My report to Council

Posted By: Doreen Brophy-Lee
Date Posted: 19/10/2009

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Housing Portfolio.


Improvements in Kirkholt

A temporary Doctors Surgery is being built on Queens Drive, Kirkholt and will be opening on 2nd November 2009. The centre is on a site previously occupied by 2 blocks of flats, (numbers 29 to 75 Queens Drive), which were demolished earlier this year as part of the Vision for Kirkholt regeneration project.

One full-time and one part-time GP, a practice nurse, practice manager, and reception staff have already been employed. The centre will aim to increase staffing up to 4 GPs as more patients register which is a much needed service in the Balderstone and Kirkholt ward.


Social Housing Energy Savings Programme

In early August RBH was successful in securing an allocation of £1.4M from the Homes and Communities Agency to provide improved insulation to the College Bank tower blocks. The bid was made in competition with social housing providers from across the country and was one of only a handful approved from organisations based in the North West.

The work will include improvements to the external decoration to take advantage of the scaffolding. It is anticipated that the project will be completed by the end of May 2010.

This will provide tenants with better insulated homes, enabling them to benefit from reduced heating costs.

Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Review

The first meeting of the HRA Investment & Involvement Commission met on Thursday 3 September to look at the future of the Housing Revenue Account and how Council housing will be managed and maintained in the future chaired by Professor Ian Cole from Sheffield University.

Members discussed how the Commission will work and were given a detailed presentation by Tony Huff, a consultant from Housing Quality Network, on the financial context for consideration at the meeting in November, along with information about the national review.

Regular briefings to members will follow each Commission meeting.


Environmental Improvement Programme

An important issue in the current market is the appearance of vacant Council-owned development sites and their adverse impact on the Townscape. I am happy to report that after a successful trial of wildflower seeding on land at Entwistle Road the Implementation team have secured external funding to treat further sites in the New Year. This action will complement Section 215 action on privately owned sites and will lead to a significant overall improvement in the appearance of vacant land.


Mortgage Rescue Scheme

Good news for struggling home owners in Rochdale.

The Mortgage Rescue Scheme, (MRS) which Rochdale is a fast track authority for, has been attracting some notice nationally for its successes.

Our scheme which is a Strategic Housing lead partnership with CAB and our own advice service has helped 403 people struggling with their mortgages since it began in January 2009.

None of these people has since become homeless.

Our scheme ensures that anyone in mortgage difficulties gets advice and assistance not just those households eligible for MRS.

Of the households who are eligible for MRS 19 have been sent to the zone agent for rescue.

8 households have now had formal offers; we expect 3 to be fully rescued within a month.

In terms of our performance against other authorities, we are one of the two top referrers in the Northwest. (Manchester a much bigger authority being the other.) We had been told that the quality of our referrals is the best in terms of the evidence needed to proceed to a rescue. Nationally our region has more referrals to zone agents than any other.

We have also been approached by the Central Office of Information for case studies and filmed interviews to be placed on the CLG MRS website; in addition we can expect to be heavily involved in the October publicity campaign around MRS.



Croft Street Bungalows

The Grant Agreement with the Homes and Communities Agency and the loan agreement between Brighter Horizons and RMBC have been agreed and signed. The transfer of title has taken place so Brighter Horizons is now the land owner.

The contractor will be Richardsons Projects, part of the ROK group and early work has started on site. Completion of the new homes is scheduled for August 2010.

We will be organising an official sod cutting ceremony together with associated publicity for the Croft St start on site.

Refurbishment work – Ex- Right to Buy backs

Our Brighter Horizons bid to the Homes and Communities Agency for grant funding of £600,000 to buy back five ex-Right To Buy properties has been approved.

A shortlist of properties to consider for purchase has been compiled following an exercise to involve Local Housing Managers in identifying and prioritising available properties on their estates. Properties for potential purchase have been prioritised based on the following criteria:

• They are empty
• Type and size (given the acute need for larger family homes)
• The overall cost to purchase and repair.
• Extent of blight (we will prioritise properties where bringing back into use will have the greatest impact on the surrounding neighbourhood)
• Demand (only properties identified as being in long term high demand following renovation will be considered)


Councillor Doreen Brophy-Lee