Agenda item

Report HPR2024/025

The report presented the 2023/24 Quarter 4 update to the Housing, Planning and Regeneration Portfolio Plan.

In considering the update, a Member asked about the review of the current Homelessness Strategy.  The Assistant Director: Housing reported that an additional staff resource was now in place to support work in this area and that an update would be reported to the next meeting of the Committee on 12 September 2024.  Another Member asked about the Rough Sleeping Initiative and the Assistant Director: Housing advised that this initiative targeted rough sleeping.  The allocation of funds was agreed in collaboration with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and, where a case could be made, it was possible to carry forward remaining funds from one round to the next.

With regard to temporary accommodation, a Member asked for a geographical breakdown of out-of-Borough placements and this would be provided to Members following the meeting.  The number and reason for placement refusals was not recorded; however, every possible effort was taken to place households in appropriate accommodation, including a formal suitability assessment.  The Member asked about the length of stays for nightly temporary accommodation and the Assistant Director: Housing clarified that this varied significantly depending on whether households remained in the same temporary accommodation for the duration of their wait to be settled in a permanent home and that further information would be provided to Members following the meeting.  Another Member asked about variations in the number of households approaching the Local Authority for support with housing and homelessness and was advised that some variations were seasonal or related to factors affecting the market, such as new legislation, and that other variations were natural.  The Housing Team worked 365 days a year to support those in need of advice or assistance and every effort was taken to support staff in this high-pressure area, including regular supervision and training.

Another Member raised the issue of planning appeals and asked whether there was any differentiation between the success of appeals against decisions made via the respective routes of Committee and delegated decisions.  The Portfolio Holder was pleased to advise that as a result of intensive work in this area, the number of successful appeals had significantly reduced in recent years with no major appeals successful for the year to date and only three non-major appeals upheld with 23 dismissed.  The latest report of appeals costs would be provided to Members following the meeting.  Following the launch of the new planning system, further analysis could be undertaken on Planning appeals if needed, and it was also planned to introduce a new Key Performance Indicator to monitor planning enforcement.  The Member queried the Risk Register with regard to Risk 5: Recruitment and Retention: Failure to recruit and retain key skilled staff with suitable experience/qualifications.  The Director of Housing, Planning, Property and Regeneration explained that this risk reflected the difficulties in recruiting to certain skilled areas, including Planning, and that work to mitigate this risk included strategies such as ‘grow your own’ development programmes, salary benchmarking and the work of the Corporate Recruitment and Retention Board.  The Planning Service was fully staffed at the present time, but recruitment and retention would continue to be monitored closely.

A Member noted work by the Property Service to support the move to the new Civic Offices and queried how much surplus space remained to be let.  This workstream fell within the remit of the Resources, Commissioning and Contracts Management Portfolio but Members were advised that it was planned to refurbish this space prior to letting to meet the local demand for premium quality office space.

RESOLVED: That progress on the actions associated with the Housing, Planning and Regeneration Portfolio Plan for Quarter 4 of the 2023/24 financial year be noted.