Venue: MP702 - Town Hall, Mulberry Place, 5 Clove Crescent, London, E14 2BG. View directions
Contact: The Committee Services Officer
Tel: 020 7364 5554 E-mail: rushena.miah@towerhamlets.gov.uk
Items
No. |
Item |
1. |
DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS PDF 68 KB
To note any declarations of
interest made by Members, including those restricting Members from
voting on the questions detailed in Section 106 of the Local
Government Finance Act, 1992. See attached note from the Monitoring
Officer.
Minutes:
Moshin Hamid declared a
personal interest in that he is a member of the self-build
forum.
The Chair declared that he is a
board member of Tower Hamlets Homes his employer has a working
relationship with Poplar HARCA.
John Pierce declared that he
sits on the Tower Hamlets Homes board.
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2. |
MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING PDF 95 KB
Minutes:
The minutes of the meeting held on 29 January
2018 were agreed as an accurate record and signed by the
Chair.
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3. |
REPORTS FOR CONSIDERATION:
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3.1 |
Self Build PDF 535 KB
The Committee will receive a presentation on
this topic at the meeting.
Minutes:
The Committee received a
presentation from Martin Ling, Housing Strategy Manager, on the
Council’s work in relation to self-build.
Key
points summarised from the presentation:
- Direction
is taken from the Council’s housing strategy.
- The
Self-Build and Custom Housing Act 2015 provides the policy
context.
- There is a
three year deadline to grant planning permission for
self-build.
- With regard
to demand, as of January 2018 there were 169 applications for
self-build. The majority of applicants lived in the borough and
were of the young professional demographic.
- There are
several options for self-build projects permitted. These range from
one off self-managed, one off build with contractor to manage
construction, kit home, community collaboration and community
self-build agency.
- Some of the
issues associated with self-build include high land values,
expensive to purchase, high density applications tend to be
favoured, the GLA has set a high housing target, suitable site
availability and competition.
- A
self-build forum has been established and holds three meetings a
year. The next meeting is in May
2018.
- A land
disposal model is being worked on.
- The GLA has
launched 3 small pilot sites for development, two are based in E1
and one is based in E2.
Comments from Members:
- The cost
saving value of self-build is not apparent. The cost of land and
building work amounts to roughly £475,000 which is the same
as outright purchase of a one or two bedroom home. Significant
savings could be made for those willing to carry out construction
work themselves.
- The
National Planning Policy Framework consultation should consider
diversifying the market and allowing for change of use for
dwellings from office or commercial to home.
- If would be
the Councils responsibility to ensure that fire safety is
incorporated into self-build planning applications.
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3.2 |
Anti Social Behaviour PDF 234 KB
The Committee will receive a presentation on
this topic at the meeting.
Minutes:
The Committee received a
presentation from Susmita Sen, Chief Executive of Tower Hamlets
Homes and Nick Spenceley, Head of Environmental Services Tower
Hamlets Homes on their work to tackle Anti-Social Behaviour within
their housing estate.
Key
points from the presentation:
- The ASB
Team falls within the environmental services division which is
managed by Nick Spenceley. Caretakers are often the first point of
contact for ASB reporting.
- THH has
secured additional resources for policing.
- The newly
formed ASB team work staggered hours for a greater
presence.
- Early
successes have meant an increase in legal casework, therefore
additional caseworkers are due to be appointed.
- So far
there have been 75 arrests, 600 incidents logged and 385 stop and
searches.
- The
additional police presence has been funded by MOPAC on a match
funded basis, THH have employed 14 police officers for the price of
7.
- Use of
closure orders have enabled police officers to make arrests and
insist offenders leave premises.
- It was
noted as significant that THH have seen successes as early as 5
months into the strategy.
Questions from Members:
- Why is
there such a high prevalence of ASB in this borough compared to the
rest of London? Officers provided the following
reasons;
- the 101
non-emergency service captures all elements of crime reporting
adding to the statistic,
- that it was
not fully understood why Tower Hamlets was a soft target for ASB
but there was consensus at the strategic level that research should
be conducted on this topic.
- What is
your approach to cross county drug dealing?
- What
happens when the money runs out?
- What are
you measuring success on?
- Are you
doing prevention work?
- What
happened to the aim of sharing best practice with other resident
providers?
Response from officers:
- Officers
explained that their work on ASB was the starting point of a three
year strategy. They prioritised social housing because crime was
prevalent on estates. The first five months of the strategy had
seen positive results. After three years, work would begin on a new
strategy in consultation with the Mayor, Police and residents.
Officers could not predict the level of resource that would be
required in the future but they were hopeful that current
intervention work would significantly reduce levels of ASB in the
long term.
- A key
indicator for success would be when residents start to report they
feel safer. Officers agreed that metrics on the effectiveness of
crime intervention measures should be introduced as a next
step.
·
The Committee noted that the THH funded officers
would pursue perpetrators if they had moved to another estate even
if this was not a THH estate.
- There is a
space for engagement with other providers. Nick Spenceley attends
an ASB sub-group for registered social landlords that shares best
practice. The next meeting will look at a consistency in police
intervention.
- Councillor
John Pierce updated the Committee on the Neighbourhood Management
Pilot. He said that the Pilot Manager had started in the role and
their immediate priorities would include setting ...
view the full minutes text for item 3.2
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3.3 |
Void Properties - What is the Council doing to bring them into use? PDF 1 MB
The Committee will receive a presentation on
this topic at the meeting.
Minutes:
The Committee received a
presentation from Martin Ling, Housing Strategy Manager, on empty
properties in the borough with regard to the private
sector.
Summary of presentation:
- Data on
voids comes from Council tax records. A void is defined as a home
left empty for six months or more.
- There are
1565 homes left empty for more than 6 months and 1264 second homes
in the borough.
- Tools to
bring empty homes into use include enforcement action (3%), threat
of enforcement (11%), grant aid (6%), advice and guidance (58%) and
market forces.
- There is a
team in the Council that works on private void cases. They can
enforce empty dwelling management orders and compulsory purchase
orders. They can also provide grants to
landlords to bring homes back into lettable condition. These homes
are often rented by the Council to place homeless families but are
permitted to have other uses, such as community space.
Comments from Members:
- There is an
urban myth that there was huge number of empty dwellings as a
result of purchase from oversea millionaires. What work will the
Council do to dispel this myth?
- It was
noted the data the Council has does not support this view and the
Council will look into how this could be communicated. Some of the
empty flats could be due to short term lets market which would mean
it is not being used every day.
- Members
requested a presentation on Council voids be presented at a future
meeting.
The Chair thanked the Housing
Strategy manager for the presentation.
RESOLVED
To note the
presentation.
ACTION:
For
Council voids to be add to the Forward Plan for discussion at a
future meeting.
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4. |
FIRE SAFETY SCRUTINY REVIEW PDF 112 KB
Presented by Afazul Hoque,
Senior Strategy Policy and Performance Officer. This report
will be made available later in the week. Reason for general
exception:
The Fire Safety Scrutiny Review will be a late
paper to allow all Committee Members and officers who were involved
in the reviews an opportunity to feed
into the draft report before publication. Following completion of
the evidence gathering sessions and drafting of the
recommendations, the report will be made available. Due to busy corporate diaries and Members’
availability, it was necessary to complete the evidence gathering
sessions for the review in late February.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Elizabeth Bailey, Senior
Strategy, Policy and Performance Officer, offered the Committee a
final opportunity to feed into the Fire Safety Review.
Comments included:
- There are
high density tall buildings in the borough. There should be a
recommendation to draft a fire safety policy specific to tall
buildings. Advice could be sought from firms in Singapore and New
York on how they manage their tall buildings. The UK lacks
expertise in this area as tall developments are a relatively recent
phenomenon.
- Other
Members said that officers would need to see if a Council has the
power to action the above recommendation.
- The
communications and engagement recommendations should be
merged.
- Recommendation 16, emergency plans, to be amended – it
appears to be a landlord and resident matter.
- Dame Judith
Hackett is conducting the Grenfell inquiry – perhaps a
statement of recommendations could be sent to her.
- Regarding
recommendation 15, engaging tenant and resident organisations,
there are only five established TRA’s. The Council will need
to have a wider reach.
- There was a
suggestion to include timings to the recommendations however the
majority of members decided against this, as it was the
responsibility of the Council and Executive to implement strategies
and timescales.
- As there
are several recommendations the report should highlight the five
priority areas. .
- Officers to
keep up to date with government advice and guidance on fire safety
and emergency protocols should be included as a
recommendation.
- The report
should mention the importance of educating residents on fire
safety. Residents often install grills when doors are secure by
design, grills are a fire hazard.
- The
recommendation for emergency access from inside the building should
also include a point about external access as well.
Members were advised to email
Elizabeth Bailey if they had further comments on the report and to
advise on what the top five priority areas for recommendation
should be. The deadline for comments was noted as 25 March
2018.
RESOLVED
- To agree
the recommendations, subject to the amendments
discussed.
- To
authorise the Divisions Director of Strategy Policy and Partnership
to amend the draft report before submission to Cabinet, in
consultation with the Chair.
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5. |
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Minutes:
The Chair thanked the Committee
and Officers for their work on the review and their contributions
towards housing scrutiny over the course of the year.
He also asked THH leaseholders
to be added as a future agenda item
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