Agenda and minutes

Venue: Hendon Town Hall, The Burroughs, London NW4 4BG

Contact: Jan Natynczyk 020 8359 5129 Email:  jan.natynczyk@barnet.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

1.

Chairman's Introduction

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting.  He explained that the meeting was being recorded and that the running order had been changed with the Grenfell Tower item being discussed first in tandem with the questions and public speakers on this item.

2.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 72 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 8 February, 2017 be agreed as a correct record, subject to Councillor Houston’s interest being amended from ‘Barnet Homes Board’ to ‘Barnet Group Board’.

3.

Absence of Members

Minutes:

Councillor Roberts, with Councillor Mittra acting as his substitute.

4.

Declarations of Members Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and Non-Pecuniary Interests

Minutes:

Member

Interest

Councillor Mittra

Non-pecuniary interests in the following agenda items:

 

6. Members Items – Barnet Homes Tenant and works for Andrew Dismore who serves on Emergency Fire and Planning Advisory Group;

7. Housing Commissioning Plan  - Barnet Homes Tenant and employed by GLA;

8. Barnet Homes Delivery Plan – Barnet Homes Tenant and employed by GLA;

9. Best Practice in Regeneration – employed by GLA;

10.Local Lettings Policy – employed by GLA;

11. Key Worker Housing – Employed by GLA;

12. Private Sector Housing Financial Assistance Policy – Employed by GLA.

 

Councillor Houston

Declared a non-pecuniary interest in all items to be considered, as Council appointed representative on Barnet Group Board.

Councillor Langleben

Declared a non-pecuniary interest in Item 8 relating to Barnet Homes Delivery Plan, as a co-owner of a property he lived in.

Councillor McGuirk

Declared non-pecuniary interests in agenda item 6 (Members Items) and agenda item 14 (Urgent Business – Grenfell Tower), as a social housing tenant and also that her daughter was a Barnet Homes Tenant

 

5.

Report of the Monitoring Officer (if any)

Minutes:

None.

6.

Public Questions and Comments (if any) pdf icon PDF 72 KB

Minutes:

The Committee received the list of public questions, all in relation to the Urgent Business Item on Grenfell Tower, noted the answers and noted the Chairman’s responses to supplementary questions.

7.

Any Other Items that the Chairman Decides are Urgent - Grenfell Tower pdf icon PDF 30 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Prior to this item being considered, the Chairman thanked Barnet Council and Barnet Homes Officers for all their hard work on this matter.

 

Cath Shaw, Deputy Chief Executive, stated that this report set out fire safety arrangements for residential accommodation in Barnet and specific measures that the Council and Barnet Homes were taking in response to the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower earlier this month.

 

Members raised several issues for Officers to action outside of the formal Committee process, but also requested that there be a progress report back to this Committee, with a special meeting being convened, if necessary, on Fire Brigade consultation, fire wardens, assisting vulnerable tenants and the situation relating to contractors.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.            That the Committee note the contents of this report and appendix, and in particular that all Barnet Homes properties have up to date Fire Risk Assessments and comply with fire safety legislation, and the decision to remove cladding on three tower blocks at Granville Road;

 

2.            That the Committee instructs Barnet Homes to carry out a review of fire safety measures in the Council’s twenty eight high rise blocks to identify any measures that are required to move beyond legislative compliance to deliver best practice in fire safety including the consideration of sprinkler systems, improved fire and smoke alarm systems and other measures;

 

 

3.            That the Committee agrees that, subject to agreement by Policy and Resources Committee on 27th June, an initial £10 million is allocated from the Council’s Housing Revenue Account to meet the cost of fire safety improvements;

 

4.            That the Committee delegates authority to the Deputy Chief Executive in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee to approve a programme of fire safety enhancement works with an initial budget of up to £10m, to begin as soon as practical;

 

5.            That the Committee requests that a report is brought to its next meeting with an update on delivery of the programme; and further requests that if measures identified exceed £10m that the further report makes proposals for extending the programme beyond the initial allocation.

 

 

 

 

6.            That the Committee instructs officers to revise the Housing Revenue Account 30 year business plan to accommodate this programme of fire safety enhancements, for approval at the next meeting of the Committee;

 

7.            That there be a progress report back to this Committee, with a special meeting being convened, if necessary, on Fire Brigade consultation, fire wardens, assisting vulnerable tenants and the situation relating to contractors.

 

8.

Members' Items (if any) pdf icon PDF 256 KB

Minutes:

The Committee considered the following Members Items:

 

 

Councillor Ross Houston

Fire safety in social and private housing blocks

In light of the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington I request that the Housing Committee receive a report from Barnet Homes and the Deputy Chief Executive of Barnet Council reviewing the arrangements for fire safety at all Barnet Homes properties and also Housing Association properties located in Barnet.

 

I also request that the report addresses what role Barnet Council can and should play in ensuring private blocks of flats in the borough have robust fire safety arrangements in place.

 

It was noted that this item had been addressed under the previous item relating to Grenfell Tower.

 

Councillor Adam Langleben

Housing allocations policy for families with disabled children and children under 2 years 

I request that the Housing Committee receive a report on how housing allocations policy is impacting families with disabled children and families with children under 2 years.

 

The report should include

- details of how the needs of disabled children are taken into account when offering / allocating properties to families

- whether evidence is requested from disability experts in addition to medical experts when assessing cases

- whether the needs of children with disabilities are taken into account when deciding what number of bedrooms are appropriate for a family

- whether children are expected to share a bedroom where one or both have a disability

- how families who have children with autism are assessed when allocating properties

- the number of families with one child under 2 years that have been permanently placed in one bedroom flats

 

RESOLVED that a report back be submitted to a future meeting of this Committee.

 

 

 

9.

Housing Commissioning Plan - 2017/18 addendum pdf icon PDF 197 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received the report.

 

Members commented that the report outlined the situation, prior to the Grenfell Towers tragedy and requested that the report be updated to reflect the potential impact, post Grenfell, on the Plan and reported back to the next meeting of this Committee.

 

It was also requested that Officers report back to the Chairman of the Committee and Councillors Houston and Langleben with regard to the concourse at Grahame Park.

 

Members vote on the recommendations in the report:

 

For

5

Against

0

Abstained

4

 

 

RESOLVED

 

1.            That  the Committee note progress against the Housing Committee Commissioning Plan in 2016/17 (Appendix A);

2.       That  the Committee approve the addendum to the Housing

          Committee Commissioning Plan for 2017/18 (Appendix B);

 

 

10.

Barnet Homes 2017/18 Delivery Plan pdf icon PDF 253 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received the report.

 

A vote was taken on the recommendations in the report:

 

For

5

Against

0

Abstained

4

 

RESOLVED that the Barnet Homes 2017/18 Delivery Plan be noted and approved.

11.

Best Practice in Regeneration pdf icon PDF 348 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received the report.

 

A vote on the recommendation in the report was taken:

 

For

11

Against

0

Abstained

0

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

12.

Introducing a Local Lettings Policy in Barnet pdf icon PDF 268 KB

Minutes:

The Committee received the report.

 

The Committee voted on the recommendations in the report:

 

For

11

Against

0

Abstained

0

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    That the Housing Committee approves for a consultation and Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) to be carried out, at the appropriate time, to consider the introduction of a local lettings policy (LLP) approach whereby existing Council tenants with an established housing need under the Council’s Housing Allocations Scheme (in Band 1 or Band 2) whose existing home would become available for reallocation are given priority for new-build properties on in-fill developments on their estate;

 

2.    That the findings of the consultation and EIA be brought back to the Housing Committee with a recommendation as to whether to adopt the LLP approach and an amended Housing Allocation Scheme as appropriate. 

13.

Key Worker Housing pdf icon PDF 193 KB

Minutes:

The Committee received the report.

 

Members requested that in future, monthly rent levels or service charges be included in the figures.

 

The Committee voted on the recommendation in the report:

 

For

11

Against

0

Abstained

0

 

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

14.

Private Sector Housing Financial Assistance Policy 2017 pdf icon PDF 351 KB

Minutes:

The Committee received the report.

 

A vote was taken on the recommendations in the report:

 

For

11

Against

0

Abstained

0

 

RESOLVED

 

1.         That the Committee approve the amendments to the Private Sector Housing Financial Assistance Policy;

 

2.         That the authority for future minor amendments to this policy be delegated to the Commissioning Director, Growth and Development in consultation with the Chairman of the Housing Committee.

 

15.

Committee Forward Work Programme pdf icon PDF 198 KB

Minutes:

Noted.