Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED –

THAT the ‘A’ and ‘B’ lists be noted.

Apologies for absence were received from Arun Kumar (Abbey Green TRA), Fiona Cubbins (Alexandra & Ainsworth), Ubah Egal (Alexandra & Ainsworth), Nigel Rumble (Bray TRA), Caroline McHugh (Studholme Court), Ade Osinuga (Sidney Boyd TRA), Nevenka Martin (Taplow TRA), Councillor Meric Apak and Councillor Gio Spinella. Apologies for lateness were recived from Mary Ryan (Sidney Boyd TRA).

There were no announcements.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no notifications of any urgent business.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Hampstead DMC held on 22^nd June 2023.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 22^nd June 2023 be approved as a correct record.

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

The progress report was noted.

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

At this DMC round, members have asked that the report includes performance information to understand and seek to improve contractor performance and address tenants and residents’ concerns. Areas for focus are rent arrears, repairs, major works and fire safety, CCTV upgrades, caretaking, grounds maintenance and complaints.

DMCs are asked to comment on the reports, and highlight any area for further discussion.

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

The Neighbourhood Manager, Nilva Thompson, introduced the report and highlighted the new Neighbourhoods Service that brought together sections that formerly were distinct and had different titles.

The Head of Finance (Supporting Communities), Michael Webb, spoke to the HRA budget monitoring section. Members were informed that there had been an overspent of about £12 million in the HRA for 2022-23. This was mainly due to rising energy costs and the cost of repairs. The 2023-24 forecast was for an overspend of £6.8 million. A large portion of this was increased interest costs following the recent Bank of England base rate rises.

Members voiced concern about the reduction in the rent collection percentage from 97.4% to 94.7% and the ensuing growth in rent arrears.

Members queried the cost of disrepair cases. The Repairs Manager said that there had been an increase in the number of disrepair cases from the pre-pandemic level, some of which flowed from solicitors advertising to tenants their ability to take out disrepair cases against the Council.  He said that the average cost of a disrepair case was £5000 and they were trying to reduce this cost by establishing a new team to focus on these cases and to encourage mediation.

Camden had just over 700 disrepairs cases, compared to 400 to 500 pre-pandemic. This was fewer than some other local authorities had, as Lambeth had 2000 cases outstanding!

Residents were dissatisfied with poor performance by contractors. They felt they had no recourse when contractors did poor-quality work or left jobs half-finished.

A representative from Alexandra and Ainsworth expressed concern about the wood used for railings being too narrow and not being replaced on a like-for-like basis. There was unfinished work on the children’s playground.

A resident from Brassey Road TRA said that damaged metal netting had not been actioned. A question was asked as to whether reporting this was part of the job of caretakers. Officers said that caretakers should report damage that needed to be repaired on their estate when they noticed it.

A resident from Bray TRA expressed the view that the internal works being undertaken were not being done to a high-quality. He also said that some of the work being done on the Chalcots was not fire-related, and that there needed to be clarity about what was being done for fire safety purposes and what was being done for other reasons.

A representative from Hilgrove Estate highlighted that there had been significant delays in repairing a lift on his estate. He had been led to believe that a reason for the delay was that they were waiting for a spare part from Italy. He said it would be better if parts could be sourced locally and this would avoid excessive delays in getting lift repairs done.

A resident from Westcroft Close TRA highlighted outstanding repairs on his estate. There was a garden fence which had not been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Head of Tenancy Services.

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 a report of the Head of Neighbourhoods.

One bid had been received, which was from Taplow TRA. The Chair, Toyin Majiyagbe, spoke to the bid. The bid was agreed by the meeting.

The Neighbourhood Manager reminded reps to contact her if they wanted guidance on DMC bids. It was important that DMC bids were submitted early so that they could be considered at the next DMC meeting.

RESOLVED –

THAT the following bid be agreed:

To consider any local issues raised by DMC representatives.

The Chair informed the meeting that no written notification of local issues for discussion had been received.

Members raised a number of local concerns verbally in the meeting.

A representative from Mortimer Crescent highlighted the issue of unauthorised cars parking on the estate. As traffic wardens were not able to issue tickets for parking on the estate, people continued to do so. The parked vehicles were causing an obstruction for refuse lorries and ambulances. Councillor Hanson said that the Council was investigating imposing a traffic management order in the area.

A representative from Brassey Road said that residents were affected by anti-social behaviour and drug dealers operating in the area. There were also gas canister users in the area who littered the area with their used canisters. Residents had reported the matter to the Police but there did not appear to have been any action.

Officers acknowledged that anti-social behaviour had been a major concern of residents when the Council had done its “door knocking” exercise to speak to tenants. 

A representative from Alexandra and Ainsworth raised concerns about traffic congestion in the area, which was particularly bad during the pick-up and drop-off times for the nearby special school.

A question was asked about the reference to CCTV cameras being installed in Rowley Way in the March minutes. Councillor Hanson replied that the Council did not disclose the exact position where CCTV was installed, but that he was under the impression that Rowley Way cameras were being upgraded and that new cameras were being installed on Ainsworth Way.

The Chair spoke about her recent surgery for residents. She said that it was important that reps consulted with their TRAs before they raised issues at the surgery and ensure that they had the correct information. Some incorrect information had been provided by one individual about the floating support service. This was an adult social care service, not a housing one.

She also stated that there was an incorrect view being voiced that the Council would not be working with TRAs. Officers assured the DMC that TRAs were a foundation of the Council’s tenant involvement approach. They wanted to give residents a choice of different ways to be involved so as to widen tenant participation.

The Chair said that her next surgery would be on 2^nd October and the Head of Innovation and Improvement (Ododo Dafe) would be present.

A query was made by a councillor about a recent fire which had led to criticism of the Council by the regulator. The Head of Neighbourhoods clarified that there had been a fire which had led to a negative letter being sent to the Council from the Regulator of Social Housing. There were about 9000 Council properties that did not have smoke or carbon monoxide alarms and this was a matter that was of concern to them.

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 minutes were noted.

There were no other items of business which the Chair considered urgent.