Purpose

To approve the Decant Policy for North Yorkshire Council, which establishes a consistent and transparent county-wide framework for the circumstances in which a decant may be required and the procedures to be followed in managing decants. The policy defines the criteria, decision making arrangements and operational processes that will ensure a fair and consistent approach across all housing areas following local government reorganisation.

Decision

To adopt the proposed Decant Policy for North Yorkshire Council’s Housing Services, and to delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Community Development to make minor amendments to the policy as required by changes in regulation or legislation.

Reasons for the decision

The Decant Policy sets out a clear and transparent approach to managing decants post-Local Government Reorganisation (LGR). The introduction of a harmonised policy will ensure consistency, transparency and fairness for tenants and leaseholders, by outlining a single approach which is in line with legislative and regulatory requirements and has been developed through consultation with tenants and operational staff.

The policy supports the Council’s wider strategic aims of ensuring fairness and transparency for all tenants and contributes to its commitment to strengthening governance and oversight through policy development and harmonisation. It ensures that these priorities will be met throughout the decant process via key operational documents and robust performance monitoring mechanisms.

Alternative options considered

The option not to create a single Decant Policy and to instead continue with a Decant Policy in place only for the former Selby District Council area was considered and rejected. This option would have failed to deliver a transparent and consistent service to all tenants and leaseholders and would not have supported the Council’s programme of Housing Revenue Account (HRA) policy harmonisation following LGR.