Council and democracy

Councillor Gledhill, Portfolio Holder for Housing, presented his Portfolio Holder report and updated Members on the following items:

•           That the Rents Team had worked effectively with 650 tenants to help them sustain their tenancies through budgeting support and brokering repayment agreements to reduce arrears.

•           That the number of tenants evicted for rent arrears this year now stood at 60.

•           A reported customer satisfaction with Mears Limited showed a year-on-year improvement of 15%, from 78% in March 2016 to 93% in January 2017.

Councillor Gledhill referred Members to those performance measures which had not met expectations but explained some were out of the Council’s control.

Councillor Gledhill praised the Housing Team for the hard work undertaken.

Councillor Spillman asked the Council to agree to build more homes by borrowing from the Housing Revenue Account. Councillor Gledhill stated that preliminary questions had already been asked on the need to “borrow to build”, with the need to build new homes urgently in the borough.

Councillor Gerrish thanked Councillor Gledhill for the report and asked what improvements would be made on anti-social behaviour. Councillor Gledhill stated that the Thurrock Safety Partnership was in place and working with the police was a priority. That a better way of notifying the Council of incidents would be reviewed alongside how the Police and the Council react to such incidents.

Councillor Collins asked what work had been undertaken on other properties other than the tower blocks following the fire at Grenfell Tower. Councillor Gledhill stated that safety work had been carried out on medium and high rise blocks and contact would be made with all managing agents reiterating their obligations to keep hall ways and emergency exits clear. Councillor Gledhill stated that residents had the right to live safely.

Councillor Pothecary stated that homelessness had rocketed and asked what the plans were going forward. Councillor Gledhill stated that there had been little investment as there had been no social housing in the last 10 years. There was also a need to attract more landlords into Thurrock and to look at alternative methods of building new homes.

Councillor Piccolo asked about those residents living in Council properties with more bedrooms that they needed. Councillor Gledhill stated that a match-up exercise would commence following the completion of the Housing Stock Review.

Councillor Redsell asked whether a review to make garages look better in the borough was near conclusion. Councillor Gledhill stated that a programme would be run but not at great cost to the Council.

Councillor Maney asked with 8000 people on the housing waiting list what would be the cost to build enough houses to home them all. Councillor Gledhill worked out that it would take £2.2 billion and would take approximately 20 years.

Councillor Watkins asked whether there were plans to regenerate Council estates. Councillor Gledhill stated there was money to regenerate, with areas highlighted but that plans would be put on hold until there was sufficient money to move forward.

Councillor Kelly asked whether Council developments were good value for money. Councillor Gledhill stated that they represented good value for money for those residents living in them but the Council needed to build future properties more cost effectively.