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OK. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome to the First Housing, Health and Community Committee of the Municipal Year. The meeting is being held in the council chamber and is going to be streamed live. If you have any reason-- for any reason the live stream fails, I will adjourn the meeting for 10 minutes. If it cannot be restored, the meeting will be adjourned and a fixed date as quickly as possible to reconvene. May I remind members to declare any pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest and the nature of that interest at the beginning of an agenda item and that on declaring that pecuniary interest you are required to leave the meeting when the item of business is considered. I also request that members ensure that they are familiar with the procedure rules concerning points of order, personal explanation, points of information, or clarification which are set out in page three of the agenda and remind them that the proposer of a motion may speak for five minutes. To introduce the item, the second item may speak for a further three minutes which may be reserved. Other speakers can speak only once for three minutes when they're called to do so by the chair. The proposer has a further five minutes to finally sum up before the vote. I would like to remind members of the Code of Conduct which can be found in part five of the Constitution, also the protocol on member staff relations at part 4.5.4. Can members please ensure they conduct themselves in line with the principles outlined? I'm sure we'll have no problems and it's nice to see so many experienced Councillors here tonight and welcome Councillor Bullock for your first meeting. Okay, so item one is apologies for absence. Mrs. Bortman, have we received any apologies for absence?

• Thank you, Chair, no apologies have been received.
• Thank you very much. Item two is minutes of the previous Housing Health and Community Committee held on Monday, the 11th of March, 2024. Are these minutes approved? So, Councillor Pound, sorry.
• Yes, I would like to bring to your attention the item on garage sites. And it was my understanding from the last meeting when I actually did... Thank you. When I actually did raise concerns about the fact that nothing seemed to be happening there, and I was under the impression that our officers were going to be looking at it, they were going to be coming up with ideas, solutions of things they can't do, but they would also be working and informing the ward Councillors. That hasn't happened and it wasn't minuted, so I would just like to raise that, please.
• Okay, thank you, Councillor Pound. And obviously, the garage sites is in the Chair's report. So if you've got a question specifically, we'll bring it on to that as well. Do we have any other comments on the minutes, or are we happy for those to be approved? Okay, okay, I'm gonna sign that. Okay, item number three is the Chair's update. This has been published with the agenda and is on pay 17, so I'd like to take questions on the update report. So, Councillor Kendall.
• Thank you, Chair, just a couple of points. On the allocations and housing register, on the bottom of pay 17, would it be possible to have the previous month or the previous period's figures so we can compare them so we've got some idea where they aren't pulled down?
• Yeah. - Possible?
• Yes, Councillor Kendall, I think we can go and amaze that for the next time that we'll have a plus and minus from the previous.
• Thanks very much. The next thing is, pay 21, the transport summit. Wearing another hat, I do take a keen interest in transport, basically on the bus side of things, and I just wondered who our officer was who attended the transport summit.
• Thank you, Ms. Hansen?
• Yes, I was in attendance. (laughs) Councillor Kendall is being fed back through the alliance footprint, so we work with Essex County Council, the alliance partners, so it's around community transport, hospital transport, sports transport, all the rest of it, to see how we can be more effective in providing that transport for--
• Yes, so, Chair, if it is possible, if it's possible for us to have some input when you're discussing that again, it would be quite useful 'cause obviously, members aren't invited to that meeting and we might have some stuff that we'd like to put in there. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. - Okay, thank you. Councillor Mayer.
• Thank you, Chair. Garyle's site review, so page 16. So I'm noting that the Cattle Costooth future revenue is being assessed, and that's absolutely quite right. And I note your comments on that. Corcott Close, which is in my ward, is deemed as a potential for full let. Does that calculation stack up in that case? And also, how long before the site is going to be ready to be let?
• Thank you, that's mine, is that Mr. Stretch?
• So I think it stacks up when we can let them, we get revenue in for them and it does effectively work out that the cost of repairs is not extensive on some sites. So where we can let garages, plus also with the amount we've got and the length of time it would take us to get through all of them, where we can let garages, that's the proposal that we're gonna take forward. So where we've got people on the waiting list, we've got garages that are vacant, it makes sense to take that forward. Works are imminently happening, or have already happened. So we are now in the process of contacting those on the waiting list and getting them matched.
• Councillor Barber.
• Thank you, Chairman, I'm not a member of your committee, so thank you for letting me speak. Yes, it is going back to the garage site review. This has been something that both Councillor Pound and myself have been brought up for several years now. I'm on Pacific for myself. There's a huge issue here in terms of security for our residents. Those garages attract antisocial behaviour. We were told that there was going to be some community payback stuff last year, tidying up those garages. That's never happened. I now have learned that there may be security cameras being installed in some of those garages, but this committee has never been informed of that so far. And there's no timeline. With the garage sites, this is just a continuation of verbal updates. It is quite possible for officers to bring detailed proposals or assessments on each individual site in pink to this committee. For us, I've made the point that ward councillors would have feedback and thoughts on the proposals. It shouldn't be something ring-fenced where officers decide and then councillors are just expected to raise their hand. This is an item where a lot of councillors receive feedback from their residents. I really do need to place on record my dissatisfaction at how this is being handled. There should be a timeline on here. We were told, I think I was told in the March meeting that the information would be shared with councillors shortly. Well, we're three and we're still waiting and so I'm just placed on record my dissatisfaction, sorry.
• Okay, thank you, Councillor. Okay, Councillor Davies.
• I should reject my voice. I don't disagree. I've got areas in my ward where I have residents actually pushing to purchase some of the areas of land. I know it's a lot of work has to take place for this, a lot of officer time and I know it's in progress. However, I do think there are options to this council, not just to improve security but also have some capital receipts from areas where people do have the opportunity to purchase where there is no opportunity of development. So I think we're in agreement that we do need to move these things forward.
• Thanks, councillors, Ms. Streps, would you want to come up with anything, thank you.
• So I'll give a quick update. We have done the review of the sites and in the majority the only feasible option to be carried out on those sites is parking and the cost of demolishing will never then be recovered with the cost that we will rent out parking space. The parking permits are 40 pounds per year so it doesn't stack up. We do now need to carry on doing those works and we will bring a paper when there is significant updates but in terms of managing the garages versus managing our plan works or everything, we need additional resources. This housing department doesn't have that to focus that in that level of detail on the garages and we need to look at it in the rounds as an asset strategy. It's not just garages, it's little pieces of land that are outside of what you would class as a garage site that we need to look at. There are rules around the HRA in terms of if you are looking to dispose. So you can only dispose of a certain number of things per year from a HRA. You can't just sell everything. So we've had the legal advice so that's the other thing we've been doing in the background and so we now need to look at packaging those things together. All of this and I absolutely accept that the time it's taking to do that but there is only a certain amount of resource and at the moment if you're gonna ask us, we are looking at trying to do the blocks as well which is why we've put in there. We now know the options on the garage sites and potentials and everyone has come forward and indicated where there's potential development options, we now need someone to take that on as a full-time piece of work as part of a bigger asset strategy of things that are in the HRA. And that's the update I have for you now.
• Okay, thank you. If there's no more comments on the chairs update, oh sorry councillors, thank you.
• Thank you, Chair.
• Go to page 17, allocation of housing register. As listed there, what's available, number of people, applications, et cetera. I just want to confirm at the last meeting that we confirmed that you have to be on the housing register for five years before you'd be considered for a property.
• Thank you, yes, to be on the housing register, you have to be resident in Brentwood for five years. Thank you.
• Okay, we've got no further questions. We'll move on to the next item, which is item number four, is the grounds maintenance on SLA review. The report begins on page 23 of the agenda. Following a recent report to the committee, we have mapped all the areas of green space within the HRA to provide an accurate schedule of ground maintenance. Alongside this, we have jointly created a service level agreement to be able to manage this service effectively. To enable residents to have a voice on how their estates are managed, we are attempting to consult with residents about the proposed service level agreement and frequency of works. Ms. Streps, do you have anything to add?
• Nothing further to add, but I'm happy to take questions.
• Sorry, Councillor Slade.
• Thank you, Chair. I'm actually asking for consideration that this item's actually deferred. Having looked at this, I think it would have been imperative for all Councillors to have had a brief advance from both housing and of the death depot. It is a very complex issue. There's inadequate financials to, obviously, to explain a lot of this, regarding the underspending, the actual recharging, and things, for instance, we actually haven't got any definitive max whilst we have a list of the areas. We don't actually have any definitive max of the nude walls. And I just think they're the insufficient details for us to consider a consultation out to residents, asking council tenants to absorb extra costs. So, on those reasons, I'd actually ask for consideration for this item to be deferred.
• Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
• Thank you. So, as the proposal is set out here, I mean, there's several questions that do come up, and I sort of have a bit of sympathy for what Councillor Slade just said on this, but there's a few specifics. On page 51, there is talk of carrying out safety and quality inspections, and I'd like to know who is gonna do that. And also, what impact this is gonna have on the rest of Brentwood if we are having extra resource going into these areas? So, is there a plan to have more resource elsewhere, or is there not gonna be an adverse impact?
• Elsewhere.
• Yeah, thank you, Councillor Mayor. I don't know if Miss French or Mr. Aldrich would like to answer that one.
• I may have to refer the first one to Mr. Aldrich and I'll pick up anything that's outstanding after that. (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) (muffled speaking)
• Before we get to our resources, I think the question was, what impact will it have on the rest of Brentwood? And, obviously, I don't see any detrimental impact on the rest of Brentwood. What this enables us to do is actually resource this contract directly. And now we've got a bit of quantity we can understand the actual quantity of words and resources required, we can actually resource that properly to achieve this. I hope that answers your question. (silence)
• Okay, Councillor Reid.
• Thank you, Chair. I'm sorry, I forget how the process is, but if you need a seconder, I'd like to second Councillor Flade's suggestion because I think there is a lot to answer here. We're talking £2,000 a day looking on these figures and that opens up so many questions. That is a lot of money to be spending on cutting grass and bushes on a very restricted area and I think Councillor Mayors will raise the point, how is this going to affect the depot? It seems like money's gone to the depot. My apologies if I'm misunderstanding it, but it looks like money's gone from the HRA to the depot that isn't being spent on stuff. So the depot's not getting that money anymore, which I think we may need more representation, more questions to be asked in the depot. But also just around this £2,000 a day just on cutting the grass and the bushes around our residences. And I'm sorry, as far as the appendix A, particularly as we have a lot of new Councillors, particularly as we have new walls, would be very helpful to have had the ward against each of these roads, but also to have, I'm sorry, and when it refers to a map, I need a map, I need a picture. How big is that? I've got a block of flats next to my own house that aren't included in this, but if I took that as an example, they've got a strip of grass around them that a guy cuts once a month, perhaps every three weeks. That's very different to perhaps having other big areas, more complicated areas. I think we need a bigger picture and perhaps not the whole area, but more members perhaps a little bit more important.
• I think I have to read. Obviously you've had this agenda for quite the time, you had time for questions. I didn't receive any emails asking for questions before this, unfortunately. I'm sorry you don't know areas that are in your ward, but we do need to move forward with the committee. In my opinion, we've had this SLA. From the last SLA, we've had it from the 90s. This is way overdue. I'm not willing to delay it further. We need to move forwards with this and I think there will be opportunity for further input later on because it goes to consultation and there will be further time when members can input, but we do need to move to the consultation so we're ready for that April date. We have very few housing committees between now and April. Well, between now and the next point and we've got very ambitious agendas and I just want to get things moving. Like I said, previous administrations of all colours have left this since the 90s, the last SLA. We need to keep moving. Thank you, Councillor Kendal.
• Thank you, Chairman. Yeah, I think when I first read the report, I think my concern was that it does go right back just later in the 90s. You're talking over 30 years ago and whoever's run the council, whoever's the party, it should have been looked at before now. The fact we've looked at it now, thank God we have because it does raise a lot of questions. What I would say, Chair, is I'm probably taking a slight middle line here in terms of I agree with you that we need to move the thing forward. I think what would be useful is if we do go forward tonight with these recommendations is that we either have a members briefing either online or in the chamber so that all members can have feedback from this consultation in terms of the impact of the consultation, what it actually means. Taking on board some points, Councillor Sl Rather and Councillor Reid have brought up as well so that all members are aware because if you're not in the housing committee, you might not have seen this item yet, but I think the key thing is it says about going out to consultation about implementing the changes, we've got to start somewhere because we could have a briefing but we're still going to go out to consultation after we've had the briefing. So, you know, with that delayed and dallied around enough on this, I think we need to move forward on it. But I certainly think if we had that briefing afterwards, that'd be useful. And then when it then comes back to the next housing committee, we'll have had an all members briefing, if you're in agreement with me, chair, we'll have got that feedback, that's fed back into the whole process and we've got more idea across party how members feel about it. I mean, at the end of the day, I'm sure no one particularly wants to implement a policy where people on Facebook haven't been charged before. People need to be clear about what they've had before in terms of service, what type of service they're going to get going forward. So if you've had four visits a year but now you're going to get 12, let's be clear about it. Let's understand how this thing works. But I think all members could do with that afterwards, but we do need that feedback from our tenants. Thank you.
• Yes, thank you, Councillor Kendall. I think what we'll do is we will move this and move it to consultation and there will be opportunities. And I think Miss Stretch, just question on whether we could do an all members briefing where we go through further details of this, potentially with the members of this committee but open it up for further members.
• Yeah, that's absolutely possible. I think we would need to issue the maps beforehand for people to look at 'cause there are, there's hundreds and I think that's, the space of the, of green space that the HRA owns is only when you see the maps that you realize just how much green space is owned by the HRA. So we wouldn't be able to go through each individual map in detail but we would then be able to issue those before and then go through the details of, again, what feedback came from the consultation, et cetera, and obviously any other comments that came in. So that's not a problem.
• Councillor Slade.
• Thank you, Chair. I think if we can have a members briefing, I think it's imperative. Thank you for acknowledging about the maps. It's not a question we don't know our ward. We're asking about, could make a decision about the entire borough. So I think it's for all of us, we need to see just the impact on the entire borough. But I do think that this should be a joint presentation and I do think that you've done an awful lot of work on here but I do think we need to see the other side from the depot. You know, we're being asked to look at financials that there's no background to those financials. We've got nothing, very little as regards from the depot from what they have been providing, what they haven't been providing. So I think everyone here has got reservations. Thank you, Councillor Kendall, for making the point that it's been successive administration. This isn't a political point. We're all here to prove the benefit of our council tenants and this is a very complex item that I think every one of us here and all members require so much additional detail from which I think the depot need to provide. Thank you, Councillors. I mean, what I'd say is that when we first started on this in 2023, there wasn't even knowledge of what the HRA had in terms of space. Now, how often that they are cut and things like that, I'm not sure the records exist currently, basically. I'm not sure that the depot have a complete grip on what they're actually doing and this is trying to change that so that we can get that grip. We need to start somewhere, we need to go out to consultation on this proposal, then we can tweak and come back as members. Thank you.
• I agree, so the basics. So if you look at page 52, the council should ensure that during the cutting season, litter picking immediately precedes the grass cutting operation. That doesn't happen. I know that doesn't happen. Myself and Councillor Reid have done so many litter pick recently and the amount of shredded cans, et cetera. So I get what you're saying, but why was, you know, there's nobody here from the depot to actually answer why that service has not been, okay, I know he's there, but I'm saying there's no full briefing, we're only getting half of a briefing. And for me, that comment there is ridiculous. You know, that's obvious, but it's not been happening.
• I agree and I think it's, since the '90s, we've had an agreement, it's SLA, and it's basically has sort of gone AWOL, it's not being maintained and this is why it should have been brought forward a long time ago and we can move forwards now that we know what we're starting to do, a first proposal. We can come back after consultation and perfect and I hope all members have time to come in and input based on what the residents think and what the members think. Councillor Sankey.
• Thank you, Chair. I've heard what members have said across the board and I was afraid to do it simply and I agree as well. But having said that, the overarching idea is to have an agreed SLA, which we've had one previously but it's ancient, it's obviously not being followed. And to have that agreed SLA so that people are held accountable, so we have some steps to go, but ultimately we do need that SLA. Thank you.
• Councillor Barbour.
• Thank you, Chair, again. On page 25 the statement that there would be a 15 million pound loss to the HOA over 30 years. Where is that, where's the financial explanation of that, the details of that to evidence that that's the actual prediction? Because it doesn't seem to be contained anywhere in background information or anywhere else in this report. It's just officers have excluded option one because, and then the second question is how have you actually checked competitively the price you're getting for the maintenance for the service that you believe you will be receiving? With most large projects we go out to Tender, even if it's just a sanity check to make sure the figure that you're being quoted is in the right ballpark what kind of additional check and the balance have you put into the system to make sure that the basis on which you wish to go out to consultation is a sound one.
• Thank you, Councillor Barbour. Miss Stretch.
• So we have done the work in the background on the costs. So they are looked at the industry costs and that's what it's been based on. So the price per hectare in that and obviously you know we can give more detail on that. The under recovery of service charges, so we are currently paying for the grass to be cut and we are not recovering that money at all from tenants because we've not been satisfied the service is being delivered which is why obviously you know when I arrived here this is one of the areas for me to look at. So in terms of what the HRA is paying out for services that are not currently recovered it is in the range of half a million pounds per year. So it's not just for this but it's under recovery of some service charges of which grounds maintenance is a significant proportion and at that rate over the lifetime of the 30 year business plan that does equate to 15 million pounds in under in sort of income that we are not collecting. Now these are services that are being provided or in this case these are services that are being charged for that we should provide. So when we've looked at the SLA with what can be provided and like I said the costs that are out there, the industry costs that is the sort of money we are talking about that we are currently paying that we can't monitor because we don't have a current SLA or we're not monitoring effectively which is why this is bringing it in but this is the sort of money if we recovered fully service charges that are provided that is the income that we would be looking at in addition to the HRA.
• Councillor Poppy.
• Thank you very much chair, thank you for letting me speak. I agree with everything you people have said here that this is long overdue, it needs to be done and we need to hold a service level that's good enough for our residents. My problem is really what Councillor Mayo said which is what's gonna happen in the rest of the borough and in maybe the rural wards. While the depot are doing a great job of cutting the grass for the HRA, they're not gonna be cutting the grass in my ward for instance. My ward last week we missed out on jobs that needed doing because resources were in King George's because of the Strawberry Fields event. That's fine once in a while but this committee is not gonna be checking on what's going on in the rest of the borough. So where's that check gonna come? It's not gonna be from Lauren 'cause she's housing so she's not gonna worry about whether the people who pay council tax in Doddinghurst and Blackmoor are getting their grass cut.
• Absolutely I mean I guess what I'd say is I guess this is a SLA agreement with the housing revenue account and the depot. It's to pay for the housing stocks and it's gonna hopefully, if we pay for what we are receiving, anything around the rest of the borough I guess unfortunately isn't a matter for this committee. It would be the Clean and Green Committee and I hope that they would hold them to a similar standard as this SLA should do to make sure in future the service improves. Thank you.
• Does the council take the payer? I certainly hope so yeah.
• Fingers crossed, thank you. So I'm gonna move the recommendations now on block one, two, and three. Do I have a seconder?
• Second that check.
• Okay and we'll move to the vote. All those in favor?
• Aye.
• Okay. All those opposed? Any abstentions? Okay, thank you very much. That's carried. We'll move to the next item which is item number five which is the compliance and repairs service update. This presentation is by Carol Burton and Chris Houlihan. Yes.
• Thank you chair. Do I need to do? So apologies, Chris is joining virtually 'cause he had a family emergency this afternoon, but we'll be happy to answer any questions and we'll co-share the presentation. (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) (people chattering) So just waiting for the presentation to be on the screen. Just give us some time. (man speaking faintly) (man speaking faintly) Okay, thank you. So usual format for this is the third or fourth presentation for members that have been on this committee previously. But I will go through the slides in detail. So the first slide is talking and providing a complete update on the six compliance areas. And this is the position at the 31st of March, 2024. So effectively the year end of the last financial year. So as we spoke the water hygiene. So we have a statutory duty to carry out regular water hygiene assessments for our blocks. And I'm pleased to say that that's currently at 100% achievement. Best practice for the homes and we're currently achieving 95% of the homes. And I believe that's 34 properties that we need to gain access to carry out that water assessment. For the passenger lifts as you recall when it was in the Chair's update, we've changed that frequency of inspections from two monthly to monthly, and 100% of inspections were completed in March to hopefully prevent and preempt some lift failings. Fire risk assessments. This is the number of risk assessments that are completed and incomplete at the end of March. That obviously is a moving phase and has changed in the current quarter. But a lot of those works that are outstanding or incomplete are linked to future planned works measures, which we'll come on into a report later on in the agenda. For asbestos management, there wasn't any movement by the end of the financial year on the number of properties that hadn't had an asbestos survey. There has been success in the first quarter of the year and that number has reduced down significantly, such as to give members that reassurance that that is a priority for us to ensure that we get into as many properties to complete the asbestos management surveys. For electrical safety, so this is the standard five-year electrical safety check. There are, at the end of March, 11 homes that we hadn't been able to gain access in. And again, there has been progress on some of those properties in Quarter 1. And the final one is the annual Land nano Gas Safety check. We achieved an out-turn of 99.95%. That was one property that wasn't serviced within the timeframe. It was completed, ironically, on the 1st of April, but that was due to an administrative error and we have checked all the records, reconciled everything to ensure that that administration error doesn't occur again. So that's the compliance update and I'll pass you over to Chris to pick up the next section.
• Thanks Carol and obviously thank you very much for receiving me with one of the apologies I couldn't be there in person. Standard format, hopefully. I can't see the presentations and we're relying on Carol to let you know we're on the hot topics page. Is that right, Carol?
• Yeah, that's correct.
• Fantastic, okay, yeah, so standard format. These are the hot topics around things that councilors for have been raised by the council themselves. And down from the models was the initial hot topic where we've been tracking how many cases we've had over the last six months. So at least there's no doubt about. It seems to say that we've obviously maintained the task force in place and the actual repairs and, on the top of that, the mole cases still sits under 5% in a year. And we'd expect to see that now that the season tail off as you can see in the graph there. May, June, we're seeing considerably lower numbers of down-to-monk cases. There were under three category one cases last year as reported in the last update that hasn't changed which is a positive outcome around down-to-monk and as Carol mentioned, there's literally all cases coming through. Cancellations were raised in the last committee. Sorry, were raised in the last committee so that you can have it just as an update. 2.5% of appointments are cancelled and there's different reasons for those in terms of absence of staff, overrun of councils and whether. And we've changed our report and structure as of June and we'll be reporting amended appointments and cancelled appointments to give priority and visibility to the council and to this committee as well. That will give better representation if we attend this council or re-book an appointment on where access needs a re-book appointment so it can be very transparent on that information. And then there are 16.3% of cases that cancel across the year so it's come down since the beginning of the year and that largely relates to things like no access. Typically for August, there's also the big element of system and process in there and we have also fixed price agreement under the contracts and where there are chargeable elements of work, those fixed price agreement cases are cancelled and the chargeable cases are raised so there's always an employment element and cancellations visible. But Carol and the Public Services team are obviously playing a great focus on that through the current come and come intermediate and hoping to report on all the cancellations as we go through. Carol, if you could move me along to the line.
• Next paper, sir.
• Thanks, Carol. On the performance overview, we did have a change in March for Mayfield. In March, there were increased absence, unfortunately, and poor management of annual leave. And I will be honest and say the poor management of annual leave. Carol Herbert was on annual leave position and made the restore and reduction of staff both on the ground and in the office. We've made provisions this year that doesn't repeat in the coming March. It did mean that through March, we were then slightly understaffed and then April we've become wicked by them and we had an absence through SITNIS, unfortunately. In March, we had a 2-month work story increase but we made quick recovery in May. We've also increased management on the contract. I've introduced a new contracts manager, a gentleman named Matt Folger, a cultural council background as well, and with the intent of providing support, certainly in my absence or in the team's, just additional moments, as well, in the support Carol and team as well. So that's coming to effect as of May. At the moment, there has been a slight increase in the over 30-day basis but again, there's some means you are single now and working through the reductions, reduction in demand through the standards to achieve that. And currently, we are working with scheduling managers to share resources across the area but again, one of the biggest issues we're behind in was around scheduling appointments and ensuring the efficiency of those. So that's been proven to serve as the visual for a scheduling manager which has been put to work this month. Can we move along to the next page please? In terms of escalations, and to the next page from the slides, very positive periods, obviously, complaints are an opportunity to learn and we can see an increase in complaints through January, February and March, typically expected through, we know we obviously have higher risk of more severe cases, like the severe average of services, so we don't always anticipate a higher increase in compliance during the winter as naturally the employment... Excuse me. Because naturally people are being more sensitive to the experience they have during the month. In terms of the actual, we can see the compliance we received in the sums that we are putting through for someone to move the system up has paid off when we introduced a new central compliance team. Along with our new central compliance team, we introduced a new CRM, new compliance management software for that. We can support the council in terms of interrogation of our system, transparency of information. And then in terms of reductions with DASH, we're now going to have an annual return sum where we want to see that cut off. However, with the current practice and changes in complaints, we are expecting this year and years after, obviously, an increasing compliance opportunity to learn from them. At the time, could you take it to the call centre? Yes, go ahead. Thank you, Karen. In terms of the call centre, we did have some changes which I reported in my last update, and we haven't brought it to that. We've also put together a central automation structure for the call centre, which is starting as the money, the resilience trains. We've now got additional members of staff across the access business in place and training the capital to take in the appropriate calls. There should be no difference to the customer. You should be able to come through at any age and pick those calls up, and our assistance is going to work in direct and in our call centre. We maintain our direct control as well. We're currently doing recruitment to our post did take 16 weeks, and this was following an offer made in the month starts. We had to go back to improvements over time, take on new accesses and traditionally access recruitment assessment dates. And obviously we do have to work out the experience of the candidates, of which hopefully, if anyone has folks who are doing well into R, she's had really positive feedback and compliments from those that she's spoken to and you're probably the council members too. Hopefully that can be heard back. In terms of the call back, it's still in place. It's still working really well. We've got an 85% successful rate in call backs in the earliest time. The earliest call backs are currently nine minutes. So for nine minutes for us to call residents back when they requested it, and of course call backs 85% successful. We attempted our 100%. So the 15% were not successful where the resident wasn't able to pick up on the attempt or make contact with them back. And then in terms of an offer, they are getting the option to do a seven call two access. Just constant time. So if you wouldn't mind, Jo, next slide.
• I've got two quick steps on.
• Ready for the next. So the next steps, obviously, we're focusing on call central points at the moment. So we're really focusing on the training and resilience that we need to ensure the impact of the wind hump. We can facilitate more calls and improve greater service and purchase a brand new one. Resident and engaging days, they've been pushed back, obviously we have one in August, whereby we are keen to get out on the sky and to engage in residence, put residence on the estates, larger estates, smaller estates, stick days, the hardwired days, and just be engaged with the rest of the group. In terms of communication, we've introduced a new complaint to go on, managing the software for complaints. We're also improving our communication around complaints, entities or the council when we need to respond to a complaint. And we're currently embedding new suppliers and we're looking at having more access to supplies, obviously, and ensuring that we've got access to materials up to eight o'clock at night to respond to it's PDQ and others who are open and open to local, as well as smaller local enterprises and we've got a couple of local planning and supplies set up now as well. And then in terms of management, we've put one on tissue in the bottom in the form of a contract manager and we've been scheduling a tissue, we're looking at implementing to increase between entities, both in our teams, such as the council report and who's been pushed through and through delivery. And that is my concern on the update. I appreciate you. Hopefully you came across some work on the online today.
• Yeah, thank you, Chris and then Ms. Burton. We've got a lot of questions in the room. Councillor Slade.
• Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chris. Obviously, you've had a family issue tonight, so thank you for still attending, obviously by the link. It's a question on the performance overview. Obviously, a requested 274, attempted 274, successful 233. So those 41 calls were forming that remaining 15%. Were they all people who didn't return the calls? And did we make sure that we did actually still make contact with those residents?
• So he said the user all made its outbound call to attempt and 15% that were unsuccessful past the two attempts. We wouldn't have made additional attempts to them, but they are giving a message to say please contact us. And I can find out if you'd like, if you'd like to contact the manager to do the diligence that we've had where we've got them calling in and finding out that those people were regrained calls for what we have followed up. We can send them to the council today.
• Chris, I'd very much appreciate that if you could find out if those residents were contacted, please.
• Okay, thank you. And so Councilor Mayork.
• Thank you, Chair. A couple of quick things on really the presentation of the report 'cause there's some good news in there, but it's a bit difficult sometimes to work out. Is it good or is it not good? And the main reason for that is we don't have any comparator to last year, for example. I think it'd be really helpful if we could see if you've got them, last year's stats on all of your tables, what's the trend. It looks okay, but it might be seasonal. We need to know a bit more. So if we can add that in, that would be great. And a specific one about the fire risk assessment actions on the compliance update. So the reinspection cycle started again in April last year. How long is that cycle? Because then that will allow us to understand whether this is good or not. Should we have completed all of those inspections in a year or is the cycle longer than a year?
• Ms. Barton.
• So the cycle is annual for blocks and shelter schemes and other low-lized blocks are bi-annual. And so the program will start in April and it will be completed in a few to six months. So these are all of the outstanding actions for last year. But the programs which come under the next gender item, we have to spread the element of planned works after a long period of time. So the actions from last year that we were building to the planning program works in two, three, four years time. So some will be completed because they've been completed, some of those you won't see completed for a period of years because they're part of a planned works program.
• Thank you, and just on the question of having the last year's numbers on the presentation, is that possible, the next presentation?
• Yes, we can, look, it's certainly you've got for the compliance, that is the end of year picture, so I could, and we only started doing the dashboarding summer of last year so I could give you the figures for those areas, but certainly I'll have to see if Mr. Houlihan will be able to look at the year end for the other information.
• Just to be very clear, it's Chris's report that I'm interested in those trends on.
• I see him nodding, so I'll take that as a yes. Thank you.
• I was just going to say, as long as I've got the dates out, make sure it's added and I'm confirming the entry.
• Okay, Councillor Kendall.
• Thanks, CJ, just a general question for Chris regarding repairs and the cost of raw materials. Raw materials are going up considerably across all the trades and it's what checks that you impose to make sure access are getting value for money. From our perspective, the Council is getting value for money and also materials that are being purchased for repairs are actually being used on our properties and they're not going elsewhere. I'm sure you can tell me they're not, but with the cost coming up, it's an important issue and I just wondered how that's all monitored. Thank you.
• Let's go down.
• Yeah, we've got a central commercial team that manages our materials in terms of both negotiating rates with our suppliers. We've got national accounts, so obviously we're purchasing the materials across the multitude of plants. And therefore, already negotiating rates with our suppliers around volume and in terms of the aid for the value of the money, we also work with local and smaller suppliers as well. They tend to obviously achieve the value for money rate as well. And then in terms of management, both of the actual materials are insured there on the property. I call them the MI5 team on the axis. They sit there and they scrutinize the material purchase lines. They make sure the value if they're charged £1 for a type of circuit in one day is £1 the next day, but the suppliers don't inflate their charges quite raunchy, which kinda does happen when we're going back to the game, we get that rebate in terms of all the recumbers as well. In terms of the materials going to the actual properties, we go on the same team, with the commercial team, they are, as well as our supervisors, responsible for ensuring we're saying, there's a bariano on the job, and they make sure there's a bariano and the job description matches up, and the timing spike matches up with that, but they've still been a bariano, and we already have one-to-ones with our our groups and knows that after while, in fact, spoke where we came from, so maybe that's checked on our regulations as well. It's not an inflatable system, popularly, it's not an inflatable system, there will be a lot of items that do go missing, but in the main effects, the materials are very important to access, because there are a fixed price contracts with yourself, so we don't get any more of the materials. Probably £500 or £50 is the fixed price for the service that it is going to buy on the switch, the commercial buy, we need the contract to really scrutinise the materials.
• Thank you, Councillor Davies.
• Thank you, Chair. Having a lot of housing stock in my ward, unsurprisingly, I do have a lot of work that links to access. I have in the past, on occasions, you know, had a good moment, not being very happy, but I want to take the opportunity to say I found things vastly improved in the recent past, and there was one particular issue at the weekend that was very serious quite recently, and access managed to resolve that. I think it was within 12 hours, and that was at a Saturday. So, having moaned a lot in the past, I'd just like to give credit where credit's due.
• Thank you, Councillor Davies. Do I have any more questions, or we can move on to the next item? Okay, I'll move on to the next item, which is item number six, which is the HRA Planned Works Programme, 2024-25 to 2026-27. The report begins on page 69 of your agenda. The report sets out the HRA's Planned Works Programme for 2024 and Indicative Programme for 2025-26 and 26-27, subjects to available capital resources. Ms. Burton, do you have anything to add?
• Yes, thank you, Chair. Just sort of a quick overview, really. The housing team, certainly over the last year, have been focusing on the development of a longer-term planned maintenance programme, and the report sets out the priorities for the next three years. Obviously, there's always a caveat in any planned programme, because there will be emerging issues or emergency issues that will, unfortunately, mean that we will need to review the plan, but it certainly is our intention to bring this programme back on an annual basis to the committee.
• Thank you. Councillor Kendall.
• Thanks, Chair. First of all, delighted to see a plan. We should have had one a while back, but it's good to see this. Certainly, over three years, we can see it laid out. It's quite clear and everything else. Just a few questions. On CCTV, I see it's all front-loaded in the first year to 400,000. Just a bit of a breakdown as to where it's gonna be used or spent, that money?
• Thank you, Chair. So yes, the contractor is onsite now. We had originally intended it to be a two-year programme, but we've accelerated it and brought the second year forward, so they will complete that programme. It's intended by the end of this financial year. They're actually brought to house at the moment, and then we have a programme of the remaining 24 sites that they will continue on until the end of the financial year. There may be a slight element of slippage on the programme into the new financial year, but they are keen to get that completed this year.
• The second point, Chair, is obviously this is great to see this, but from a resident's perspective, I suppose their question would be, how does this affect me, I'm a resident, if anyone, I'm sure they're not, but if anyone was looking down this, looking at all these things, how does it affect me? As you say, to go to house some of our other properties, what does it mean to them, and how are we gonna communicate that to them if this is agreed, thank you.
• It's our intention to put the programme on the website, which again is good practise, best practise. We do have an address scheduled, so if anybody does inquire now about where they are on the programme, we can give them an indicative year that they're properties on the programme for different elements of work set out in the report. Our focus predominantly will be on, as you all know, the lifts, CCTV, the Communal Door Entry Systems, and external refurbishment, which links back to the previous item around fire risk assessments. So we've got street properties where we're looking at external refurbishment, renewal of the UPVC-UC goods, VC goods, the Victoria Gutters, the Downpipes, Facial, the Soffits and the External Painting, and the Street Doors, because that's a programme, and then on the blocks, ensuring that we incorporate any of the fire risk assessment actions identified in that block at the same time we're doing communal improvements. So that was sort of part of the reason why it was a little bit difficult in explaining it in the previous agenda item. But residents will be able to find out where they are on the programme, subject to the available resources and not any emergency issues that we need to deal with.
• Thank you.
• Yeah, I think, I guess, what I'd say is, I guess it's good to have a plan. And we can improve on it each year, and we can see it every year. Previously, we have been very reactive. We haven't had a planned capital works programme about how we're gonna maintain our stock. We've been reactive to things breaking down. Hasn't been a very successful programme in a sense that when things are all breaking down in the same year, it does cause problems. We need to spread this out and have a plan going forward to maintain our stock and not wait for it to be broken. Councillor Barber. Oh, sorry. I'll go with Councillor Slade then, go.
• Thank you, Chair. Reading through the report, on page 70, it states that saddles were employed to undertake the 25% representative sample survey, which included 100% of the blocks and communal areas to identify the investment requirement across the stock for future business planning purposes. I'm unsure if this included a low-rise block in the ward of Hutton South. However, we have a door that's been left there in an extremely poor state of repair, which the resident advised she'd been left in that condition for over two years. Therefore, then, can I seek assurance that this recommendation will improve communication and delivery?
• Thank you, Councillor Slade. As we said, most of the work will be available on the website hopefully going forward. And I said we have to have plans and things, but I'll move that to Ms. Burton to start. Oh, Ms. Stretch just to answer that specific point.
• Yes, I mean, we've not had a planned works program, which is not helpful to people. As we are making clear to this committee, we've got emergencies coming quickly, which may mean that the program has to differ. But this allows us to go and start communicating with residents and managing those expectations. There are a lot of works that need to be done. They aren't all gonna be able to be done even in these three-year period. But we will now have a plan. We can communicate with people. The weights that people have had to date have not necessarily been, have not been acceptable. But we now have a, we will have, if this is approved, a plan to be able to go and manage those expectations and be clear on people of what they can expect by when.
• Okay, and going on to Councillor Barbour.
• Thank you, Chair, for letting me ask another couple of questions. CCTV, obviously, you've got quite a lot of sites listed within this plan, but obviously, the ward Councillors know no detail of that. Is it possible after this meeting to share a list of maybe all members of the Council what the sites actually detailed in this report include? Same on entry door locks. I see replacement of the door entry system to nine sites. Now, obviously, I'm not gonna be childish about that. That's great. I don't know where the nine sites are, and obviously, we've got 13 wards. It doesn't sound like a lot of money's being spent on making the door entry mechanisms safe across the borough, because I would imagine that we do have quite a lot that need replacing. Nine probably doesn't go anywhere near where we should be. Is it possible to, first of all, again, share the nine sites? And then we did actually begin in Hutton North. It was a walk around of the ward with the housing team to look at plan of works, and I know that that was gonna be replicated through all of the different wards, the new wards going forwards for this year. Can that on-site joint review of housing stock continue, and can it be shared with this committee? 'Cause unless I'm missing it, maybe it's in the pack somewhere, and I've just missed it. Please tell me if I have. If not, I would hate to see it just suddenly stop, 'cause it was useful, and it did create dialogue, and it really did get people to look at things on the ground, and I think that's really important for our residents. So, we're done for what you're doing, but can we be specific about the sites please, and can we continue those visits to the sites, to the wards, thank you.
• Thank you, Dr. Barber. I'm sure we can be more specific. I mean, it's an aid to, is to be more specific, 'cause we've got a plan, we know what sites we want to do things on, and we can start communicating that with both members and residents, and that's the managing expectations going forwards, when it isn't going to be fixed in this year, and when it is going to be fixed. And you're right, we can't fix all things at once, but we need to know what we're fixing and when. Does any other, sir, anything to add to that? Is that Mr. Stretch?
• So just quickly, we publishing the detail here, obviously there are some things that are gonna happen to individual property, so it was difficult to know the level of detail, but we can absolutely give the update on the blocks. In relation to the estate pilots that we've done, we're happy to do those in different areas. There's a slight, they're obviously a combined thing on an estate pilot, not everything's gonna be a planned work, some of it is estate improvements, and other bits that the housing officers can pick up, and different bits and pieces. But what it will mean is when we do estate walkabouts, we will now know what planned works are gonna happen, so right from the get-go when we're doing a walkabout, we'll be able to say, these are the planned works, and then we're almost looking at what else might be done. But that's a very, that's more of a revenue budget rather than a capital, so if you're doing little bits, it's not always taken from a capital plan program, that's more of a revenue one-off cost.
• Sorry. Sorry, if I may just ask, could you just address the point in terms of the number of entry door lock, nine is a very low number, it would appear for the stock that we've got across the borough.
• This person?
• Yes, it's our intention this year to scope to visit every other site across the borough to build a program to replace all the door entry systems, 'cause again, as reported to this committee previously, a lot of the door entry systems are all failing, those nine were the emergency ones where all parts were obsolete and we could not get any others to fix them. So yes, we will be, and our intention is to have a program from next year to replace them all.
• Okay. Do I have any more speakers? Okay, and I'll move the recommendations, which is to approve the planned works that are set out in the agenda. Sorry. Yeah, and I'll try to second it, yes I do, Councilor Davies. Okay, so we'll move to the vote. All those in favor? Okay, that's unanimous, thank you very much. And we'll move on to item number six, which is, no, I'm not, item number seven. (council members chattering) No, I'm reading. Item number seven, which is the Leasehold Payment Options Policy. The report begins on page 81 of your agenda. In March 2022, the home ownership team introduced a payment option policy for leaseholders. We have costs against major works accounts and those leaseholders who are likely to have them in the future. With the rising costs of building materials and a high level of works due within our blocks following stock condition surveys in 2023, we identified that the current policy may not be the best fit for those struggling financially. As such, we reviewed the payment options and following a formal consultation with leaseholders, they have been revised the policy to allow more time for leaseholders to repay the major work costs and to ensure there is sufficient options to cover most people's circumstances. Mrs. Marsh, do you have anything to add?
• Thank you, Chair, nothing to add, I'm happy to take questions.
• Okay, do we have any questions? Councilor Mayo.
• Thank you, Chair. What response did we get to the consultation, question one?
• Thank you, Councilor Mayo. I believe it was zero, wasn't it? Yeah. But I believe all these holders were contacted by mail and zero response, I think, that this holder that was on tenant's talkback did say that he agrees with it. But there was only one leaseholder on tenant's talkback.
• One more. So obviously this policy isn't in place yet. See, that hasn't been verified. Have we applied the theory behind it already in any cases?
• Mrs. Marsh.
• Thank you, we've actually held off issuing some of the invices. However, anybody who is currently under a Major Works invoice will have the option to apply for this, provided they are under the five years, because once you reach six years, you're at a statute about your legal avenues for recovery restricted. So the ones that are currently issued with invoices will have to be done on a case-by-case basis, but anybody who is issued anything going forward will come under the new policy.
• Sorry, I'm holding this. So in the case of, for example, you kindly told us about Farrow House recently, will the new policy apply to those guys? Right, thank you.
• Okay, thank you. If I don't have any more questions, I'll move the recommendations, which is to approve the proposed leasehold payments option policy. Do I have a seconder?
• Second, Chair.
• Thank you, I'll go to a vote by a show of hands. Members, please indicate all those for. Okay, and that's unanimous again. Thank you very much. And I'll move to item eight, which is the downsizing policy. This report begins on page 89 of your agenda. And following the strategy and policy review undertaken by the housing department, we've identified the need for a formal downsizing policy to provide clear and transparent guidance to our residents and officers. We want to promote this option to our tenants in order to try and free up larger family homes, where the waiting times for this type of accommodation is longer. Mrs. Abbott, do we have anything to add?
• Thank you, Chair. Yes, so, as you say, following the review, while we have operated an under-occupation scheme for a number of years, we didn't actually have a policy in place to back that up. We are looking to introduce two additional incentives under this policy, which is for an additional 1,000 pounds for residents that have currently got a major adaptation in their home, to encourage them to move to accommodation where they no longer need that adaptation, and also a payment to all to remove the costs with the hope that this will sort of encourage more residents to consider moving to accommodation more appropriate for their needs to free up the larger stock that they desperately need. Happy to take any questions.
• Councillor Kendall.
• Yes, Chair, it's just really regarding, we've got some new developments that are gonna take place at Erewood Road and Brookville Close. And when they are built, there may be some opportunities there, I'm sure, to potentially offer some of those properties to people who might be willing to downsize. And if ever there was an opportunity to downsize, to go into a brand new purpose-built property, which has all the benefits that we're told they can have, it's quite a unique thing, 'cause it wouldn't have happened in Redwood for a long, long time. So I suppose the question I'm asking is one, I'm sure obviously we're looking at that, but it's trying to give people, if you like, as much notice as possible, because to downsize, it sounds like just downsize, but some people need quite a bit of time to get a hit around the whole concept of downsizing, and then where am I downsizing to? So I suppose it's a question of how much notice, if that's an opportunity, we could give people, and it's something that we're considering, and what will. Thank you.
• Thank you, Councillor Kendall. Yes, I believe the new properties at Brookville Close and Chelsea/Hairwood, Ingleton House in the future, do you provide another incentive, potentially, for people to downside where that's appropriate? I'm hoping to go, Ms. Abbott, do you have anything further to add?
• Thank you, Chair. Yes, that is something that we will be looking at. Obviously, with the new developments, there will be individual, local letting plans in place for those, so obviously looking to see how we can encourage move on with an existing stuff is something that we'll definitely be looking at, and we're looking to put those in place.
• Councillor Sanke.
• Thank you, Chair. I'll welcome the policy, obviously.
• Amazing, it hasn't been one previously, to be honest, but the actual size of the grants, where has that been established, or is there a template, or how has that been calculated for this?
• And, Ms. Abbott.
• Thank you, Chair. In terms of the cost, I mean, that is what we've always paid our residents, but it's actually coming out of our existing budgets, so it's not additional finance pressure on the HOA.
• Okay, Councillor Pound.
• Thank you. Yes, this is something that's been discussed for many years. It keeps coming up every now and again. It's good to see there's gonna be some kind of formalised policy, but I just wanted to say, we are talking about encouragement rather than pressure, are we, at this stage?
• Thank you, Councillor Pound. Yeah, it's incentives, but it is a voluntary scheme. We're not forcing anyone to downsize, if they don't want to. It's gotta be good for all sides. Thank you.
• I think it's helpful, though, to encourage, and then I think, yeah, it's not just a case of here's a piece of paper and this is what you can do, with some encouragement. I think it's quite a frightening thing for some people.
• Okay, Councillor Barbour.
• Thank you, Chair, again. It's a quick question, really, 'cause it only applies to probably a few people in the borough, but where you have someone who may be able to look after a garden that chooses not to, chances are that they may not have maintained their property to a satisfactory standard, but they could still be occupying a property that is significantly larger than really is justifiable in terms of need. Does this policy also potentially apply to someone in that situation where it may be just motivation that they allow their garden to keep on growing and housing inspectors have to go in to actually persuade them to fulfill their duties, but they might be more suitable to living in a property without a garden, perhaps, in that situation? Does this policy with that has maintained the property to a satisfactory standard? Are you possibly kind of eliminating this policy, making that property available under this wording?
• I believe there probably is another policy for different maintenance standards, or there should be, but Mrs. Abbott? Oh, on this stretch.
• Right. Yeah, so it's a separate policy, so for this, what we needed to bring in with this policy is obviously not everybody can apply, get the incentive, they return the property back to us, and that there's a huge amount of problems, and it actually becomes very costly for the council, so this policy doesn't, it is obviously written like that specifically, but exactly as Councillor Barrett said, in relation to those circumstances that you're talking about, that would be a housing management function that we would look at around the kind of conditions of their tenancy, how they're maintaining, and if they've approached us to say that it's because they can't manage, then we would look at that on an individual basis, but that would be more likely via a delegated authority. We've got to put some parameters here around, you know, that we need people who want to downsize and they're gonna return the property, and it doesn't become a very costly kind of void for us, so they're dealt with via two different methods, but there would always be the option for us to look at the scenario you're talking about, but even more, more likely via a delegated authority.
• All right, Councillor Slade.
• Thank you, Chair. I've got a point and a question, so the point that Jesse's touching on, obviously the point's made by Councillor Kendall and Councillor Pound. I just want off the reassurance that this whole process is handled with compassion. We are talking about people's homes, so that's just, obviously, just reinforcing both what Kendall and Pound said. On page 94, an additional £1,000 to be paid if you're moving from a property which is a major adaptation, such as a low-level access shower room. If the resident requires that, will they have to pay for that adaptation at that £1,000, or will they be moving into a property to meet their needs?
• Mrs Abbott?
• The intention of the additional £1,000 is if the resident that's currently in the property no longer requires the adaptation, not that they would move and then we'd do a further adaptation. Thank you.
• And Councillor Poppy.
• I was only gonna make a point from what you were saying about encouragement, and this is not a political point, I promise you, but the encouragement will be when we build the new houses. As Councillor Kendall said, when you build Brookfield, when we built the bungalows, Angela probably remembering nights, what was it, what did we call it? Nights close. Nights close. We had people there that were in three-bedroom houses that wanted to come into those bungalows. It's difficult to ask somebody to come out of a nice three-bedroom council house and go into some of the bungalows that we owned in Brookfield Place before we've knocked 'em down, you know? So it will be when we build, then I suppose I'm saying if we build 'em, they will come. That's a good line from a film, isn't it, yeah. All right.
• Thank you, Councillor Poppy. Okay, if you don't have any further questions, I'll move the recommendation that the committee approves the downsizing policy. Do I have a seconder?
• You have a seconder.
• Thank you very much. And go to the vote by show of hands. Will members please indicate those before? Okay, and that's unanimous. Thank you very much. And I'll move on to item number nine, which is the tenant board member co-option. This report begins on page 99 of your agenda, and the report sets out the proposals to co-opt representatives of tenants to talk back into our housing, health, and community committee for housing-related items in accordance with the council's constitution. Mrs. Marsh, do you have anything to add?
• Thank you, Chair. It is an annual report that we bring to the first committee of the year. As you're all aware, we've got tenant talk back, and we have a chair and vice chair of that, and generally, there are the two people that we ask to be co-opt onto the committee to talk on behalf of our tenants. So Linda's here tonight, and she's the chair of tenant talk back, and then we've got Jackie Elliott, who many of you will be aware of, who is vice chair. She couldn't make tonight, but she will make future ones in between them. They will make sure that they're in attendance. I'm happy to take any questions.
• Okay, I don't know if you have any questions, so I'll move the recommendations, and I'll read them out, 'cause they're quite lengthy. R1 is to approve the tenant talk back to be invited to send two representatives to each meeting of the housing, health, and community committee where public housing items are to be discussed. R2 is to approve that representatives of tenant talk back be co-opted onto the committee for the duration of the consideration of these items and have the right to speak, but not vote. And R3 is request that the corporate manager estates arrange appropriate training of these representatives. Do I have a seconder?
• Second, chair.
• Thank you, and I'll go to the vote by show of hands for all those in favor. Okay, and that's unanimous, thank you very much. And then there are no items for urgent business, so I can close today's meeting, thank you.
• Thank you, chair. Chair. (chuckles) (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) [BLANK_AUDIO]