To receive any declarations of
interest. Members are advised to consider the advice contained
within the Declaration of Interest advice attached to this Agenda.
If a Member declares an interest, they should complete theDeclaration of Interest
Form
Minutes:
Councillor Packman made a declaration of
pecuniary interest on agenda items 3 (Purchase of five Homes at
Reading Street, Broadstairs for Affordable Rent) and 4 (Local
Authority Housing Fund Round 2: Purchase of five Homes) as both
items conflicted with Councillor Packman's work in the housing
sector. Councillor Packman then left the meeting room.
Ashely Jackson, Head of Housing and Planning
introduced the report and made the following comments:
Council had recently approved an
accelerated affordable rented housing development programme of at
least 400 new homes, constructed or acquired, by 2027;
Officers were contacted by Millwood
Homes, who were required to deliver five new affordable homes, as
part of their development at Reading Street, Broadstairs;
This requirement was set out in the
Section 106 obligations for the development. They were however
unable to secure an affordable housing provider to deliver these
homes;
The capital cost for the five homes
is £800k and £50k for associated costs;
On paragraph 2.5 there was a slight
difference in the cash flow deficit from year one it should read
£8.1k with a breakeven point in year 13;
As the homes had been designated as
affordable homes in the planning consent and section 106 agreement,
they had been designed specifically for that purpose and
accordingly were considered appropriate for the HRA;
This was in line with the needs of
households on the council’s register or those living in
temporary accommodation;
·
There was a significant level of need for one bedroom homes, as
well as for larger family homes. The unit sizes and the mix of
dwellings were as follows:
? one x one bed flat;
? one x two bed flat;
? Three x three bed houses.
Officers were therefore proposing
that the new homes be let in accordance with the Council’s
adopted Allocations Policy.
Councillor Whitehead, Deputy Leader and
Cabinet Member for Housing also made comments as follows:
Members were being asked to consider
and respond to the proposal that were going to be forwarded to
Cabinet regarding the purchase of 5 homes at Reading Street,
Broadstairs;
The purchase of these homes was part
of the Council’s accelerated housing delivery strategy,
ensuring that Section 106 homes were delivered;
This was also to ensure that the
social housing part of developments came to fruition and did not
disappear, as this was much needed housing for the district;
As this was a revenue strategy above
else, it had already been established that the HRA would benefit
from these acquisitions;
The capital cost for these
properties is £800,000, with 50,000 provided for associated
costs and this provided one x one bed flat, one x three bed flat,
three x three bed houses;
Social housing in Thanet is often
inaccessible for renters; property and rental costs in Broadstairs
are significant, and acquiring social housing within Broadstairs is
often challenging;
It was important to ensure that all
of the Isle is accessible to residents and that local individuals
and families should be able to remain where their local connections
were. Acquisitions such as this would support that aim;
The Housing team had done some work
relating to this proposal, being able to deliver genuinely
affordable properties in an ever increasing property market, that
would otherwise have been lost was essential;
Ashely Jackson, Head of Housing and Planning
introduced the report and made the following comments:
In March 2023, it was announced that
the Local Authority Housing Fund would be expanded by £250m
for a second round of funding (LAHF R2);
Thanet has been identified as
eligible for capital grant funding with an indicative allocation of
£694,000 in funding to purchase four homes for the
resettlement element and 1 home for the Temporary Accommodation
element;
In order to utilise the grant, it
was necessary to match fund the acquisitions with £788,860 of
borrowing within the HRA capital programme and these proposals
would be presented to Cabinet on 16th November. The properties had
been identified and had to be purchased by 31st March 2024;
Business plan modelling showed that
the scheme generated a surplus from year one due to the grant
subsidy. This surplus could be used to subsidise other parts of the
Affordable Homes Programme;
Officers were proposing that the
homes were let at an affordable rent level, in line with the
Council’s approved Tenancy Strategy;
Discussions had taken place with a
local developer who was currently developing the Westwood Cross
site to purchase five x three bed units. The units would be an
‘off the shelf’ purchase with no refurbishments or
adaptations needed. They were nearing completion and would be ready
soon;
The developer had accepted a
provisional offer, subject to approval of £1.4m and this was
80% of the market value;
The proposed offer had been run
through the Council’s business plan modelling and the results
indicated that the scheme generated a surplus for the HRA business
plan from year one due to the grant subsidy;
This proposal would be presented to
Cabinet on 16 November 2023. The report would recommend that
Cabinet approve the use of £694,000 of grant funding and
£788,860 HRA match funding from the already approved HRA
capital programme, to purchase five units for the LAHF R2.
Councillor Whitehead also made comments as
follows:
Members were being asked to consider
and respond to the proposals going forward to Cabinet regarding the
purchase of five properties using the Local Government Housing
Grant;
This was a grant that had been
presented to Members before. The Council applied for and were
granted £1.19 million in the first tranche of this Grant to
provide homes for those who arrived in the country via the
following approaches:
?
The Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme (including eligible British
Nationals under this scheme) (ACRS);
?
Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP);
?
Ukraine Family Scheme (UFS);
? Homes for Ukraine (HFU);
? Ukraine Extension Scheme (UES).
In this tranche of funding the
Council had been granted £694,000. Through this the Council
intended to provide five homes. Four had to have at least three
bedrooms and one was required to be used for temporary
accommodation;
As with the previous tranche of
funding, the timescales around this funding were extraordinarily
tight. Therefore, in order to deliver the homes required in the
period given, direct purchase was the only realistic way
...
view the full minutes text for item 4.
Jo-Anna Taylor, Community Services Manager
introduced the report and made the following comments:
Officers were seeking a nine-month
extension of the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) which
regulates alcohol consumption in the district. The PSPO had been in
place since 2017 and was renewed in 2020;
The PSPO was introduced to tackle
anti-social behaviour and public disorder related to alcohol
consumption in public places and was requested by Kent Police;
This included street drinking,
public intoxication and disturbances caused by alcohol-related
activities. The PSPO had been successful in reducing these issues
and improving the safety and well-being of the community;
However, the COVID-19 pandemic
created new challenges in ensuring compliance with the PSPO. With
the relaxation of lockdown measures, there had been an increase in
the number of people gathering in public places and this had led to
more incidents of anti-social behaviour and public disorder related
to alcohol consumption, over the last three years;
Since January 2023 the Police had
issued 23 Fixed Penalty Notices under the Alcohol PSPO. This may
seem a small number which may lead to querying the need of a PSPO.
However, this Order had powers for conducting education,
confiscating and disposing alcohol was without the need of a
fine;
In order to continue to address
these challenges, officers were requesting an extension of the PSPO
for a further nine-month period; this short period of nine months
would then bring it in line with the Anti-Social Behaviour PSPO. In
July 2024 we would be considering coming up with a Combined ASB and
Alcohol PSPO;
During this time, we would continue
to monitor the effectiveness of the Order and assess the potential
for any necessary adjustments to ensure it remained an effective
tool in regulating alcohol consumption in public places;
The Council would also continue to
work closely with the Police, (who were responsible for issuing the
fixed penalty notices) and other partners to ensure consistent
enforcement of the Order;
The Council was committed to
creating a safer and healthier community for its residents and
visitors and believed that extending the PSPO would support this
goal and ensure that people enjoyed public spaces without fear of
anti-social behaviour or public disorder.
Members made comments and asked questions as
follows:
One Member asked if there was any
data about the number of individuals worked with;
Another Member asked what
constituted minor amendments that were going to be delegated to the
CEx to make on the new PSPO;
One Member asked whether fixed
penalty notices were issued to underage drinking;
Another Member said that the PSPO
was also about how many people had been dissuaded from anti-social
behaviour as a result of the presence of the PSPO;
They further asked whether the
presence of officers who could issue penalties was more helpful
than the previous model. They also asked if CCTV footage could be
used in evidence;
The Member also asked if there were
the number of complaints sporadic in nature or they came from known
areas;
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