Agenda and minutes

That the Chair be authorised to host the DMC meeting as a remote meeting due to the exceptional circumstances of the Coronavirus national emergency.

RESOLVED –

THAT the Chair be authorised to hold the DMC meeting as a remote meeting due to the circumstances of the coronavirus national emergency.

Appendix A lists those Tenants’ and Residents’ 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 Associations 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 Team together with a membership list and a completed registered form.

RESOLVED –

THAT the ‘A’ and ‘B’ lists be noted.

Apologies for absence were received from Helen Duff.

There were no announcements.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no notifications of any items of urgent business.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Kentish Town District Management Committee held on 15^th June 2021.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 15^th June 2021.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 15^th June 2021 be approved as a correct record.

The DMC is asked to note the progress of the action points arising from the previous meeting.

Consideration was given to the progress report.

Officers said they would update the DMC on the CCTV and 268 Kentish Town Road points later in the meeting.

Abu Naser from Kenbrook TRA expressed his concern that no significant action had followed from estate walkabouts. Officers said that there was a template to note issues that arose at walkabouts and the relevant officers would then work through them.

RESOLVED –

THAT the action points and the comments above be noted.

Report of the Director of Housing Management and the Director of Property Services.

The DMC is asked to discuss and comment on the sections of the consolidated report that are of particular interest to members during the 2-hour meeting timeslot allocated.

The September 2021 consolidated Housing Services report was compiled following feedback from DMC members at recent meetings and arising from specific requests from DMC chairs during their July agenda setting with the Cabinet Member. It includes Housing Management & Property Services performance and other requested reports.

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Housing Management and the Director of Property Services.

Laura Gillett, the Head of the Voids Programme, introduced this section.  She highlighted that there had been a 28% increase in lettings and a 44% increase in the lettings of long-term voids.

It was noted that more new voids were being created, including where existing tenants were re-housed, and so the number of outstanding voids had not decreased.

A member asked about the length of the housing waiting list. Ms Gillett said she believed it was about 6000. Due to the high demand for council housing and limited supply, she said that officers needed to manage the expectations of many people on the list.

Queries were raised about the quality of some voids work. The Kenbrook representative said that workmen working on a void on that estate had blocked a sewer pipe.

It was noted that in Quarter 4 there had been a larger-than-usual number of voids in the system. This had been because of the difficulties in arranging viewings during winter, especially given the coronavirus restrictions in place at that time.

A member asked about housing for refugees from Afghanistan, in light of the current refugee crisis there. Officers said that places had been identified for five families.

Danny Waite, the Head of Repairs and Operations, reported on the Repairs Service to the DMC. He said that there had been an increase in calls following the resumption of non-emergency work as the pandemic eased. About 27,000 more calls had been made during May-July 2021 than in the corresponding period in 2020.

He informed members that a new specialist damp and mould team had been established to tackle those problems.

There was also a focus on tackling roofs and guttering. Mr Waite said he was aware that some blocks had suffered from regular problems with their guttering.

Jane McWilliams from Brookfield TRA said she had had positive experiences with repairs in her own flat, but was concerned with the number of repairs issues her block faced as a whole. She added that there were some roof tiles missing and this had been caused by asbestos removal teams, which had never replaced some of the tiles they had removed to do their work.

Josh Cedar from Holly Lodge said that his TRA had been promised biennial inspections of roofs given the problems they had had there and wanted officers to ensure that this was being carried out.

Members were concerned that Camden was paying the cost of rectifying damage caused by contractors and that this impacted on tenants and leaseholders’ costs. Michael Killeen, Head of Strategic Asset Management, said that the Council had processes in place to deal with poor performance by contractors.

With regard to the investment in new heating systems, John Webb raised concerns that the introduction of these had caused problems for residents – and cited the experience  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report of the Landlord Services Manager (South).

The DMC is asked to note the report and approve any new bids as appropriate.

This report details the DMC budget allocation for 2021/22 in addition to any bids submitted for consideration.

Consideration was given to a report of the Landlord Services Manager (South).

Kieran Waller, Neighbourhood Manager, introduced the report and outlined the bids received. Members agreed the bids.

There was a query about the Leighton Crescent and Raglan Street bids as to whether they ought to be covered by the general repairs budget rather than the DMC budget. Officers said that the repairs were not priority repairs and so, in order for the TRA to get them actioned, they would have to go through this process.

RESOLVED –

THAT the following bids be agreed:

Report of the Landlord Services Manager (South)

The DMC is asked to note the report and make any relevant comments.

This report provides an update of recent news within the Kentish Town DMC Ward boundary since the last meeting.  As previously requested, TRAs are asked to submit items for inclusion in the report that they wish to share

Consideration was given to a report of the Landlord Services Manager (South).

In response to the issue mentioned in the action points list, Danny Waites said that they were preparing to commence works at 268 Kentish Town Road and were investigating fitting window restrictors.

The Chair asked when council officers would be back in the office. Angela Spooner said that officers who had been working from home would be returning to the office for part of the week over the course of September. Staff had shown that they could work flexibly during the pandemic, and so the Council would be not be requiring all staff to be in the office five days a week if they had a role for which some work could be done at home.

Abu Naser raised a query about his TRA’s constitution not permitting leaseholders to be on the committee. He felt this excluded key stakeholders. He also suggested that a panel be set up to discuss Tenant Participation matters, akin to the Safer Neighbourhoods Panel.

Hugh Boatswain, Senior Tenant Participation Officer, said that it was a matter for each TRA how it wished to structure itself. He said that establishing a panel to discuss tenant participation was something that could be of interest to some people, and so would be discussed at the next DMC chair’s meeting.

                                                                        ACTION: Tenant Participation

June Dodds raised concern about rats and mice on the Peckwater Estate. This had been raised with council officers but the matter still had not been resolved.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report and the comments above be noted.

There was no other business.

The dates of future Kentish Town DMC meetings will be:

·       Tuesday, 30^th November 2021

·       Wednesday, 12^th January 2022 (Joint Meeting)

·       Tuesday, 8^th March 2022

It was noted that the dates of future Kentish Town DMC meetings would be on:

·         Tuesday, 30^th November 2021

·         Wednesday, 12^th January 2022 (Joint Meeting)

·         Tuesday, 8^th March 2022