Agenda item

To receive members’ questions under procedure rule no.11.  The procedure rule provides that any member may ask the chairman of a board or group any question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the District, provided that three clear days’ notice in writing has been given to the Head of Legal and Support Services.

Councillor J Geary put the following question to Councillor R D Bayliss:

“When the right to buy scheme was re-launched by David Cameron in 2012, Grant Schapps promised that “every additional home that is sold under right to buy will be replaced by a new affordable home on a one-to-one basis”.

However, to date the actual replacement figure is only one in 10. Therefore could you please provide figures for new affordable/social homes built in our district compared to those that have been sold over the same period and at what current price would a two bedroom house be considered affordable?”

Councillor R D Bayliss gave the following response:

“Under the Governments one for one replacement scheme we have been able to retain £122k of right to buy receipts for 2013/14, and £46k of receipts up to the end of Quarter 3 this financial year.  These funds need to be spent on replacement homes before 1 August 2017, and have been included in our capital programme for 2015/16, together with our own resources as required by the scheme.

The figures below represent the number of homes sold under the right to buy scheme and the number of new build affordable homes (rented and low cost home ownership) delivered by housing associations each year.

2011/12 - 2 sold under the right to buy and 58 new affordable homes provided.

2012/13 - 15 sold under the right to buy and 86 new affordable homes provided.

2013/14 - 36 sold under the right to buy and 156 new affordable homes provided.

2014/15 (to end Dec) – 17 sold under the right to buy and 93 new affordable homes provided.

The current average price of a 2 bedroom house within NWL is £123,800. However, there will be variances between settlements e.g. Ashby prices are higher than Coalville.

The cost of buying an average 2 bed property in North West Leicestershire (District) with an 85% mortgage is currently £113 per week assuming a 2.89% mortgage rate.

 (Source - Hometrack Housing Intelligence system 12 March 2015)

Of the last 100 housing association lettings in the district, average affordable weekly rents (i.e. 80% of the market rent) have been £83.88 for a 1 bed, £90.17 for a 2 bed and £104.34 for a 3 bed.  Of the last 100 lettings by NWLDC, average weekly rents have been £78.53 for a 1 bed, £88.75 for a 2 bed and £94.76 for a 3 bed”.

Councillor J Geary thanked Councillor R D Bayliss for a full and substantial reply.  He stated that he had realised how many council houses had been sold in the last two decades, particularly in villages.  He referred to a recent article in the press about replacement rates of council houses, which had prompted his question; however he noted that since 2011, 70 council houses had been sold, and had been replaced by 393, which was an outstanding performance.  He questioned whether the replacement council houses were like for like, and whether homes in rural communities had also been replaced.  He expressed the importance of families being able to stay together.  As a supplementary question, he requested a full report to the next Policy Development Group to enable the figures to be fully scrutinised.

Councillor R D Bayliss stated that there was a complicated formula which determined the replacement ratio.  He reminded members that housing capital had been set aside to build new council houses, and together with the retentions from the right to buy scheme, this would fund a programme which would be reported to Cabinet in early summer.  He stated that there were many options for the provision of social housing, and all would be considered.  He commented that building stable societies would help keep families together, but of course requirements had changed and there was not the same demand now for larger houses.  He added that this was an issue which needed proper investigation.

Councillor J Ruff put the following question to Councillor R D Bayliss:

“Can the portfolio holder please explain the procedure for residents enquiring about adaptations and the information that is given to residents when coming into the council or ringing? 
 
Is it correct that the council are deliberately avoiding adaptations to certain properties and if so why?”

Councillor R D Bayliss gave the following response:

“All applications by tenants to have their homes adapted to meet their individual or household medical needs are assessed by the County Council's Occupational Therapy Team.

Tenants have to apply to be assessed directly to the County Council, but if they approach the Council (NWLDC) in the first instance, they are signposted accordingly.

Once an application has been submitted to the County, an Occupational Therapist will undertake a home visit and assess the current and future needs of the tenant and/or their household, and where applicable make a recommendation for an adaptation to the Council (NWLDC).

These referrals are given an urgent or routine priority by the OT based on the medical merits of each case.

Upon receipt by the Council's Planned Investment Team each referral is then assessed from a housing perspective, within the Council's policy that was most recently revised and approved by Cabinet on 18 November 2014.

On occasion referrals/applications may not be progressed, with an alternative solution put forward to the applicant. Where this applies, it will usually be for one of three reasons:

·because we already have suitably adapted properties within our housing stock that meet the applicants needs and the cost of adapting another similar property cannot be justified; or because the tenants housing need is not appropriate for the property they are currently occupying e.g. an elderly single occupant of a three bedroom house;

·because the adaptation requested is not appropriate e.g. a level access shower to a first floor flat (in such a situation, this implies a stairlift will also be required at some point, and the most appropriate solution to meet the applicant’s needs would be for them to move to an existing adapted, ground floor property); 

·because the request was cancelled by Social Services due to, bereavement, going into residential care etc;

During the current financial year we have received 164 referrals by the County Council’s OT Service of which 126 have been approved for adaptation works and 38 have not been progressed.

Of the 38 referrals that have not been progressed, the breakdown based on the three reasons highlighted above is 22, 5 and 11 respectively”.

As a supplementary question, Councillor J Ruff asked if Councillor R D Bayliss could guarantee that in future, residents would definitely be signposted to the occupational therapy team at Leicestershire County Council.  She also requested a full report on the present situation in respect of adaptations at the next Policy Development Group, as she understood these were 6 months behind schedule.

Councillor R D Bayliss responded that all requests for adaptations were not able to be dealt with unless they were referred via the occupational therapy team.