The Community & Housing Overview & Scrutiny Committee met on 10 September 2025, and supported changes to communal heating charges, the draft Housing Strategy 2025-2030, and the new Council Plan 2025-2030. The committee also reviewed the Council Plan (2023-28) End of Year Performance Report 2024/25, and received an update on modular housing.

Annual Performance Report 2024/25

The committee supported the Annual Performance Report 2024/25, which provides a high-level summary of how well the council performed at the end of the financial year. The report includes:

• Key achievements
• Areas for improvement
• Council plan performance
• Budget monitoring
• Social value
• Risk management
• Annual governance statement
• Corporate self-assessment
• Regulation, audit and inspection
• Strategic equality plan
• Welsh language
• Partnership and collaboration
• Climate change

The report noted several key achievements across different sectors. In education, the council approved a rolling 10-year funding envelope of £175.8 million for the school estate, and commenced construction of the £15.7 million Ysgol Gymraeg Croes Atti, a new Welsh medium school.

In Housing and Communities, the council saw a reduction in bed and breakfast placements, a 65% homeless prevention rate, and helped 326 households exit homelessness.

The report also identified areas for improvement, such as recruitment and retention in finance, contact centre performance, and resident involvement in housing.

Housing Strategy 2025 – 2030

The committee supported the draft Housing Strategy 2025-2030 prior to formal consultation. The Strategic Housing & Delivery Programme Manager agreed to provide Councillor Geoff Collett with information on the percentage of Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) adaptations carried out at council housing, private housing and private rented housing.

Communal Heating Charges 2025/26

The committee supported the changes to the current heating charges for the two schemes with communal heating, with all changes to take effect from 1 September 2025. Following concerns raised by committee members about the costs to tenants after the installation of meters, a further report will be presented to show the exact costs following the installation of the metres in comparison with the predicted costs.

Council Plan 2025/30

The committee supported the new Council Plan 2025-2030 and the Council Plan Part 2 document, which outlines the actions and measures that underpin the priorities and well-being objectives of the plan.

Council Plan (2023-28) End of Year Performance Report 2024/25

The committee supported the levels of progress and confidence in the achievement of priorities detailed within the Council Plan 2023/28 for delivery within 2024/25, and overall performance against Council Plan 2024/25 performance indicators/measures.

Councillor Sean Bibby raised concerns about customer satisfaction data for the housing register service, questioning whether the target was realistic. It was agreed that his comments would be fed back to the Performance Team.

Forward Work Programme and Action Tracking

The committee noted the Forward Work Programme and the progress made in completing outstanding actions. The Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator was authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as needed, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee.

Modular Housing

The committee provided feedback and comments to the cabinet on the concept of modular housing¹, including areas of further investigation as part of the new build development programme.

Homelessness Update

The committee received a monthly update on homelessness statistics across the county.