My Report to Council

Posted By: Doreen Brophy-Lee
Date Posted: 15/01/2010

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

Housing Revenue Account Review

The Housing Revenue Account Investment & Involvement Commission has met three times since my last update. I am pleased to report that things are running as scheduled.

At Octobers Commission meeting, Ian Doolittle, a respected solicitor in housing, presented the potential legal options available to the Commission.

At November’s meeting, Tony Huff from Housing Quality Network Consultancy presented the financial options available to the Commission, this is a complicated but very important part of the review and we have been working very hard to make sure we understand what the financial implications of each option mean.

On the 16 December an informal Commission meeting was held for an opportunity to reflect on and discuss the options presented to us to date.

Two more meetings are scheduled for January to discuss the condition of our housing and the role of the landlord. Members will be briefed again after those meetings

Quality of Place Partnership

The quality of place partnership is now progressing well, with the full Board having met twice since September and a full programme of dates booked for the coming year.

Under the Board there are four sub groups which are Housing; Design and Conservation; Climate Change and Environment and Engage and Influence. These groups are still establishing themselves, but we have developed some clear reporting mechanisms between those groups and the Board. Importantly, we have agreed which targets the Partnership are responsible for, which sub group is in charge of delivering them and the how they report the progress to the Board.

We are now considering the Comprehensive Area Assessment report and its associated improvement plan to ensure that the Partnership continues to develop and evolve.

Environmental Improvements

The £9,250,000 million Creating Great Neighbourhoods project being jointly implemented by Rochdale Council & Rochdale Boroughwide Housing has been ongoing for over two years. It is split into two elements, namely Quick Wins which are the smaller scale environmental projects and the Priority Estates works aimed at delivering more significant projects to targeted estates. As far as the Quick Wins are concerned more than 300 such schemes have been delivered across the borough to date. Out of this year’s allocation of £625,000 a total of 94 Quick Wins schemes have been approved – 45 in Rochdale, 21 in Pennines, 16 in Middleton & 12 in Heywood, with many completed.

The Creating Great Neighbourhoods project has been partially funded from income generated by the collection of water charges by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing and also via funding secured through Rochdale Boroughwide Housing’s partnership with Greater Manchester Procure.

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing is also working with Groundwork Oldham and Rochdale with the newly formed Green Team. The Green Team provide employment and skills to help young people get jobs and for tenants to benefit from the team's work in improving the open spaces. The team is made up of youngsters throughout the borough and they have been working on projects across Rochdale, Middleton and Heywood since November.

ALMO Performance

I’m pleased to report that RBH continues to deliver improved performance. Many of you will be aware of how key council housing performance indicators have improved in recent years. Properties are being re-let more quickly than ever before – taking 27 days on average. This means we have fewer empty properties – just 173 (with major works on 30 of these properties to keep them at the decent homes standard). Despite the recession the percentage of rent collect this year has increased to 96.87%, this is an increase of 0.73%. RBH has achieved this whilst taking legal action against fewer tenants. The average time to complete non-urgent repairs is now less than 10 days and overall tenant satisfaction with the repairs service has risen to 93%.

Councillor Doreen Brophy-Lee

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matters relating to the Housing Portfolio.