Agenda item - Residents Question Time

Responses to items raised at the Tenant Only Meeting held on 1 November 2018 (copy attached as ‘blue pages’).

50.1              1) Tenant scrutiny of repairs and maintenance service

·                               In response to residents, Hilary Edgar, Housing Service Operations Manager, stated that the Terms of Reference for the Home Service Improvement Group would be circulated.

·                                 Residents stated that the Home Service Improvement Group already had a large agenda for each meeting and any additional items would require additional support or allocated a separate meeting.

·                               Officers responded that they would invite Sharon Davies, Housing Business Programme Manager, to attend the February panel and ask if she would start a new group to accommodate the additional discussion and circulate an email prior to the minutes of this meeting being published to update on the progress made.

2) Estate Development Budget (EDB) underspend

·                               Residents stated that EDB funds should build cumulatively when underspent on previous years.

·                               Hilary Edgar stated that each area in the city receives a proportionate budget to the number of properties. There were concerns that areas that continuously failed to spend their annual budget would perpetuate an imbalance in funding if the underspend as ring fenced to individual areas. Underspends were therefore re-allocated across the city so the maximum number of bids could be delivered. She added that the central area had never underspent their EDB.

·                               Residents raised concern that the system should be discussed in terms of need rather than household distribution. They added that areas that spend more should be able to justify additional funding and areas that fail to do not need the funding.