Agenda item

Objective: An update from the Chief Executive on key issues which may be of interest to the Cabinet Housing Committee.

The Chief Executive addressed the committee and provided the following updates:

-       Have continued to proceed with key recruitments and have recently filled a senior supervisor post internally. The compliance team review has been completed, and three new posts have been advertised which are now at an interview stage. A review will be carried out of the technical and investment team, critical in terms of planned maintenance, to continue the recruitment journey.

-       Would like to thank colleagues in the finance team who have recently published the draft Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget, which is now with tenants for consultation. These were slightly delayed following the tragic loss of the S151 Officer, Paul Jones. A new interim S151 Officer has now joined the council, with significant local government experience, including other local authorities with HRAs.

-       Christmas can be an incredibly challenging time for a lot of tenants and residents and wished to highlight the fantastic work teams do to support them during this time. 71 hampers were delivered to customers, and 58 presents were gifted to children who may not have received one this Christmas. Have also continued the school uniform initiative, which has helped 91 families with school uniforms.

-       KPI figures around compliance continue to move in an inherently positive direction. The committee have set a clear expectation that health and safety and compliance should be the top priority. There are still a couple of areas remaining where the council is focusing on improving figures, which are highlighted within the reports.

-       The proposals for local government reorganisation (LGR) were submitted at the end of November. Four councils supported a single unitary model, Gloucester City Council supported the greater Gloucester model, and CBC supported a two-unitary model on a broad east/west split. Central government is expected to open a consultation process with statutory partners in February which will run for six weeks, with a final announcement expected in the summer. Really positive partnership work is taking place across all authorities to prepare. From now until July this will cover activity to understand the baseline position, including mapping all properties and assets. From a housing perspective there are already strong housing partnerships in place which is helpful, and consideration is being given to ensuring that any transition to a future authority is smooth for residents so that they will hopefully not notice any difference.

The committee’s discussion raised the following points:

-       Asked the Chief Executive to offer the thanks of the committee to officers who contributed to make Christmas special for so many families and children. The Cabinet Member for Housing highlighted that meeting the children and giving them selection boxes was a tremendous experience. Thanks were also offered to tenants and leaseholders who were active in the support given to other tenants. It was noted that one tenant has already begun to collect easter eggs for the children.