Agenda and draft minutes

To receive apologies.

Apologies were received from Cllr Federica Smith-Roberts, Richard Watters, Alison McKillop, Alex Akhigbemen and John Moore.

To receive a welcome from the Chair.

The Chair, opened the Meeting and went through housekeeping procedures.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting of the Tenants’ Strategic Group held on:

20 January 2025

03 February 2025

The Minutes from the previous Meeting on Monday 20 January and Monday 3 February 2025 were confirmed as a true record.

To receive Engagement Group Updates from the Chair.

The Chair gave an overview of the updates from the Engagement Groups. A summarised version of the discussion is below:

TAG - The group now have two new members but have had a resignation so are back to 8 members in total, the group are actively looking to recruit new members. The AGM was held on 23rd January 2025 and Wayne Hobson was voted in as Chair and Louise Heald was voted in as “Vice-chair”. Applications for the Child Youth Initiative Fund continue to be received for consideration after 1st April 2025 (new budget). All funds were spent from 24/25 budget. Estate Improvement Fund Applications – Enhancements to Trinity Communal Garden, this has been considered and decided that further information is required and therefore a site visit will be arranged. Wayne Hobson to complete an application for the “Water Garden” at Churchill way.

Scrutiny TAG - The group met on 29th January to put together their final report and recommendations. This report is included in March TSG agenda. The scrutiny group are asking for endorsement of their recommendations. A group have chosen “Estate Walkabouts” to scrutinise next.

VOIDS - The group met with Ollie Warcup and visited VOID properties on 7th February and 3rd March 2025. They will continue to visit voids properties on a regular basis and ensure that they meet the decent homes standard.

Damp and Mould - The group met again on 10th January 2025, progress had been slow due to turnover of staff and a technology problem. The group continues to monitor the action plan and will meet again on 21st March and an update of this meeting will be reported in the TSG May meeting.

Resolved – The Group noted the Report.

To receive the Report from Louise Heald.

Wayne, presented the report, a summary of the Report can be found below:

We chose to scrutinise Capital Programme communication because of the reasons set out below:

• TSM comments showed that this was an area of concern.

• Within TAG group of 6 people, 5 had experienced capital communication problems.

• Capital Budget had not been fully spent since 2019.

• As TAG representatives, other tenants had approached us about their concerns regarding this topic.

• Scrutiny is part of the Consumer Regulation Act that was introduced by the Regulator of Social Housing (RoSH) in April 2024.

Findings

• Complaint data showed that from 01/04/2022 until 18/07/2024, 37 complaints had been received regarding the Capital Programme, 53% was because of failed communication and 35% of the failed communication was regarding not receiving information about when an install would take place. Overall, Capital Programme complaints in 2025 have reduced.

• Case-Study 1 -MH said that he had a visit 2nd December from a capital surveyor, random knock at the door, no previous communication. Asked if kitchen needed doing, bathroom and heating. MH already had this appointment a month before and it was agreed that bathroom would not be done because a wet room and heating already booked in. No communication. • Case-Study 2 - 73 Monkton Heathfield, lady had Nationwide scheduled 2 weeks prior to install windows, they did not turn up, she rang Somerset Council, but nobody could help her. They came back a week later and fitted the bedroom window, she noticed that the paperwork said 75 and not 73, they said “oh you noticed-these windows won’t fit” - they left and heard nothing since.

• We found that tenants were receiving multiple visits for asbestos checks, some were carried within a week of each of each other (Malcolm Holliday, 1 for heating and 1 for windows). This causes unnecessary costs to the council and unnecessary disruption to the tenant by having to stay in or take multiple days off work.

• We received contradicting information from Mal Doyle and Mary Dosson, Mal Doyle said that asbestos surveys had to be carried out before every works, Mary said that it could be done differently, and 1 check could be valid for 12 months.

• Our case studies showed that it was the Council not sending a letter to say work would be carried out and the sub-contractors that were causing additional communication problems, i.e. not showing ID and not turning up. This was shown in Beadon Road and Valley Road and investigated by Leanne Brownlee.

Outcomes

• Formed an excellent relationship with the Capital Program Team. The Capital Team were so helpful they responded to some of our recommendations quickly and therefore these recommendations have been listed as outcomes.

• There has been improved communication between the Capital team and Somerset Council Estate/Sheltered Housing Officers. The planned year of works has been shared with tenancy officers.

• All quality issues that were raised through our telephone surveys were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 115.

To receive the Report from Kerry Prisco, Strategic Finance Business Partner and Simon Lewis, Head of Housing.

Kerry Prisco, Strategic Finance Business Partner and Simon Lewis, Head of Housing presented the Report, a summary of the Report can be found below:

Background

Since the 1 April 2023, Somerset Council has managed two landlord operating models within the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). The two landlord operating models are an in-house service in the West, formerly Somerset West and Taunton (SWT), and Homes in Sedgemoor which is an Arm’s Length Management Organisation (ALMO) operating in the North, formerly Sedgemoor District Council (SDC). The combined total dwelling stock as at 1 April 2024 is 9,754 (5,708 from SWT and 4,046 from SDC). In addition to this there are 602 leasehold properties (491 from SWT and 111 from SDC).

The HRA is a ring-fenced, self-financing account used to manage the Council’s housing stock, with the Council acting as the Landlord. This has been the case since April 2012 where, under the Localism Act 2011, the government abolished the national subsidy system (which required an annual payment from the HRA to Central Government) and introduced ‘self-financing’. This system enabled Councils to retain all rental income to fund the costs of managing and maintaining the housing stock, as well as meeting the interest payments and repayment of debt. As part of the self-financing agreement, Councils had to buy themselves out of the subsidy system by making a one-off payment to the Government. The capital debt taken on in 2012 was a total of £133m; £85.198m for the Taunton Deane Borough Council and £47.321m for the Sedgemoor District Council.

In order to manage the freedoms gained by the HRA through self-financing, a new 30-Year Business Plan (2012-2042) was introduced. The plan is reviewed and updated on an annual basis, to take into consideration changes in national policies, local aspiration and the economic operating environment. The plan sets out the Councils’ overall aims and objectives for the Housing Service, as well as laying out plans to manage the increased risks and opportunities.

Recommendations

That following on from Full Council approving the Rent Setting and Fees & Charges for 2025/26 on the 12 February 2025, approve the following recommendations:

1. The HRA Annual Revenue Budget for 2025/26 as set out in Section 3 and in Appendix A.

2. The Capital Programme of £304.638m including new additions of £213.587m and budget deletions of £4.738m as detailed in Section 4 and Appendix B.

3. Delegate to the Chief Finance Officer (Section 151 Officer) to approve the final capital financing of the capital programme annual spend.

4. Delegate to the Chief Finance Officer (Section 151 Officer) and the Executive Director of Community, Place & Economy, in conjunction with the Deputy Leader of the Council and Lead Member for Finance, Procurement and Performance and the Lead Member for Communities, Housing Revenue Account, Culture and Equalities and Diversity to approve the tenure (social vs affordable rents) of each social housing scheme.

5. Delegated authority to the Executive Director of Community, Place & Economy and the Chief Finance Officer (Section 151 Officer), in conjunction with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 116.

To receive an update from the directorate.

Simon Lewis, Head of Housing and Ian Candlish, Head of Property presented the directorate report, a summary of the Report can be found below:

HRA Growth - Classic Builders are progressing the construction works on Phase Ci with foundations nearing completion and then drainage works will commence. The groundworkers will then move to Phase B to start the foundations. Phase Dii (Hereford Drive flats) are being decanted, there is a decant plan for the remaining tenants and private tenant. The Compulsory Purchase Order is being 1 sealed for the one remaining private flat as well as trying to engage the owner to agree a sale. End of Defects inspections are being concluded on Phase A properties and will be completed by 29th March 2025. Demolition of the Oxford Inn on Roman Road in Taunton has completed. Work has now started on building the eight new energy efficient homes which we aim to complete by December 2025.

Property Team - There is ongoing recruitment for the trades area to ensure we continue to meet target completion dates. We have now appointed a permanent Maintenance Manager, Mal Doyle. Mal was previously with the council as an agency Capital Programme Contract Manager. The most recent available data at the time of writing this report for repairs performance, January 2025, demonstrates on target performance for both emergency responsive repairs (100%) and non-emergency responsive repairs (95.5%).

Housing Performance Team - Supporting and enabling the work of the Tenants Strategic Group (TSG) and Tenants’ Action Group (TAG) and the subgroups is a key focus for our team. Our engaged tenants attended a training session about the structure of the HRA and an introduction to Social Housing. The training course was run by the tenant engagement team and all those that attended thoroughly enjoyed it. We are really pleased to advise that the Social Fund Group has managed to spend all of the social value money this financial year. This has made a positive difference in the local community.

After receiving the Update, the group raised the following points (summarised):

• What is the status of fire door installations in Council flats. Ian Candlish explained that fire doors are required in communal areas of blocks of flats where tenants need to walk past other flats to exit the property. If the door leads directly to the open air, it may not require a fire door. The Council is currently working on installing fire doors in blocks of flats that haven't had recent installations.
• What is the procedure for moving families that are currently overcrowded in their homes, particularly when children of different sexes are sharing rooms. Simon Lewis explained that the Home Finder policy sets guidelines for room sharing, such as two children of the same sex under 16 sharing a room. However, many families are living in overcrowded conditions. The Council works with occupational therapists to assess and provide support for households with specific needs, such as those with autistic children. The challenge remains the lack of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 117.

To receive the Report from Claire Reed, Case Management Lead.

Claire Reed, Case Management Lead presented the report, a summary of the report can be found below:

Repair Satisfaction - Work continues in this area, and we are currently working on how we can best capture feedback about repairs satisfaction from our residents. With the new appointment of a Maintenance Manager, we are hopeful that we can revisit this project in the coming months.

Compliments - In quarter 3 we received 21 compliments overall, compared to 15 in the previous quarter. The number received peaked in December which might coincidently coincide with the festive season.

Overall Satisfaction - Aquity undertook their most recent Tenant Satisfaction Survey on our behalf in November 2024. Overall satisfaction for the in-house landlord stands at 78% which is a 4% increase on the survey undertaken in May 2024. This is the highest overall satisfaction rate we have achieved since the last STAR survey which was completed in 2020. Notable improvements in November’s survey have been in communal areas (up by 4% on May), our approach to ASB (up by 5% on May’s figures) and the time taken to carry out a repair (up by 4% on May).

Supported Housing - We are pleased that we have continued to improve our compliance with the percentage of sheltered housing tenants receiving annual review plans in this quarter, after some months of being unable to collate this information.

Lettings and VOIDS - In quarter 3, we realised in previous reports we had been providing data on all voids, including major voids (i.e. where the building is scheduled for regeneration or demolition). The Housemark definition states we should report this indicator on minor voids only. This more accurate reporting has resulted in our figures presenting as much better against our targets and benchmarked across the sector, as top quartile performance for Local Authorities and ALMOs with less than 10,000 units between April and November 2024 was around 40 days, and the median score around 57.

Housing Repairs - Our performance has largely remained on target in both emergency and nonemergency repairs. Non-emergency repairs response times have improved by around 2% on quarter 2.

After receiving the report, the group raised the following points (summarised):

• The Group highlighted how can online repair logging be promoted as this could help reduce call waiting times and improve overall service efficiency. 
• The Group highlighted the number of voids and lettings, noting that there were 37 voids in November and 246 lettings. queried what was so different to cause these numbers.
• The Group sought clarification on how the new communications post will be funded, Simon clarified it will be funded through the HOA.

Actions:

• Sharon Yarde to send Q3 Questions to Simon Lewis and Ian Candlish.

The Chair to consider any other business.

Ivor Hussey raised any other business with Ian Candlish, the Courtyard gates are an issue with mobility scooter users and wheelchairs with them closing too quickly, raises if a sensor could be fitted to alleviate this issue.

Actions:

• Sharon Yarde to introduce the new Communications colleague at the next TSG Meeting.
• Sharon Yarde to arrange a Special Meeting on April 28 for the Consumer Standard Action Plan.
• Claire Reed to make the Consumer Standard Action Plan accessible.

Informal Item will be deferred to a special Meeting held in April week commencing the 28^th.