The meeting endorsed all of the Officer recommendations in the reports pack, except for Item 12: Revenue Budget Monitoring, which had been drawn down for debate. Councillor M J Davis endorsed the recommendations contained in the Revenue Budget Monitoring report after a discussion about temporary accommodation and recruitment.

Consultation on Social Housing Rents 2024

The Panel discussed the Council's response to a government consultation on social housing rent policy. The government is proposing a new rent cap that would remain in place for five years, between 01 April 2026 and 31 March 2031. This would allow rents to increase by a maximum of CPI¹ plus 1% per annum, but the council would be free to freeze rents or implement smaller increases.

One of the Councillors welcomed the certainty that the new policy would give residents, but another raised concerns that damp and mould problems were more often caused by the actions of tenants than the poor management of landlords.

The first Councillor countered that the government had had to legislate on the issue of poor social housing because it had been necessary for the Government to legislate to address the shortcomings of bad social housing landlords.

Revenue Budget Monitoring 2024/25 - Projected Outturn

The Panel debated the Revenue Budget Monitoring report, which estimated that the council would underspend its General Fund Budget by £2,899,450, and overspend its Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget by £807,000.

One of the Councillors drew attention to the spiralling cost of temporary accommodation, noting that it was a predictable problem that the council did not seem to have a plan for. She suggested that the council should consider increasing its housing stock through acquisition, rather than construction, as this would be more cost-effective.

The Head of Housing, Paul Koster, explained that the council had recently built 135 new properties, and pointed out that 16 new units at Gilbert Close in Swanscombe, Kent would become available in the new year. He added that a planning application was in progress for a further nine new units in Dartford Town Centre. However, he acknowledged that the provision of social housing was a national problem, and explained that recent changes to the Right-to-Buy scheme had created additional pressures for the council. He said the council had received around 80 applications to buy homes under the scheme in the past two weeks, which is more than it normally receives in a year. He said the council was considering how to address this problem, and would report its findings to the Cabinet.

Sarah Martin, the Chief Officer and Director of Corporate Services, confirmed that the council had invested its own money in housing projects as well as match-funding under Right-to-Buy. She also confirmed that money had been allocated to reserves to cover temporary accommodation funding pressures.

Another Councillor highlighted Dartford's unusual position as one of only three councils in the country spending over half of its council tax revenue on temporary accommodation. He noted that temporary accommodation was costing the council over £2,000,000 but that there did not seem to be any meaningful plan for how to address this spiralling cost. He also raised concerns about projected staff vacancy savings, noting that the council was projecting savings of £495,000 at a time when it was claiming to be experiencing recruitment problems.

The Chairman of the Audit Board confirmed that recruitment and retention had been discussed at the last meeting of the board, but said that this was in relation to difficulties recruiting and retaining audit staff only.

The Chief Officer and Director of Corporate Services said that whilst all vacant posts were budgeted on a full-time basis, in reality some posts were filled on a part-time basis, and that this had an effect on the staff vacancy budget. She also said that not all staff opted to join the pension scheme, and that this also had an effect on vacancy savings.

Draft Local Lettings Plan for Gilbert Close New Build Council Housing Development

The Panel endorsed the new Local Lettings Plan for Gilbert Close.

Community Infrastructure Levy Monitoring 2024

The Panel endorsed the recommendations on Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)² Monitoring for 2024.

Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2025/26

The Panel endorsed the recommendation to roll forward the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2024/25 into the 2025/26 financial year.

Financial Contributions to Parish Councils

The Panel endorsed the recommendations to make financial contributions to the parish councils.

Capital Budget Monitoring 2024/25 - Projected Outturn

The Panel endorsed the recommendations of the Capital Budget Monitoring report for 2024/25.