No apologies were received.

The minutes of the Housing Committee held on the 27^th February 2023 were approved as a true record.

The minutes of the Community, Environment & Enforcement Committee held on the 13^th March 2023 were approved as a true record.

The report began on page 15 of the agenda and highlighted the work the Housing and Community Teams have done.

The Strategic Housing Delivery Programme (SHDP) is made up of two distinct elements, 1) the regeneration of Brookfield Close and Courage Court, Hutton, to develop 62 zero carbon homes alongside the Harewood Regeneration Project consisting of 40 new zero carbon homes, and 2) the development of a range of smaller HRA sites to deliver further affordable homes on council owned sites.

The Council’s Corporate Strategy ‘Brentwood 2025’ commits to Introducing “innovative Carbon reduction and absorption schemes”, “identify opportunities for low emission and green developments” and using ‘brownfield sites efficiently, such as council owned garage sites, to provide affordable homes…”

Both Brookfield and Harewood Regeneration have extant Planning Permissions as resolved by members of Brentwood Borough Council’s Planning Committee.

Committee approval is required to issue tenders for contracts in relation to these Regeneration sites as set out in this report.

Following a full discussion, Cllr Dr Barrett MOVED and Cllr Davies SECONDED the recommendations in the report. A vote was taken and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that:

Members were requested to:

R1. Approve the issuing of a tender for the construction of new buildings and associated works at Brookfield Close and Courage Court.

R2. Approve the issuing of a tender for the demolition of vacant site and buildings at Brookfield Close and Courage Court.

R3. Approve the issuing of a tender for the demolition and construction of 40 units at the Harewood Regeneration Site

R4. Give delegated authority to the Strategic Director(s) and, Section 151 officer acting in consultation with the Chair of Housing, Health and Community Committee to seek the Council’s approval to award the contracts for Brookfield Close, Demolition of Brookfield Close/Courage Court and Harewood Regeneration.

Reasons for Recommendations

As a public sector organisation, the Council’s procurement activity is governed by legislation, namely Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR2015). These regulations require that all purchases with estimated values over certain thresholds must be subject to open competition.

The threshold for construction contracts is currently £5,336,937 including VAT (assuming VAT at 20% this is £4,269,549.60 net). As pre-tender estimates for both projects exceed this threshold the Council is required to follow the PCR2015 rules.

A framework is a pre-selected list of contractors which has been established according to the principles of PCR2015 with the intention that it should be available for other public sector bodies to use.

It is therefore a compliant and efficient route to procurement of contractors for these regeneration sites.

The report summarised progress of the development of a pipeline of new affordable homes through the development and regeneration of various Housing Revenue Account (HRA) owned sites. As a reminder, this Strategic Housing Delivery Programme (SHDP) is made up of two distinct elements, 1) the regeneration of Brookfield Close and Courage Court, Hutton to develop 62 zero carbon homes alongside the Harewood Regeneration Project consisting of 40 new zero carbon homes, and 2) the development of a range of smaller HRA sites to deliver further Zero Carbon affordable homes on further council owned sites.

The Council’s Corporate Strategy ‘Brentwood 2025’ commits to Introducing “innovative Carbon reduction and absorption schemes”, “identify opportunities for low emission and green developments” and using ‘brownfield sites efficiently, such as council owned garage sites, to provide affordable homes…”

Following a full discussion, Cllr Dr Barrett MOVED and Cllr Davies SECONDED the recommendations in the report. A vote was taken and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that:

Members were requested to:

R1. To note continuing progress in the delivery of new Council homes through the SHDP.

R2. Resolve to submit a Planning Application for Affordable Homes at Highwood Close

The report provided an update to Members on the work undertaken by officers to respond to the Cost-of-Living crisis and ensure that we are supporting our residents, businesses and staff. The council’s function is to facilitate, co-ordinate and signpost individuals and organisations to where support is provided. It is important that this is communicated to as wide an audience as possible so that people can access the right help and support as soon as possible.

Kim Anderson presented committee members with a presentation regarding Cost of Living which is attached to the minutes.

This item was for information only and no voting was required.

Key Performance indicators are collected across all services in the Housing Department and help monitor how we are performing across a set list of key areas.

This report presented the Key Performance Indicators to Members of the Housing Committee with a commentary for each one which details why we are under performing and noting where a high level of performance has been achieved.

This item was for information only and no voting was required.

This report was an update for members to note and presents the Policy Review Schedule to ensure that the Housing Department has the relevant Strategies and Policies in place in order to provide a clear framework of its responsibilities.

This report was for information only and no voting was required.

The policy set out the way charges are raised for tenants and leaseholders from communal heating and hot water systems provided to a single building or several buildings (i.e. heat networks) in new and existing homes.

The policy also explained what the Council’s approach will be when introducing individually metered supplies in existing homes.

Under the Heat Networks (Metering & Billing) Regulations, that was introduced in 2014 with amendments made in December 2015 and November 2020, we now have a legal duty to introduce heat meters on estates where it is cost effective to do so. In other words, the saving experienced by residents in the long run is greater than the initial cost of installing heat meters.

The Housing team have a number of capital projects which involves the replacement of communal heating systems which at present serves Victoria Court (27 units), Oldfields (19 units), St Georges (57 units) and we also have an existing site at Drake House (44 units). There are other sites that in the future would need upgrading or replacement. The Heat Interface Units (HIU) fitted are designed to be able to be individually metered which complies with the Heat Networks (Metering & Billing) Regulations.

Following a full discussion, Cllr Dr Barrett MOVED and Cllr Davies SECONDED the recommendation in the report. A vote was taken and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that:

Members were asked to:

R1. To approve a Heat Billing Policy which covers our legal requirements in line with current legislation which outlines our legal duties to meter communal heating systems.

R2. To review the policy after one year and the affects it has had on the residents involved.

Reasons for Recommendations

The Council has a legal duty to individually bill tenants for what they use.

The resident would have flexible control of their actual heat usage and payments.

It would reduce our gas usage thus being more energy efficient and reducing our carbon footprint.

Currently our communal boilers are working 24/7 to supply unlimited heating and hot water of which most of it is wasted energy as there are no monitored systems in place.

With these benefits it can be measured by monitoring the current usage over a 5 to 10-year period.

Pay as you go billing systems can work in unison with the new future proof heat interface units that have been fitted to several of our blocks, as part of the communal boiler replacement programme. It has a number of flexible payment methods, minimal maintenance and a 24/7 service that covers all our billing needs.

To follow.

This item was due to be published in a supplementary agenda. However, officers did not receive the information they required to compile the report. Therefore, it will be deferred to the next Housing, Health & Community Committee.

The report set out proposals to co-opt representatives of Tenants Talkback into the Housing, Health and Community Committee for housing related items, in accordance with the Council constitution.

Following a full discussion, Cllr Dr Barrett MOVED and Cllr Davies SECONDED the recommendation in the report. A vote was taken and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY that:

Members were asked to:

R1. Approve that Tenant Talkback be invited to send two representatives to each meeting of the Housing Committee where public housing items are to be discussed.

R2. Approve that the representatives of Tenants Talkback be co-opted onto the committee for the duration of the consideration of these items, and have the right to speak, but not vote.

R3. Request that the Corporate Manager (Estates) arrange appropriate training of the representatives.

Reason for Recommendations

To ensure that the Housing Department provides effective and transparent representation of local people’s views

The Council entered into a long-term partnership contract with Axis Europe Limited in June 2019 for the delivery of repairs, gas servicing and maintenance and planned works services to its social housing properties.

Performance of the contract is monitored closely and most areas of performance; gas servicing and breakdowns and planned works are exceeding contractual targets, however, several issues have been identified in the repairs service around service delivery and communication which have caused concern about the performance of the repairs service delivered by Axis Europe Limited in recent months.

This report explained the identified issues and actions being taken by the Council to improve the service to our tenants and leaseholders.

This item was for information only and no voting was required.

The report set out the progress made in the last quarter (January – March 2023) in Housing within the areas of compliance; gas safety, electrical safety, asbestos management, water hygiene, fire safety and lift maintenance. It also included information on the emergency alarm equipment in our sheltered schemes, emergency lighting and building safety regulations.

This item was for information only and no voting was required.

The report provided an update to Members on progress delivering the Council’s commitments under the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Community Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) scheme.

Under the scheme Brentwood Council has committed to providing nine homes in total. These are to be used initially to provide housing for Afghan and Ukrainian refugee households.

This item was for information only and no voting was required.

There were no items of urgent business to discuss.

The meeting concluded at 8:30pm.