Agenda item

Neil Aves, Assistant Director, Housing, outlined a report to update Members of the progress to date in developing the new Housing Service by combining the former People 1^st Housing Management teams with their former SBC strategic housing counterparts. The report also outlined the next stages and draft timescales anticipated to the completion of the project.

The Committee was advised that since September the scale of transformation within the newly combined Housing Service had increased considerably and initial plans concentrating  on restructuring the housing management element of housing services had been subsequently overtaken by the broader council wide initiative; Planning for the Future. 

The Officer advised that on October 11^th, 2010 a formal consultation document was released to all affected staff and their trade union representatives.  Briefing sessions were arranged and questions raised and answers were placed on the Council’s intranet.  The consultation period would close on the 6th December and the process of internal and external advertisement of vacant posts would commence.  It had been agreed that an externally facilitated assessment centre would be used to test all applicants.  The Officer discussed future required competencies and training for appropriate housing qualifications.

The Committee noted the  project objectives of the new Housing Service which included the improvement of the overall value for money of providing a housing service for Slough residents and increasing  satisfaction levels for tenants, leaseholders and other residents. 

The Officer advised that Tenants were updated of progress through the pages of the monthly Housing newsletter and a tenant volunteer would be nominated to attend the wider project board and to act as a focal point for all future tenant engagement.

In the ensuing debate, Members raised a number of questions/comments including the following(responses in italics):

• Why did the Britwell and Haymill Regeneration Project have an overall red status?

Officers had tried hard to progress matters over the last 8 months but the scale of the project meant that it was dependent on government funding. No new expenditure had been committed in the CSR but a dialogue had been maintained with the Homes and Communities Agency. The project remained a priority and a meeting regarding funding would take place two weeks later.  The scheme would possibly be re-phased to alleviate cash flow problems. The Committee would be updated when a response had been received from the Agency.

• Was funding for the housing and shops safe?

The retail development would be funded by Developers but the housing depended on funding from the government.

• Would the funding expected through the decent homes programme still be available?

This question would be responded to in detail at the next meeting in January 2011.

Resolved  -   That the progress to date on the Housing Futures project and the  proposed workstreams to be undertaken in the coming months to achieve the target go-live date of April 2011 be noted.