Agenda item

Following the receipt of a Notice of Call-in within the required deadline, from Councillor Harris calling in the decision of the Cabinet set out in Minute CA.8 of the meeting held on the 14th October 2020, a meeting of the Committee has been convened in order to consider the matter in accordance with the reasons set out on the Notice of Call-In.

In considering the matter, the options available to the Scrutiny Committee are as follows:

1.   The Scrutiny Committee decides not to offer any comments on the Notice. In this situation the decision of the Cabinet will stand.

2.   The Scrutiny Committee decides to offer comments or

objections, which will be referred back to the Cabinet at the meeting arranged for the 11^th November 2020.

3.   The Scrutiny Committee may refer the Notice, without comment, to the Council. The matter will then be considered by the Council on the 25th November 2020 (a standard item appears on all Council summons to consider referrals from Scrutiny Committees). Any comments or objections from Council will be referred back to the Cabinet at the earliest opportunity, in accordance with the Council Constitution.

The Cabinet will be required to consider any objections and comments but will not be bound by them unless "it is contrary to the Policy Framework or contrary to or not wholly consistent with the Budget" (Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules - Paragraph 16(g) of the Council Constitution).”

A copy of the original paperwork considered by Cabinet, along with the decision Minute and Call –in notice are attached in the agenda packs.

The Scrutiny Committee considered a called-in decision of the Cabinet meeting held on the 14^th October 2020 in accordance with the Council Constitution.

The Cabinet had made the following decision:

Delegated decision

Cabinet agrees to:   

1. Acknowledge the work to date on developing the draft Housing Strategy.

2. Approve the draft Housing Strategy at Appendix 1 for public consultation for a period of six weeks.

3. Note that a further report will be produced with the final draft Housing

Strategy, that has taken into account the results and feedback from the

consultation.

Reasons for the decision:

Although there is no requirement for a Housing Strategy, it is best practice and provides for consideration of associated duties such as homelessness provision. The Council has undertaken an assessment of housing need within the borough. This report presents the new housing strategy based upon that assessment, which ties into other strategies including the Council’s overarching 2030 Strategy.

A call-in notice had been submitted by Councillor Harris setting out the reasons for the call-in of the decision.

The reasons were set out below:

·         There is inadequate information as to how the consultation methodology will reflect the views of all residents within the stated time frame. The proposed consultation methodology is inadequate to fully reach all residents.

The Chair welcomed the Cabinet Member for Housing Services, Councillor Cummings to the meeting and she responded to the public questions and reported that the piece of land at Walshaw was included in the GMSF which would be presented at an upcoming Cabinet meeting on the 11^th November.

Dr Carol Birchmore who was present at the meeting to ask a public question was invited by Councillor Harris, to provide some background information on how data was collected for research methodology. She explained how surveys were carried out in her professional role at Manchester University.

Councillor Cummings explained that the draft strategy set out the scale of the challenge facing the Borough on housing issues such as driving up quality, improving health and wellbeing, affordability, attracting and retaining skills along with climate change.

The last full assessment of housing need and demand in the Borough was undertaken in 2011. The changes within the housing market since then, together with the expected growth in population and household formation required an update to the housing profile; therefore in January 2020, Campbell Tickell in partnership with arc4, were appointed to support the Council to deliver a Housing Needs and Demand Assessment, which informs the new draft Housing Strategy. 

The final version of the Housing Strategy would include an implementation plan, which would be reviewed regularly to ensure that it is up to date in terms of available and committed resources.

Councillor Walker questioned if now was a good time to consult during the Covid 19 pandemic as certain groups were not meeting such as the faith alliance network. Also no displays could be promoted in locations such as local libraries or the Town Hall reception area.

Councillor Harris asked a number of questions and suggested all residents be sent a letter to make them aware of the scale and scope of the housing strategy letter with a fact sheet a reply envelope enclosed.

She stated that the last housing strategy was several years ago and there was no legal requirement to update so why was this being undertaken now. Councillor Harris wanted clarity if this was a public consultation or an approved plan for public comments.

It was reported that people can obtain hard copies of the consultation documents upon request and there was a dedicated phone line to deal with enquiries. The costs of letters to all homes in the borough would have to be investigated.

Councillor Vernon questioned if the GMSF should be approved first before he housing strategy but it was explained that this was just the consultation stage of the process. It was stated that whilst it was aligned to the GMSF the housing strategy was a different piece of work.

It was agreed:

That, having considered the points raised in the Notice of Call-in, this Committee does not offer any comments to the Cabinet in respect of Minute CA.08 Public Consultation on the Draft Housing Strategy.