Agenda and minutes

Appendix A lists those Tenant and Resident Associations (TRAs), which have satisfactorily completed the registration process at the date of despatch of this agenda. It gives details of the representatives of those TRAs to be co-opted onto the DMC, in accordance with the constitution, together with the names of the substitutes.

Appendix B lists those TRAs whose registrations have lapsed. If a TRA wishes to register it must hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM), open to all members, once a year (with an independent observer in attendance). The minutes must be sent to the Tenant Participation Service together with a membership list and a completed registered form.

The DMC considered the list of registered tenant and resident associations (TRAs) provided by the Tenant Participation Service listed at Appendix A to the agenda and those TRAs whose registration had lapsed, which were listed at Appendix B.

It was noted that Zain Alam (Ampthill Square TRA) and David Early (Bayham Place Estate TRA, replacing Emma Rogerson) should be added to Appendix A.

RESOLVED –

THAT the ‘A’ and ‘B’ lists be noted.

Apologies were received from Sherryl Murphy (Mayford TRA), David Perris (CASP), Jim Mansfield (Bridgeway Street TRA)

Re-ordering the agenda

The meeting agreed that the minutes would be considered at the end of the meeting.

Special DMC

The meeting was advised that there would be a special DMC on 14^th December 2023 that would be considering the action points from the last meeting, HRA Budgetary issues including heating charges, breakdown of how much HRA funding was being used to pay for CIP projects, and the 3 bids from Ampthill Square TRA. Other DMC representatives would also be invited to consider the HRA item.

ACTION BY: Director of Finance (MW)/Tenant Participation (SLF)/Other relevant officers

There were none.

There were none.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of Camden Town DMC held on 6^th September 2023.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 6^th September 2023.

The DMC agreed to add the following sentence to the HRA Budget Monitoring Item (page 16),‘That there was a shortfall of £160M in the capital programme.’

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 6^th September 2023 as revised be approved and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED -

THAT the action points arising from the last meeting be considered at the special meeting on 14^th December 2023.

ACTION BY: Tenant Participation (SLF)

i)           To elect the DMC’s representative to the Camden Safer Neighbourhood Board.

Camden Safer Neighbourhood Board

“Camden Safer Neighbourhood Board is a community-led charity that brings together the community, police and council with the aim of reducing crime and antisocial behaviour in Camden.

“We oversee three main strands of activities:

• Public meetings and community conversations – these provide residents from across Camden the chance to challenge the Police Borough Commander and senior officers from the Community Safety Partnership about crime 

• Stop and Search – the Camden Stop and Search Monitoring Group meets four times a year. We also have a panel of 18 Camden Independent Youth Advisors with a keen interest in Stop and Search. 

• Camden Safer Neighbourhood Board Trustees – we hold six meetings a year where a small group of Trustees having been appointed by the CSNB hold the police and Partnership to account for performance in crime and antisocial behaviour. The Trustees oversee the work and set the policies for the CSNB.”

For more information, visit https://camdenconnected.com/

ii)          To elect representatives to any other bodies as needed.

RESOLVED –

THAT the appointment to the Safer Neighbourhood Board be differed to the June 2024 meeting of the DMC.

Report by the Director of Finance

This report provides an update on Housing Revenue Account (HRA) 2024/25 Budget Setting progress ahead of the January Joint DMC meeting at which DMC representatives will be asked to provide feedback on proposals.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Finance.

Emma Cardoso, Team Leader (HRA & Capital Projects), gave the following key responses to questions:

·       A specific team had been set up to deal with tenants in arrears or facing payment problems. This team were working with those in arrears in helping them through this difficult time and were having some success in reducing the levels of rent arrears.

·       All reports provided by officers were impartial and based on an officers professional judgement.

·       The Council, as were all local authorities, was facing difficult financial challenges and needed to come up with a HRA budget that would be balanced. Officers recognised the operational difficulties the lack of resources was having on service delivery, but the main way of funding the HRA was through rent increases which it could put some tenants in a very difficult financial position.

·       Officers would provide a response to the questions provided by the Chair.

ACTION BY: Director of Finance (EC)

The DMC expressed its frustration and dissatisfaction that the report was again devoid of vital statistical information on which the DMC were being asked to express an opinion on, and the DMC felt that it was impossible to do this. As a result of this, the DMC felt that since there were no choices to be made the item should not be considered.

The DMC also felt that in future HRA Budget reports should contain information and statistics similar to what had been provided back in 2013, and that there needed to be an analysis of the impacts of the rent increase on the various cohorts of residents.

The DMC noted that any rent increase would likely push more people onto benefits; that the information provided to tenants should be balanced and impartial; recognise the lack of resources would have on the capital and repairs programme; and the historical lack of resources provided to local authorities to meet its capital and revenue needs. 

The DMC noted that a special meeting was being held on 14^th December 2023 that would consider the issues raised by the chair with officers relating to the heating pool. The DMC also hoped that the proposed Housing Conference would be able to explore the HRA budgetary process and needs as part of its discussions.

RESOLVED –

THAT the approach outlined above be endorsed.

Report of the Director of Public Safety

This report provides an overview of the work of the Community Safety Service throughout 2023.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Public Safety.

Shaheda Rahman, Community Safety Manager, took the meeting through the report and gave the following key responses to questions:

·       The Council would be setting up a dedicated taskforce that would include ASB issues from November 2023 for a five month trial period that would seek to play an important role in the management of complex cases and reduce ASB. As part of this process individuals would be supported to change behaviours so as to try and avoid them ending up in the judicial process.

·       Officers would look into the issue surrounding the Routes-off the Streets Team not answering calls; Responsive Scrutiny Patrol Officers not undertaking duties on the Ampthill Square Estate (dealing with knives and sitting in cars); security fences not being high enough; and the need to feed back to community representatives on the outcome of actions that had been undertaken.

ACTION BY: Director of Public Safety (SR)

·       Officers would provide the DMC with information on the role of the Responsive Security Patrol and the Community Presence Officers.

ACTION BY: Director of Public Safety (SR)

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted

Report of the Director of Housing

This report provides performance information on areas of the Housing Service provided to council tenants.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Housing.

Olivier Goma, Neighbourhood Housing Manager, took the meeting through the report and he along with Scot Reid, Head of Property Customer Services and Engagement, gave the following key responses to questions:

·       Tenants were able to update the allocations register themselves regarding any change relating to their personal circumstances. This could then lead to their points being reassessed.

·       The conditions of the Council’s housing stock was assessed as part of the stock conditions survey that was undertaken, along with other anecdotal information arising from the repairs undertaken, complaints received along with when planned works were undertaken. The next stock conditions survey would be made available to the DMCs when it was available.

ACTION BY: Director of Property Management (SA)

·       Officers would provide an update regarding the total arrears by tenants on UC when available.

ACTION BY: Head of Leaseholder Services and Housing Income (GJ)

·       The successful Damp and Mould programme that had been undertaken by the Council last year that had seen over 5,000 properties receiving a mould inspection leading to over 2,000 having a mould wash carried out. The Council was now at the next stage of the programme, whereby it was contacting the 1,000 households designated as high-risk vulnerable residents to see if they were having any damp and mould issues, along with proactively engaging with residents through its ongoing outbound call campaign. If no further contact had been received after an initial report of mould then the case would eventually be closed, after further work had been undertaken to contact them on this issue.

The DMC noted that many tenants would benefit from having information regarding how to prevent damp and mould happening, along with what proactive measures they could put in place themselves to ensure this didn’t happen in their homes (e.g. having a humidifier, opening windows, having constant temperature etc).

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted

Report of the Head of Innovation & Improvement

This report asks the DMC for its views regarding the proposed Tenant Conference as set out in the report.

Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Innovation and Improvement.

Lydia Roberts, Strategic Lead, took the meeting through the report and proposed that the DMC appoint members to be on the project planning team/group to help shape the tenants conference in the spring (subject to a general election being called). This was the start of the process that would initially seek to scope out the event, when it would be, where it could be located before seeking further views before the conference proposal was finalised.

It was agreed that Fran Heron, Noel Barry, Anne Byrne and John Wood be appointed as the Camden Town DMC representatives on the project planning/group.

                                                              ACTION BY: Strategic Lead (LR)

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted and that DMC members indicated above be appointed to tenant’s conference project planning/group.

Report of the Head of Neighbourhood Services.

In line with the DMC funding guidelines, TRAs will be asked to provide an update to the meeting regarding the progress of agreed bids, including an update on the associated spend. TRAs are invited to circulate any relevant information in advance through the clerk.

TRAs are encouraged to submit bids as soon as possible, so they can be properly assessed and prepared by officers, ready for submission to the DMC. TRAs are reminded that verbal bids cannot be accepted at DMC meetings as, in line with the guidelines, officers need to be able to assess bids before passing them to the DMC.

For more information on DMC bids, please see our webpages: www.camden.gov.uk/district-management-committees.

Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Neighbourhoods.

The DMC were advised that there were no new bids for consideration but 3 late bid submissions had been made from Ampthill Square TRA and these would be considered at the special meeting of the DMC in December.

The DMC asked that future budget reports provide a project tacker table updating individual projects and costs over the last 2 years for each respective TRA. The Chair also wished to meet with DMC representatives and officers to seek to improve the DMC budget and report processes.

ACTION BY: Neighbourhood Housing Managers (RD/OG) 

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Update from the Head of Leaseholder Services and Housing Income.

This report gives information on the Council’s rent arrears

Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Leaseholder Services & Housing Income.

Graeme Jones, Neighbourhood Manager, took the meeting through the report, and officers agreed to provide further information on the long-term void properties that had been brought back into the programme (especially those relating to HS2).

ACTION BY: Head of CIP Development (SD)

Also the new rent arrears figures for November 2023 would be circulated to the DMC representatives for information when they were available.

ACTION BY: Head of Leaseholder Services and Housing Income (GJ)

The DMC welcomed the way the information was presented in the report and asked that in future larger font sizes were used for the graphs.  

ACTION BY: Head of Leaseholder Services and Housing Income (GJ)

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted

Update from the Director of Property Management

This report provides an update on the Council’s proactive programme to address damp and mould.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Property Services.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

HS2

The DMC asked that further information be provided regarding the Dalehead building electrical connection issues and the Council’s position in relation to taking on the development role for the HS2 site in Camden.

ACTION BY: Head of CIP Development (SD)

A copy of the information regarding the HS2 impacts of voids situation the 3 main blocks on Regents Park Estate was circulated at the meeting.

Lift protocol for people needing to attend hospital visits when lifts were out of order

Officers would provide information regarding the support and assistance provided to tenants when the lifts were out-of-order and they needed to attend hospital appointments.

ACTION BY: Head of Neighbourhoods

Officers would look into the issue raised by Paul Tomlinson once he had passed the information to them.

                                                              ACTION BY: Paul Tomlinson

Updates regarding housing services relating to Cabinet Member Better Homes report, Neighbourhood officers roles, heat metering programme and the estate parking scheme.

Consideration was given to the updates regarding housing services from the Cabinet Member Better Homes, neighbourhood officer roles, heat metering programme and the estates parking scheme.

The DMC asked for a meeting with officers regarding the consultation process surrounding the Traffic Management Order for Ampthill Square estate, along with where the parking spaces would be and how they would be arranged.

ACTION BY: Project Manager (MW)

RESOLVED –

THAT the updates be noted.

There were none.