No apologies were received for this meeting

The minutes of the Environment and Housing Management Committee 9^th December 2015, were agreed as a true record.

The Chair thanked officers Dawn Taylor and Leona Murray-Green for their work on the Clean for the Queen project.  The project was supported by a number of schools, the Voluntary Sector and Parish Councils.

Ward Members of Shenfield and Brentwood West noted that the Public Lavatories situated within their wards would shortly be removed, due to the contract expiring. The removal of these would commence in April 2016.

The Chair advised the Committee that Maureen Montgomery, the Chair of Tenants Talkback would be retiring from her role after 15 years. The Chair gave personal thanks for all her hard work over the years and that it would be a great loss. 

A presentation on key Performance Indicators was given to the Committee by the Acting Head of Housing.

Overall performance is good. Ms Gregory advised that the KPIs % rent paid of current tenants as proportions of the rent roll had decreased to 98.95% our target is99.70%. The team are planning an arrears campaign for the last 3 weeks of the financial year to promote payment and reduce rent arrears.

The Committee noted, that whilst discussions were due to take place with contractors on improvement in customer satisfaction, no complaints had been received about their services from customers.

The report looked at the previous contract for this work which was terminated due to performance issues.

There remained a need to finish work to 8 blocks where these were incomplete and to undertake full works to the remaining 7 blocks where work had yet to commence.

Given the value and complexity of the work it was necessary to undertake a competitive tender exercise to secure the services of another contractor. This would proceed using the Delta E-Procurement portal.

The cost of both work elements described above was estimated to be £240k.

A motion was MOVED by Cllr Hossack and SECONDED by Cllr Poppy to approve the recommendation in the report.

A vote was taken by a show of hands and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY.

1.        That the Committee formally approver and the Council proceed to tender and delegate power to the Head of Paid Service and Section 151 Officer to award the contract.

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION

To enable the contract to be delivered appropriately with a high level of time and cost certainty.

The report highlighted that at the Ordinary Council meeting on 27^th January 2016, a notice of motion was carried unanimously which stated:

‘As part of an on-going campaign and commitment to keeping Brentwood clean, this Council resolves to explore powers at its disposal to take action against private land owners who fail to remove litter or graffiti from their land or property.  A full report with proposed action will come forward to the Environment and Housing Committee.’

The Report set out the powers available to the Council to deal with removal of litter and graffiti on private land where land owners fail to carry this out.

A motion was MOVED by Cllr Hossack and SECONDED by Cllr Poppy to agree the recommendation in the report, subject to an additional recommendation by the chair.

Performance Indicators for Streetcare to be presented at future Environment

and Housing Management Committee on the following points.

·                    How many cases of litter/graffiti/flytipping are report to  Streetscene and  Environmental Health

·                     The number of Community Protection Notices issued

·                     The outcome of the case – what action was taken as a result?

A vote was taken with a show of hands and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY.

1.            Members agree to define the roles and responsibilities of officers so that a comprehensive and effective response is made to deal with issues relating to litter or graffiti.

2.            Officers are instructed to investigate complaints of litter or graffiti on private property in accordance with the table in section 4 of the report.

3.         Performance Indicators for Streetcare would be presented at future committee in the following points.

·                     How many cases of litter/graffiti/flytipping are report to  Streetscene and  Environmental Health

·                     The number of Community Protection Notices issued

·                     The outcome of the case – what action was taken as a result?

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION

To better target issues of litter and graffiti in the Borough and to deal effectively with problems on private land.

The report advised that the Council had a number of fees and charges relating to the services it provides.  As part of the budget setting process, these charges were are reviewed on an annual basis.   Whilst some of the fees and charges are statutory, and therefore determined through legalisation,  the Council must also review its charges for discretionary services to ensure they reflect the current costs of service provision.

Historically review of fees and charges for this service have been on an adhoc basis and have, not reflected the true cost of this service.

A motion was MOVED by Cllr Hossack and SECONDED by Cllr Poppy to agree the recommendations in the report.

After a full discussion, a vote was taken by a show of hands and it was RESOLVED to approve the recommendations in the report.

1.            That the Committee was asked to recommend to PFR Committee to approve Option B to increase the Community Alarm Charge by 0.50p per week from the general fund of £22,620.00

2.            To approve that the fees and charges are reviews annually as part of the budget process.

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION

The fees and charges for this service had not been reviewed since 2013/2014 and its was proposed that the existing fees and charges were increased for the 2016/17 budget. Brentwood Community Alarm Charge is the lowest in Essex and will remain the lowest in Essex. 

The inclusion of Housing owned car parks in the parking order would enable the Council to enforce parking measures to prevent non residents parking in the limited number of bays available to residents of specific blocks.

A motion was MOVED by Cllr Hossack and SECONDED by Cllr Poppy to agree the recommendations in the report.

A vote was taken by a show of hands and it RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that:

1.            The Committee approve the request to include three housing owned car parks, Gibraltar House, Mayflower House and the Keys Eagle way, in Brentwood Borough Council’s parking order.

2.            That a consultation take place with residents and business owners to outline the options and preferences for enforcement at these two car parks following implementation of the order.

3.            That a longer term parking solution is explored to increase paid parking capacity in the area and to accommodate the displaced vehicles from these two car parks and surrounding area.

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION

The Committee was asked to note the request from Members and residents to enforce parking in these three car parks.

The Committee was asked to note the length of time this problem had been ongoing and the work to date of Housing Services to mitigate the problem to no avail.

The Committee was asked to explore with other Council departments the potential for further paid parking in Warley which would help to meet the parking need in the area and increase income to the General Fund.

There was no urgent business.

The meeting concluded at 20.25pm