove from the Cabinet proposal, anything that is not a direct housing cost, so that tenants are not paying for anything unrelated to their rents. / A) We are consulting with you now on this. However, I do not know when or if any past consultations have taken place.
Q) What happens to the money from RTB sales? / A) 75% of it is currently claimed by Government and spent by Government The Self Financing settlement expected this month will tell us what will happen to this money in the future.
Q) Is the HRA budget used to subsidise things that should come out of other council spending? Have services been cut? / A) We have looked at this in considerable detail, as to where the money has been spent. We have checked and we are sure that we are spending the “right coloured money on the right coloured services”. I don’t believe that any services have been cut.
Q) Where will the money go when Parkhill flats are sold off? Will it benefit Sheffield or not? / A) Approximately one third of the properties will be for rent, but I will check and let you know as I’m not sure of the exact figures.
Q) When is the Council tax going up? / A) This will have to go through the budget, but we are trying to ensure that it doesn’t go up at all – 0%.
Q) Can we get a better service from Kier for the 6.8% rise? Are Kier making cuts as tenants have been put into queueing systems when they call? / A) Sheffield Homes agreed to look into individual issues. We are not aware of cuts but there was a high volume of calls before Christmas because of the weather. Cllr Baker praised staff who had spent time to resolve these problems.
Q) The level of rent collection is low - will it be harder to collect rents after the cash desks at Howden House are closed? / A) There are lots of places where rent can be paid, including local post offices which the Council wants to continue.
Capital Programme
- Karen Lythe (SCC) delivered a presentation on the Capital Programme. Copies of presentation slides are attached to these minutes.
Q)Twenty one council houses built? That’s a pittance. We need to lobby for more council homes / A)The financial rules at the moment do not enable us to build more houses. We need to prioritise the money we have to keep existing homes in a good condition.
Q) Why is the money being spent on insulation not being spent on Sheffield Homes? / A) The funding comes from a variety of sources and not HRA (Housing Market Renewal, Area Based Grant). Payment for the insulation has been matched with money from energy companies. The private sector has affordable warmth issues as well.
Q) You say that there is an estimated one and a half million pounds for regeneration projects? What projects are they? / A)Council money has been invested in the Scowerdons, Newstead and Weaklands regeneration projects, buying back the Right To Buy properties and rehousing the owners of those properties. The HA pays for the work after that.
Q) Why are Sheffield bidding for Decent Homes funding? What other LAs are bidding, what is the likely allocation? / A) The Council has been given the opportunity to bid by the Government and so we should make a bid. We do not know who else has submitted a bid or what our allocation may be.
Q)The Badger estate – why are there no new windows and doors being fitted under the Decent Homes programme? / A)We will look into this (Janet Sharpe). The council has not changed it’s decency standards, so you may have been told that your property already meets the decency standard. Sheffield Homes will look into this.
Q) Why are tenants expectedto pay for adaptations in properties? The result depends on who assesses you. / A) Tenants should not be expected to pay for adaptations themselves. Perhaps the adaptation you wanted was something that the Occupational Therapist did not recommend? I will look into this.
Q) What is happening with vacant properties? There are at least 50 vacant flats in my block in Woodhouse. What can we do to requisition private homes which are empty? / A) I will pass this to Sheffield Homes to get more information and look into this. We do what we can to requisition empty private properties, unfortunately methods of acquiring homes mean a long, expensive legal process. We take this action in limited extreme cases but generally our approach is to advise and encourage owners.
Q) Does the RTB apply to the new council houses built at Shirecliffe? / A)At the meeting inaccurate advice was given. Apologies for the incorrect response which was given to the question as to whether the new build Council houses were subject to the Right to Buy. In fact, the tenants of these homes do have the Right to Buy them. However, the terms of any sale will be a little different from other Right to Buys in that any of the properties cannot be sold for less than their construction costs, protecting the Council’s investment in these new homes. In addition, the Council is able to keep 100% of the receipt from the sale of any of these properties, rather than the usual 25%, keeping the receipt for re-investment in housing.
Q) Decent Homes – my concern is if you don’t get this money, there will be cutbacks – can we not use the reserve money to top this fund up? You said that the last house will be the same as the first. / A) The Council Decent homes programme is in place and there are no cutbacks in the programme to change that standard. People are sometimes disappointed however, when the Decent homes assessor states that a property already meets the Sheffielddecent standard. If the bid for Backlog Funds is not successful the Council will pay for the programme with its own resources.
Q) What will happen when the reserve money runs out? Will you borrow more money? / A) The Council will not allow the reserve to dip below the absolute minimum that we should hold. When we receive the HRA self-financing settlement later this month, we may be able to afford to use reserves further.
Resolution
- A proposal was made that the YCYC (Your Communities Your Choice) budget- £800,000- be transferred to the Sheffield Homes management budget and used to provide better services to the tenants and residents of Sheffield.
- Only tenants and TARA representatives voted on the proposal. The vote was carried unanimously. Councillor Penny Baker under took to report this resolution and the unanimous vote to the Cabinet meeting.