Agenda and minutes

Clive Hart proposed, Councillor Gibbens seconded and members agreed that Councillor Lin Fairbrass be the chairman for the meeting and that the substantive chairman will be elected at the next scheduled meeting of the Board.

Councillor Fairbrass in the Chair.

Apologies were received from the following:

Dr Martin;

Hazel Carpenter;

Sharon McLaughlin, substituted by Janine Collins;

Mark Lobban, has left KCC. The clerk was asked to check with KCC about the replacement.

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2017.

The minutes were agreed as a correct record of the meeting that was held on 25 May 2017.

Presentation by Bob Porter, Head of Housing, TDC.

Bob Porter, Head of Housing at Thanet District Council gave a presentation on housing situation in the district. This was on the invitation of the Board. In his presentation Mr Porter made the following points:

• Transport infrastructure, tourism offer, cultural offer make private housing developers want to come to invest in Thanet;
• There has been a significant increase in house prices in the area and fastest increase in house values outside London;
• There are growing wage levels;
• The Council was consulting on the draft Local Plan;
• Policy position was to develop 17,000 houses with 30% of those being for social housing (taking into account viability factors);
• Inner circuit road network being planned to support new housing development;
• Council would need to deliver 1,000 per year, but currently 300 being developed annually;
• Affordability: There are more people on low income, making it unaffordable to buy a house;
• Average local income for households needs to increase at twice the county rate;

• Homelessness: There were 880 homelessness applications received by the council in 2016. One of the reasons for this is the termination of short leases by landlords who then re-let at a higher rate;
• There were more families in temporary accommodation than before;
• The number of rough sleepers has doubled in the last 12-24 months;
• Housing conditions: 11% of homes have a category 1 hazard. This means that such properties have a significant risk that impacts on an individual’s life;
• It is estimated that £18.8 million would be required for repairs to these properties to remove the risk;
• Housing conditions have an impact on health and wellbeing of those affected (for example excess cold would lead to health problems especially for the elderly and children);
• Life expectancy in Cliftonville is 8 years below the England average;
• Delays in hospital discharges nationally increased by 33%;

• Adaptations: Council assists with adapting people’s homes in order to promote independence through a £2.5m disabled facilities grants programme;;
• Council is working towards fulfilling its housing priorities as set out in the PowerPoint presentation which is attached the minutes. These include the following;

vImproving access to supply of housing;

vWellbeing maintained safer homes across all tenures;

vIncrease services to prevent homelessness and increase housing options;

vImprove health and wellbeing of residents and communities;

• Empty homes were being brought back to use;
• Council conducted property inspections to enforce standards;
• Selective licensing was also used to enforce standards;
• Fire safety measures were reviewed;
• Council prevented homelessness in about 300 cases per year;

In response to the presentation Board members made the following comments:

• Ailsa Ogilvie said that Thanet CCG would like to some joint working with TDC Housing on housing and hospital discharges;
• Madeline Homer said that the government could work with councils on improving housing for individuals in cases that relate to hospital discharges;
• Clive Hart said that frailty was an important factor that should be considered when assessing individuals who can access supported housing as relying on age restrictions (e.g. for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Ailsa Ogilvie suggested and members agreed that the next update on the East Kent Delivery Board activities will focus mainly on Thanet.

Janine Collins gave a brief report on the funded projects that sit within the LCPG Subgroups, This included the following:

• Challenger Troop are running 2 programmes one for 8-12 yrs to build resilience and support Transition which will run in the October half term, the other a NEET programme for 16-19yrs.
• GAP Project are running activities for 11-16’s in Broadstairs.
• Oasis project ‘Just so you know’ will be delivered in 5 schools, to Yr9 groups.
• Fegans are delivering a programme ‘Parents Supporting Parents (PSP)’. They were also offering 1-1 support to vulnerable children.
• I Talk programme promoting resilience and wellbeing for 12-15 year olds will start in the next few weeks and will involve 15 youths.
• IMAGO SAFE Project is working within 5 schools.

Janine will provide the update to be circulated to all Board members after the meeting. The update document has also been attached to the minutes.