Agenda and minutes

To agree that the DMC meeting be held as a remote meeting.

RESOLVED –

THAT the Chair be authorised to hold the DMC meeting as a remote meeting.

RESOLVED –

THAT the ‘A’ and ‘B’ lists be noted.

Apologies for absence were received from Malcolm Bush (Abbey Road Housing Co-Op), Sara Bell (Alexandra & Ainsworth TRA), Elena Besussi (Alexandra & Ainsworth TRA), Giosina Scalzo (Templar House TRA) and Councillor Lorna Greenwood.

Apologies for lateness were received from Jeremy Woolcock (50 Fitzjohns TRA).

Minute’s Silence

A minute’s silence was held in memory of Queen Elizabeth II.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no notifications of urgent business.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Hampstead DMC held on 23^rd June 2022.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd June 2022.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd June 2022 be agreed.

Report of the Executive Director Communities

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

Consideration was given to the action points update.

RESOLVED –

THAT the update be noted.

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

This report brings together an update on Housing and Property service areas of performance since the June DMC round. In addition to the performance updates that now includes complaints, there is also information on the Council’s Small Site Programme, information about Parking Enforcement and an update on the proposed Housing Residents Performance Panel that DMCs are invited to comment on.

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

Deana Taziny, Landlord Services Manager, introduced the report. She highlighted the following points:

·         The Council was aware of the cost of living crisis facing many residents, but needed to cover the various costs incurred by the HRA from residents’ rent and service charges.

·         After the report had been produced, the government had launched a consultation with social housing providers to gather feedback on whether a cap on rent increases should be set at 3%, 5% or 7%. The old formula of CPI + 1% would have led to high rent increases given the current level of consumer price inflation.

·         She highlighted that the Council had some schemes available to assist residents in financial difficulty – and urged residents to make contact if they were in difficulties.

·         The Council had reduced the number of void properties and there was a target to reduce the active void turnaround period to less than 3 months.

·         The Housing Repairs contact centre was improving its customer engagement through webcast and SMS services. They were planning to introduce WhatsApp and video call reporting over the next few months.

·         Offering alternative means of contact had meant that call volumes had reduced.

·         The Repairs Service noted that there were challenges facing service delivery – in light of shortages in the availability of skilled tradespeople and the impact of inflation on materials.

·         She said that Landlord Services were setting up new teams to focus on rent arrears and managing voids; and another team would be aiming to visit every tenant on their patch over the course of the next year.

·         Caretaking performance had been higher in Hampstead than in other districts, with 40% of estates graded ‘A’.

·         With regard to tree maintenance, the service was facing challenges due to the shortage of suitably qualified staff.

Members were asked for their questions and comments.

The 50 Fitzjohns TRA representative, Jeremy Woolcock, said that his estate had not had capital works for 40 years and asked how estates could be put on the list for the capital programme. He highlighted problems with windows and doors on the estate.

                                                ACTION: Susanne Afra (Head of Capital Works)

The Burnham representative, Hasan Shah, said that heating charges had increased in Burnham and felt that this was a mistake. He asked that officers meet with residents to investigate this issue. He also highlighted concerns residents had raised with him about lack of progress in rehousing overcrowding households on the estate and about a CCTV camera being ripped out of the lift.

Residents said they would like to see more consultation from the Council about the proposed rent increases.

The representative from Hilgrove Estate, Andreas Yennadiou, raised concerns about the quality of caretaking. There was also a query about the time at which lights went on and off. Susan O’Hara, the Principal Caretaking Manager, said she would investigate this.

ACTION: Susan O’Hara (Principal Caretaking Manager)

A Vice-Chair,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report of the Head of Tenancy Services.

REPORT TO FOLLOW

Consideration was given to a report of the Head of Landlord Services in the supplementary agenda.

Nilva Thompson, Neighbourhood Manager, introduced the report.

Lymington Road TRA were requesting funds for the resurfacing of their basketball court/multi-use games area. A quote from Camden’s Parks and Green Spaces team of £27,033 had been recently received. This bid was agreed by the DMC.

The bid from Taplow for plants, shrubs and compost was agreed.

Anne Ward spoke to the Belsize bid. It was for planters for vegetables. They had conducted a survey of residents and 45% of them had returned the questionnaire. Of those who returned the questionnaire, the vast majority had been in support of the bid. Members of the DMC agreed the Belsize bid.

Louis Holliday, Senior Policy and Project Officer, spoke to the Hillgrove Estate bid. The bid was to redesign estate signage and was led by a group of young people from 14 to 17 who wanted the signage to be modernised and more welcoming. The bid was agreed by the DMC.

RESOLVED –

THAT the following bids be agreed:

To note the report of the Cabinet Member for Better Homes.

Consideration was given to the report of the Cabinet Member for Better Homes.

Councillor Apak introduced his report and said that he would like to hear from residents as to what they would like his reports to focus on.

Hasan Shah asked for more information about tenant engagement activity and said he disagreed that the cladding and other works were going ahead as planned.

Councillor Apak and officers said that, at the Chalcots, there were newsletters sent to residents and there were meetings that were held that were open to all residents. TRA chairs were invited to meetings once per month.

With regard to Taplow and Bray, works were underway. However, Burnham and Dorney might be later than scheduled. Having too many works going on in the estate at one time would be problematic.

Concerns were raised about lights being on outside buildings during the daytime. Councillor Apak said that the Council would be trying to install dusk-to-dawn switches on its external lightbulbs and repair those which were not working as intended. LED bulbs would also be being rolled out as they were more efficient.  

Anne Ward queried the proportion of residents who responded to Council surveys. Councillor Apak said that he did not have figures to hand, but that he would prefer if there was meaningful engagement with residents rather than paper-based questionnaires which went to a large number of people but tended to have a low proportion responding.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report and the comments above be noted.

To note an update from the Holborn DMC chair.

Consideration was given to Peter Wright’s paper.

Mr Wright spoke to his report. He said the survey had been launched and there had been about 300 responses in so far. Respondents had made comments which would be useful in looking at the complaints process.  

He said there had been some comments from residents who said they did not know that Camden had a complaints policy, but that if they knew it had one then they would have used it.

A number of residents said that they had not received the survey. Mr Wright said that the email database used was the one the Council used to communicate with tenants and leaseholders, and so if people had not received the survey they would need to ensure the Council had their correct email contact details.

If people had any questions about the paper or the work the DMC chairs were doing on this project, Mr Wright said they could email camden.dmc.chairs@gmail.com.

RESOLVED –

THAT the paper and the comments above be noted.

To consider any local issues raised by DMC representatives.

DMC members had the opportunity to raise local issues that were of concern to them.

The Bray representative, Nigel Rumble, raised concerns that the show flats did not seem to be fully completed. People had also not been able to take a companion with them when they visited. He said that people were being asked to make a lot of choices after their visit.

He asked:

·         Whether a detailed programme of works was available

·         Whether the contract had been signed

·         Whether the design had been finalised

·         If planning permission had been sought

ACTION: Astrid Kjellberg-Obst (Project Director, Chalcots)

There was concern that the letter relating to the Non-Material Amendment to leaseholders was not clear and that correspondence had not gone out to tenants.

Councillor Apak acknowledged that the show flats were not fully ready and that viewings had been paused because of this. In terms of accompaniment, people could only be accompanied by a family member.

Hasan Shah said that he felt the show flats were unsafe. He also wanted residents to be able to have a break from noise and disruption in the evening and so said outside work should not go on beyond 4pm now that it was starting to get dark earlier.

Councillor Apak said that the information that went out to leaseholders was detailing a non-material change in the works being done. As it was a non-material change, there was no need to write out to all residents about it.

Astrid Kjellberg-Obst, Project Director, said that the time for finishing work each day was being reverted to the earlier time of 4pm.  

To note the minutes of the following group meetings:-

i)             Leaseholders’ Forum (available at: http://tinyurl.com/camdenlf)

ii)            Camden Association of Street Properties (available at http://www.camdencasp.org.uk/casp-meeting-minutes/)

iii)           Fire Safety Advisory Panel (available at https://tinyurl.com/camdenfsap)

Hard copies available on request.

The links were noted.

There was no urgent business.

The dates of future meetings are:

·         Thursday, 8^th December 2022

·         Wednesday, 11^th January 2023 (Joint Meeting)

·         Thursday, 9^th March 2023

The dates of future meetings would be:

·         Thursday, 8^th December 2022

·         Wednesday, 11^th January 2023 (Joint Meeting)

·         Thursday, 9^th March 2023