Contact Officer: Pat Jones; Tel 01865 252191, phjones@oxford.gov.uk

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.