Issue - items at meetings - Housing Revenue Account Budget 2013/14

Report of the Strategic Director, Place

That Housing Committee recommend that Policy & Resources Committee:

(a) Approves and recommends to Council the budget for 2013/14 as shown in

Appendix 1.

(b) Approves individual rent increases and decreases in line with rent restructuring principles as determined by the Government and detailed in paragraphs 3.13 to 3.15.

(c) Approves the changes to fees and charges as detailed in Table 2, paragraphs3.16 to 3.18 and delegate authority to the Strategic Director Place to increase communal heating electricity charges following the corporate procurement of new contract prices.35

45.1    The Committee considered a report of the Director of Finance and Strategic Director, Place which set out the Housing Revenue Account Budget for 2013/14.

45.2    Councillor Farrow thanked officers for the report, which he agreed with in parts. However, he suggested that there be a radical review on how the Council managed properties, and asked that the housing management structure be looked at to see if any money could be saved which could then be reinvested in homes. He said the Labour and Co-operative party would abstain from recommending the report to Policy and Resources Committee. The Chair invited anyone who had any ideas on how properties were managed to put them forward for discussion.

45.3 Councillor Mears referred to paragraph 3.5, and asked who the benchmarking had been against. Officers said it was local authorities with similar profiles to Brighton & Hove; a full list would be provided. Councillor Mears noted that there was no reference in the report to Mr N Hibberd’s new post and asked why it was being funded from the Housing Revenue Account and not from the Corporate Account. Councillor Mears referred to paragraph 3.16, which showed the proposed increases to fees and service charges and noted that there was a reference to 12 properties requiring video entry and asked why that item had not been included in the Housing Revenue Account Budget 2013/14 report which went to the HMCSC meeting in December. Officers said that that report had been provided earlier than planned to ensure the HMCSC saw the report, and at that time the information on video entry was not available. Councillor Mears referred to Appendix 1 to the report and noted that the disabled adaptations programme had an investment requirement of £0.4m. Officers stated that that amount was only the overspend.

45.4    Councillor Peltzer Dunn noted that the report was slightly different from the one which had gone to the HMCSC meeting in December 2012, and therefore it was procedurally incorrect to say that the report had been considered by that sub committee. The Chair said she wanted to ensure that members of the HMCSC knew what was being proposed, and because of the timing of the meetings it was not possible for a ‘final’ report to be available for the December meeting.

45.5 RESOLVED:

That Housing Committee recommends that Policy & Resources Committee:

(i)                 Approves and recommends to Council the budget for 2013/14 as shown in Appendix to the report.

(ii)               Approves individual rent increases and decreases in line with rent restructuring principles as determined by the Government and detailed in paragraphs 3.13 to 3.15 in the report.

(iii)             Approves the changes to fees and charges as detailed in Table 2, paragraphs 3.16 to 3.18 in the report and to delegate authority to the Strategic Director, Place to increase communal heating electricity charges following the corporate procurement of new contract prices.