Issue - meetings

Increase provision of HRO’s

Meeting: 16/12/2021 - Cabinet (Item 777)

777 Increase provision of Housing Response Officers at the tower blocks pdf icon PDF 91 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members were advised that the condition of the Council’s estates caused much dissatisfaction for residents. Complaints that have been forwarded to the Council included the presence of litter, fly tipping and weeds as well as the cleanliness of communal areas. The residents have also told the Council that they wanted to see a greater presence of Council officers on their estates.

 

Housing Response Officers (HROs) work on Council estates by providing essential services such as turning paladin bins in bin stores, unblocking bin chutes, removing rubbish and fly tipping, cleaning and litter picking. The council does not currently have enough HROs to provide a service that makes visible improvements to the condition of our estates; and therefore the report recommended an increase in the budget to support Housing Response Officers and provide two additional officers dedicated to the tower blocks.

 

In order to fund the additional resources, Cabinet considered recommendations for a new service charge for the residents of the tower blocks to pay for the enhanced services these officers would provide. The residents of the tower blocks had been consulted on this change and the results showed a good level of support for the proposals, as set out in the cabinet report.

 

The new dedicated officers will also bring additional benefits to the tower blocks, such as adding extra security to these estates, where the nature of high rise living does often mean more incidents of Antisocial behaviour due to the number of people living in a smaller space. The Housing Response officers will become a familiar face to our tenants and leaseholders at the tower blocks, making residents feel safer and being someone to report issues to as well as making a noticeable difference to the condition of the estates.

 

The following Members spoke under Council Procedure 20.1:

 

Councillor Austin;

Councillor Albon;

Councillor Whitehead.

 

Councillor Jill Bayford proposed, Councillor Bob Bayford seconded and Cabinet agreed the following:

 

1.  To approve the introduction of an additional service charge to the tenants and leaseholders of the 6 tower blocks in the district, to enable the provision of 2 x HROs dedicated solely to the tower block estates;

 

2.  To recommend to Full Council that the necessary budget is approved for this service funded from the new service charge.


Meeting: 23/11/2021 - Overview & Scrutiny Panel (Item 345)

345 Increase provision of Housing Response Officers at the tower blocks pdf icon PDF 75 KB

Report to follow.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Sally O’Sullivan introduced the report and advised Members that the proposals before the Panel were meant to improve performance in cleaning services by proving dedicated resources to tower blocks. There was a need for frequent cleaning of these premises. The presence of Housing Response Officers (HROs) would also make residents feel safer. The council would have direct control over the quality of the service. From a tenants' survey that was conducted by the Housing team, the majority of the residents agreed to the additional costs going to the recruitment of HROs.

 

The Panel reviewed proposals for “increasing provision of Housing Response Officers (HROs) at the tower blocks". The proposals are aimed at improving service provision to tackle litter, weeds and fly tipping at the tower block areas. HROs would help improve housing services performance levels with repairs, maintenance and cleaning. Members were quite supportive of these proposals.

 

Councillor Fellows proposed, Councillor Rattigan seconded and Members agreed to forward to Cabinet the proposals for the increased provision of Housing Response Officers at Tower Blocks.