Agenda item
Oxford Standard report
Contact Officer: Pat Jones; Tel 01865 252191, phjones@oxford.gov.uk
Background Information |
The Oxford Standard is a joint report of the Housing Scrutiny Panel and Tenant’s Scrutiny Panel.
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Why is it on the agenda? |
The Scrutiny Committee is asked to agree the report recommendations before they are considered by the City Executive Board.
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Who has been invited to comment? |
Panel Members and Pat Jones may wish to comment on the report.
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Minutes:
The Committee and Member Services Manager presented the Joint Panel’s report on the Oxford Standard. Currently the standard of maintenance of council housing is set to achieve the government’s Decent Homes Standard, however tenants and councillors wished for a more ambitious standard to be set in Oxford. The Joint Panel has made several recommendations that will embed the Oxford Standard into the developing Asset Management Plan.
The review was conducted by the Housing Panel alongside a panel of Council Tenants. The Scrutiny Committee is asked to comment on the report which will be presented to the City Executive Board in December 2014, alongside the Asset Management Strategy.
Cllr Simmons arrived and took the chair.
Cllr Scott Seamons, Board Member for Housing and Estate Regeneration spoke on the Joint Panel’s recommendations. He agreed in principle with all of the recommendations, but said that there was some budget implication that needed to be considered.
The Committee went through the panel’s recommendations and made the following comments
Recommendations 1 and 2: Agreed
Recommendation 3: Board Member will review the financial implication but noted that heating and energy efficiency were important –and will set a minimum standard.
In terms of the environment – more work is needed to consult with tenants and determine what they want i.e. cycle provisions etc. Cllr Seamons assured the Committee that a process is in place to progress this work.
Recommendation 4: The Council has lots of information regarding the condition of the housing stock and will review the priorities based on this information.
Recommendation 5: Agreed
Recommendation 6: Agreed that better communication with tenants was needed to explain proposed maintenance programme. It was important to manage the process and define the procedures clearly to tenants.
Recommendation 7: Agreed in principle
Recommendation 8: Need to make the maintenance programme easy and efficient to manage. Encourage tenants to do basic maintenance. Consider the whole life costs of the properties
The Housing Panel have requested 6 monthly progress reports on the action plan.
The Housing and Finance Standing Panels will be reviewing the HRA business plan in a joint meeting later this year as part of the Budget Scrutiny review.
Supporting documents:
- Panel report, item 26. PDF 103 KB View as DOC (26./1) 186 KB
- Copy of Oxford Standard Sessions Stats P1, item 26. PDF 10 KB
- Copy of Oxford Standard Sessions Stats P2, item 26. PDF 19 KB
- Copy of Oxford Standard Sessions Stats P3, item 26. PDF 18 KB
- Copy of Oxford Standard Sessions Stats P4, item 26. PDF 12 KB
- Copy of Oxford Standard Sessions Stats P5, item 26. PDF 24 KB
- Copy of Oxford Standard Sessions Stats P6, item 26. PDF 27 KB
- Copy of Oxford Standard Sessions Stats P7, item 26. PDF 17 KB
- Copy of Oxford Standard Sessions Stats P8, item 26. PDF 14 KB
- Oxford Standard Door Knocking Stats initial door knocking, item 26. PDF 266 KB
- STAR Survey Final Report page 79, item 26. PDF 310 KB