Agenda and minutes

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

RESOLVED –

THAT the ‘A’ and ‘B’ lists be noted.

Apologies were received from Jeremy Woolcock (50 Fitzjohn’s TRA), Sara Bell (Alexandra & Ainsworth TRA), Janice Smart (Lymington TRA) and Nevenka Martin (Taplow TRA).

There were no announcements.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no notifications of urgent business.

To approve and sign the minutes of the Hampstead DMC meetings held on 6^th December 2023 and 10^th January 2024 and to consider action points and any other matters arising.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meetings held on 6^th December 2023 and 10^th January 2024.

RESOLVED –

(i)              THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 6^th December 2023 be approved and signed as a correct record;

(ii)             THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 10^th January 2024 be approved and signed as a correct record.  

The DMC is asked to note the consolidated action points from the last round of meetings.

The consolidated action points were noted.

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

This report offers an update on the Housing Transformation Programme highlighting key areas and the progress in both housing and repair services.

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

Neighbourhood Manager Celestine Fairhall introduced the report and some of the key points she highlighted were:

·       Intensive resident engagement was taking place, which involved door knocking and estate action days to hear from residents. Two of the key concerns they had raised were anti-social behaviour (ASB) and repairs.

·       A tenant conference would be taking place to encourage tenants to become more involved in their communities and to share information with them about the housing transformation work that was taking place.

·       There had been about 300,000 interactions with residents by the Repairs Contact Centre over the past year.  Most of these were by WhatsApp.

·       A pilot neighbourhoods team had been established which was working at Holmes Road.

·       Damp and mould complaints had reduced in number. Saturday working had been introduced to help tackle outstanding cases.

·       An ASB taskforce had been established to deal with complex cases.

Members queried if housing officer roles were now fully staffed, as there had been frustration among tenants when they had tried to contact housing officers and the post was vacant or people were absent or assigned elsewhere. They also said they would like clarity about the role of neighbourhood housing officers and an updated structure chart.

The Chair queried the mention of a voids workshop for DMC chairs in the report, as she had not been made aware of one.

The representative from Webheath said that heating meters had been installed but were not in operation on her estate. The Head of Capital Works said she would investigate why this was the case.

ACTION: Head of Capital Works (Susanne Afra)

RESOLVED –

THAT the report and the comments above be noted.

Report of Community Safety Manager.

The report outlines the actions taken or currently underway on how the Council is collaborating with other stakeholders in response to the recent youth murders to ensure community safety and reduce fear of crime.

Consideration was given to a report of the Community Safety Manager.

Community Safety Team Leader Sonia Mason introduced the report and spoke to measures being taken to address community safety concerns following the two recent murders of young people.

She also made reference to the ASB team mentioned at Item 8 above, which was focussing on complex cases and certain “hotspots”. Community safety staff were working with housing officers, the Responsive Security Patrol and Safer Neighbourhood Teams. They also recognised a mental health component to some ASB.

Concern was raised about the difficulty of reporting ASB out of hours.  Callers had to listen to a long menu at the switchboard and then they often got through to someone who could not help them. Officers said that out-of-hours calls should be directed to the Responsive Security Patrol, as the office staff were not available then. They advised people to use the online form to log incidents.

The CASP representative raised concerns about the difficulties Deaf people had in reporting crime and ASB. Officers said they would let him know if there were any specific ways Deaf residents could report this. 

                                                  ACTION: Community Safety Team Leader

The representative from Abbey Green TRA said that there needed to be guidance on use of Ring cameras by residents.

Attendees raised concern about ASB in playgrounds, such as where teenagers were gathering and drugs were being consumed. The suggestion was made that walkabouts should be held so that officers could see the hotspots of ASB on estates pointed out to them by residents.

Officers present said that if this request was passed onto them with details they could assign the request to the relevant officers. 

The representatives of Sydney Boyd Court highlighted that their gate regularly broke and this then enabled unauthorised people to enter and commit ASB. They said there were faults with how the gate operated, and it was not breaking down solely due to vandalism. They also asked for CCTV to be installed to improve residents’ feeling of safety on the estate.

A query was raised about what Responsive Security Patrol officers were supposed to do. The meeting was informed that the patrols should “disrupt” ASB that was taking place and use their body-worn cameras to collect evidence.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report and the comments above be noted.

Report of the Head of Security.

The report provides an update on then upgrade roll out programme of new CCTV on estate/areas in phase 1 of the programme, along with a schedule of estate for the phase 2 of the programme.  The report also offers performance update on the responsive security patrol service.

This information report was noted.

Report of Head of Neighbourhoods.

The DMC is asked to note the report and ratify decisions made at the special meeting which considered bids.

This report also outlines the spend relating to the revenue budget for 2023/24 

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

The Neighbourhood Manager Nilva Thompson introduced the report and explained that there had been a special DMC meeting in February which had considered bids. This meeting would be to ratify them and to agree any new bids.

Officers talked through the Neighbourhood Manager led bid for the Sidings. It was a bid for £20,000 towards transforming a disused space into a vegetable and herb garden. Members agreed this bid.

There was a discussion about the seven bids in the table in the report. The Chair expressed thanks to both the ward managers for their support in progressing bids so that they could be submitted in time for the special meeting.

Members agreed to ratify the bids.

RESOLVED –

THAT the following bids be agreed:

(i)              The Neighbourhood Manager led bid for a vegetable and herb garden in the Sidings - £20,000

(ii)             The bids in the table below:

Report of the Strategic Lead, Supporting Communities.

This briefing provides an update on the work by officers and residents representatives nominated by DMCs that are together planning delivery of the Resident Conference Event scheduled for summer 2024.

Consideration was given to a report of the Strategic Lead, Supporting Communities.

The Chair clarified that this report was intended to be an information report, as it had only arrived a day prior to dispatch. She welcomed the proposal for a Tenant Conference as it would be the first one the Council had organised for more than 8 or 9 years.

The Chair had received comments from reps regarding the report and said she agreed with comments received which were not in support of the proposal for £4000 to be contributed to the cost from each DMC. When TRAs submitted bids they had to adhere to processes and protocols and provide a breakdown of costs. This had not been done in this case, and DMCs would need a breakdown of costs before they could consider whether to contribute. Members agreed with this and said that, irrespective of whether a breakdown was available, the full cost or at least the bulk of the costs for an event like this should be met by the Council.  

Officers clarified that they were not asking DMCs to contribute, but that it had been a suggestion from a resident rep from another DMC.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report and the comments above be noted.

Nomination papers for the DMC elections at the July 2024 meeting.

The information and paperwork regarding the DMC elections was noted.

To consider any local issues raised by DMC representatives.

Vice-Chair Annie Ward raised concerns that the Council’s move away from the use of scratch cards for visitor parking would cause difficulties for elderly residents and others with limited IT skills or access. She also pointed out that the electronic system for parking permits required the user to enter the registration number of the vehicle parking, and so it was not possible to do this until after they arrived in the case of repairs staff and others whose vehicles were not personally known to the resident.

Councillor Apak said that there would be assistance available to those who could not use electronic means to purchase visitor parking permits.

Concerns were raised about the damp and mould in the main entrance of the Mary Green block as well as ant infestation. Vice-Chair Arun Kumar added that the Gerda lock also kept breaking. 

The Chair emphasised that there needed to be greater clarity about what were the actual roles of housing officers. She had frequently received complaints from some residents and reps that some housing officers had said they did not do tasks which were, in fact, under their remit. She said reps were being asked to do too much, while some officers were not doing enough. She urged housing officers to liaise with TRAs on their patch as they were their “eyes and ears on the ground”. She also emphasised how difficult and frustrating going through Council systems could be for some vulnerable tenants, and said she had to help a 97-year old navigate through Council processes recently. She emphasised that this kind of support should be being provided by housing officers as part of their job.

The representative from Webheath said there had been an improvement in the housing service on her estate, but that communication could be improved as the housing officer did not tell her when something had already been done.

The representative from Sydney Boyd reiterated their concerns about the open gate allowing entrance into their estate and that there were systematic problems with the gate and its failures were not solely due to vandalism. Concern was also raised about the faulty lift in one block, where the doors could open when the lift was not there. 

Sydney Boyd reps were advised to request a walkabout to bring the gate and the lift to officers’ attention. The Chair was requested to attend.

The Sidings representative raised concerns about infrequent recycling collections as the recycling vehicle was too large to manoeuvre into position to collect the recycling. This had been a long-standing problem which had been occurring for months, and residents asked that it be solved promptly.

Officers said they would liaise with Veolia to improve recycling collection on that estate.

ACTION: Susan O’Hara (Principal Caretaking Manager)

The Chair thanked members for their contributions and asked officers to rectify the problems identified within the next 3 months so that residents would not have to raise them again at the next meeting.

There was no other business.

The dates of future meetings are:

·       Thursday, 4^th July 2024

·       Thursday, 12^th September 2024

·       Thursdau, 5^th December 2024

·       Wednesday, 8^th January 2025 (joint DMC)

·       Thursday, 13^th March 2025

The dates of future meetings would be:

·       Thursday, 4^th July 2024

·       Thursday, 12^th September 2024

·       Thursday, 5^th December 2024

·       Wednesday, 8^th January 2025 (joint DMC)

·       Thursday, 13^th March 2025