Area Board Meeting
Minutes of meeting held on 14 February 2013 – The Brave Rood, DDC Offices, Dover.
Present:
Area Board Members;
Tenant Reps:
June Bailey (Chair) (JBai) Brenda Lyons (BL)
Sandra Murray (SM) Tony Troth-Alexander
John Battles(JB) Sarah Kidney (SK)
Dennis Haywood (DH) Dave Quarrinton (DQ)
Roy Barlow (RB)
Tenant Board Member
Chris Hanagan
Cllr Board Members
Cllr Pip Russell
Cllr Sue Chandler
East Kent Housing
Louise Taylor (LT) Janet Oxborrow (JO)
Brendan Ryan (BR) David Ashby (DA)
Dover District Council
Paul Whitfied (PW)
Elly Toye (ET)
Observer
Cllr Pam Brivilo
At the AGM that had been held immediately prior to this meeting Roy Barlow had been elected Chair and June Bailey Vice Chair. Roy had asked if June would be prepared to Chair this meeting as he was having problems with his hearing and June agreed.
1. Welcome and Apologies
June Bailey welcomed everyone to the meeting.
No apologies were received.
2. Minutes of last Meeting and Matters Arising
From the Action Point:
David Ashby gave out a breakdown of Swale Heating statistics and said that he was not satisfied that they were correct and he would be asking further questions of Swale Heating. He would report his findings to next meeting.
There was a general discussion on how the statistics are collected and what could be done to improve the process. June Bailey had prepared a report from the Gas Cluster Group which she had given to the Sandwich/Rural Group on Tuesday and asked Janet to distribute the report to the Dover/Deal Group (something Janet should have done yesterday for which she apologised for). Copies of the report given to the Dover/Deal group.
John Battles proposed that the minutes be accepted as a true record and Dennis Haywood seconded this proposal.
The Chairman agreed that Item 5 on the Agenda – Matters for Information and Consultation – Dover District Council – could be moved up the Agenda.
5. Update on Revisions to Allocation Policy and Update on Tenancy Strategy
Paul Whitfield explained the background to the Tenancy Strategy and Allocations Policy and said that the consultation period had commenced and ends on 15 March 2013.
Elly Toye then gave a detailed report on the Allocations Policy (details of which had been circulated prior to the meeting). Elly summarised the main changes which includes moving from a points to a banding system.
In answer to questions:
(1) Elly confirmed that the draft policy is available on Kent Home Choice, has been circulated to key stake holders and has been widely advertised at various meetings.
(2) More transfer were being made to help people affected by the bedroom tax. She accepted that housing benefit would still be paid – so costs would remain the same – but tenants would end up in the right size accommodation.
Elly also explained that from 15 February 2013 it will be possible for tenants to register on line to be put on the housing list – this will eventually lead to a ‘paperless office’.
Brendan Ryan said that he would like to comment on the performance statistics before Elly left the meeting. He thanked Elly and her team for all the work they had done to improve the re-let times. Cllr Chandler supported this and said that the performance figures had been commented favourably upon at a recent Cabinet meeting.
3. Performance Report
Louise went through the report that had previously been circulated and made comments on each page.
This included:
(1) Unable to provide telephone statistics at present due to telephone system.
(2) Page 5 -percentage of complaints answered on time – there was a ‘blip’ in Q2 – but Q3 was better.
(3) Only 2 complaints went to Stage 2.
Brendan Ryan said that complaints handling is one of EKH main concerns and work is being done with Area Managers to improve this area.
(4) Page 7 – void times down
(5) Page – average re-let times – Dover top of the table!
Managed Budget Report
David Ashby gave an overview on the budget figures (previously circulated)
4. Matters for Information
Area Manager Update:
Louise confirmed that the next Scrutiny Event will take place at Thanington on 8 March 2013. The Area Board members will be given an update on the subjects scrutinised last year and will also be given the opportunity to select the areas to be scrutinised this year.
At the Scrutiny Meeting Louise will also be giving an update on the Tenants Panel that will be required to deal with complaints – before they go to the Ombudsman.
Louise asked for volunteers to work on a new Tenancy Agreement that she had just written – the following tenants volunteered:
June Bailey, Dave Quarrinton, Roy Barlow, Brenda Lyons, Sandra Murray, John Battles and Dennis Haywood.
TICI Update:
Janet said that as she had given her update to both area groups over the past two days she had nothing else to add apart from an update on the next Estate Event. Janet said it was hoped that an event could be held in the summer and asked if some thought could be given to a suitable venue. Preferably somewhere will a hall and some grassed area. She also said that as the last event was held in Dover it might be appropriate to hold the next event in Deal.
David Ashby gave an update on the Asset Team.
Date and time of next meeting:
9 May 2013 – 6pm – 8pm – Brave Room, DDC Offices, Whitfield, Dover, Kent
CT16 3PJ
Action Points
Page Number / Action / Person2 / David Ashby to report back on his finding about the statistics reported by Swale Heating / DA
Signed …………………………………………. Date: ………………
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