Housing Committee - 24/08/2015

At a MEETING of the HOUSING COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 24th August, 2015.

Present:-

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

Councillor John ALEXANDER, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 8th June, 2015 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I DECLARATION OF INTEREST

No declarations of interest were made.

II HEEPS CASH BACK FOR SOCIAL HOUSING PROVIDERS

There was submitted Agenda Note AN171-2015 reporting that HEEPS Cash Back for Social Housing Providers was a source of funding for domestic energy efficiency measures such as external wall insulation (EWI) launched by the Scottish Government in June, 2015. This fund was in addition to HEEPS-ABS (Home Energy Efficiency Programme Scotland - Area Based Schemes), another Scottish Government domestic energy efficiency fund from which the Council had successfully obtained 2,647,500 this financial year for carrying out EWI on mixed tenure blocks of flats. The two funding streams could not be combined. HEEPS could only be spent on owner‑occupied and privately rented properties, whereas the emphasis for HEEPS Cash Back was on social rented properties, although it could be used for owners within social housing areas.

Work was on site in Mid-Craigie 2nd Development to externally insulate Council and private flats with HRA capital being used to fund Council flats supplemented by HEEPS and ECO for the private properties. Due to the higher unit rate for installation of external insulation to cottages in the area it had not been possible to include owners of the adjacent 33 cottages (24 Council, 9 owned). Therefore the Council had submitted a bid for 100,000 for EWI work to be completed to all 33 properties. Bids had to be submitted by the 23rd July, 2015 with successful bidders to be announced in August.

The Committee noted the submission of the bid to the Scottish Government for HEEPS Cash Back on the basis outlined above.

III EXTERNAL WALL INSULATION - HOME ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAMME FOR SCOTLAND

On a reference to Articles IV and V respectively of the minutes of meetings of this Committee of 10th March, 2014 and 9th September, 2013, there was submitted Report No 260-2015 by the Director of Housing relative to the above.

In view of the timescales involved, it was noted that the Director of Housing, in consultation with the Convener of this Committee, Labour Group spokesperson, Conservative member, Liberal Democrat member and Independent member had approved the undernoted External Wall Insulation projects within the 2015/2016 Capital Programme:-

(* ECO funding is not broken down by project so ECO funding and Council contribution are shown by total only.)

IV CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEY RESULTS FOR 2014/2015

There was submitted Report No 284-2015 by the Executive Director of Neighbourhood Services summarising the results of the recent Survey of Tenants and Residents (STAR).

The Committee noted the significant improvement in customer satisfaction results compared to both the previous Dundee City Council survey and the Scottish averages and remitted the Executive Director of Neighbourhood Services to:-

(i) bring forward a number of actions to further improve services in line with the results of the STAR;

(ii) discuss the results of the survey with tenants and other customers through the Tenant Scrutiny Panel, Dundee Federation of Tenants' Associations (DFTA), Registered Tenants' Organisations (RTO's) and Dundee Association of Council House Owners (DACHO);

(iii) publish a summary of the results in the annual performance report to tenants In Our House; and

(iv) include details of any improvement actions which were implemented as a result of customer feedback in the annual report Improving Services Through Listening to Customers.

V SHQS PROGRESS REPORT ON COMPLIANCE

There was submitted Report No 278-2015 by the Executive Director of Neighbourhood Services relative to the above.

The Committee noted that the Councils housing stock met the requirements of the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) at March, 2015, meeting the timescales required by the Scottish Housing Regulator for all social landlords across Scotland.

VI TENDERS RECEIVED

There was submitted Report No 276-2015 by the City Architect detailing tenders received and requesting decisions thereon:-

(a) TULLIDEPH SHELTERED COMPLEX - KITCHEN REFURBISHMENT

The Committee agreed to a negotiated project with the Environment Department (Construction Services) in the sum of 7,591.96, together with allowances of 645 for professional services and 1,000 for white goods, making a total expenditure of 9,236.96.

(b) BRINGTON SHELTERED COMPLEX KITCHEN REFURBISHMENT

The Committee agreed to a negotiated project with the Environment Department (Construction Services) in the sum of 13,256.78, together with allowances of 1,127 for professional services and 1,000 for white goods, making a total expenditure of 15,383.78.

(c) CAMPERDOWN 7TH DEVELOPMENT ROOF RENEWAL PHASE 1

The Committee agreed to a negotiated project with the Environment Department (Construction Services) in the sum of 184,478.04, together with an allowance of 15,680 for professional services, making a total expenditure of 200,158.04.

(d) CORSO STREET 2ND DEVELOPMENT ROOF RENEWAL PHASE 3

The Committee agreed to a negotiated project with the Environment Department (Construction Services) in the sum of 115,629.16, together with an allowance of 9,828 for professional services, making a total expenditure of 125,457.16.

John ALEXANDER, Convener.