Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member Housing

RESOLVED THAT

1.     the continued development and delivery of the Community Asset Model be agreed

2.     the Deputy Chief Executive be authorised to agree to an extension of the current arrangement until October 2016 or enter into either a new or varied contractual arrangement as appropriate with Gloucestershire County Council in consultation with the s151 Officer and on terms approved by the Borough Solicitor. 

The Cabinet Member Housing introduced the report and explained that Gloucestershire County Council’s Supporting People team commissioned Cheltenham Borough Council to provide housing-related support services to older people living in sheltered housing. This service was delivered by Cheltenham Borough Homes as the Council’s managing agents through a formal management agreement. He explained that in 2014 Cabinet agreed to develop and deliver a Community Asset service model. This meant that CBC (via CBH) would provide a more comprehensive, flexible housing-related support service to older people, both within sheltered housing schemes and in the community at large, whilst also providing a number of community hubs. These hubs would deliver services and activities that benefitted both residents of the sheltered housing scheme, as well as those living within the surrounding neighbourhood. The Cabinet Member referred members to the case study in Appendix 3 which illustrated the benefits of the hub and the use by the wider community.

The Cabinet Member thanked Cheltenham Borough Homes and in particular the Community Services Manager for their valuable work and informed the meeting that a second community hub was likely to be set up in a different part of town in the future.

Members welcomed the success of this project and believed it would be extremely valuable to share its success as wide as possible. It provided good evidence of how CBH worked well in the community on behalf of CBC.

RESOLVED THAT

1.    the continued development and delivery of the Community Asset Model be agreed

2.    the Deputy Chief Executive be authorised to agree to an extension of the current arrangement until October 2016 or enter into either a new or varied contractual arrangement as appropriate with Gloucestershire County Council in consultation with the s151 Officer and on terms approved by the Borough Solicitor.