Agenda, decisions and minutes

Resolved: the Committee agreed the minutes of the last meeting as a true record.

The following non-prejudicial interest was declared:

Councillor Slater is a member of the board of Phoenix Community Housing.

Resolved: the Committee noted the response.

Resolved: the Committee noted the evidence provided by the witnesses.

Jeff Endean (Housing Strategy and Programmes Manager) briefly outlined the council’s position on community-led housing. The following key points were noted:

4.1       The Lewisham Housing Strategy supports community-led housing development and it has been included in the strategy for a number of years.

4.2       There are two active developments in the borough, one in Ladywell with RUSS and one in Sydenham with the London CLT.

4.3       As far as officers are aware, Lewisham is the only borough in the country with two active CLTs. The council will look at the success of these and see where it goes.

Tom Chance (National CLT network) provided evidence to the committee. The following key points were noted:

4.4       The National Community Land Trust Network (NCLT) is a network of 225 Community Land Trusts (CLTs) across England and Wales.

4.5       The organisation has been around for 7 years and in that time the community land trust movement has built 800 homes around England and Wales, with around 4000 more in the pipeline.

4.6       Community-led housing (such as CLTs) is where the community initiates and controls the housing-delivery process, as opposed to being consultees, and are ultimately the owners or stewards of those homes in the long term.

4.7       The NCLT noted that there are already a number of community-led housing approaches active in Lewisham.

4.8       Last year the NCLT was involved in a review of new models of housing supply by the All Party Parliamentary Group on housing and planning.

4.9       The review found that there are benefits to the community-led housing approach in terms of delivering genuinely affordable housing, but also in terms of community engagement and support.

4.10    The review also found that the community-led approach tends to lead to higher quality housing.   

4.11    The main barrier for community-led housing groups is accessing land, particularly in London and cities, where it’s a very competitive land market.

4.12    There has been very fast growth of CLTs in rural areas, where Rural Exception Sites provide groups access to land.

4.12    Initiatives like Lewisham’s programme of looking at infill sites and the GLA and TFL small sites programme are a good opportunity for public authorities to think about how to make more sites available for community-led approaches.

4.12    Community-led housing groups also face difficulties accessing start-up advice and support.

4.13    In some parts of the country there are well-established organisations that can support groups from having the initial idea through to getting on site.

4.14    The NCLT is working with the GLA to set up a community-led housing hub for London, which would provide support for community-led housing groups.

4.15    It is also important that community groups do not have to go through costly competitive procurement processes. Groups can often be put off schemes if they have to through a procurement process.

4.16    Councils could help improve the community-led process by aligning their relevant departments in a way that helps the process of providing land to community-led groups work as smoothly as possible.  

4.17    The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Resolved: the Committee noted the report.

Andrew Potter (Chief Executive, Lewisham Homes) introduced the annual report. The following was noted:

5.1       Over the last year Lewisham Homes has brought more homes up to the decent homes standard and all homes will be up to standard this year.

5.2       Resident satisfaction has increased and complaints have decreased. More is being invested in grounds maintenance work.

5.3       More services are being made available to residents online.

5.4       100 homes have been acquired for temporary housing and there is going to be further investment in sheltered housing.

5.5       Lewisham Homes achieved leaseholder satisfaction rates of around 60% (600 people surveyed).

5.6       Lewisham Homes also achieved high levels of staff satisfaction and attained the Investors In People Gold accreditation.

5.7       Lewisham Homes has a leaseholder forum and two leaseholder board members, but also goes out door knocking to find out more about the issues people are facing.

5.8       While Lewisham Homes is making an increasing number of services available online, it is not removing other ways of accessing them – there will still be a reception and a phone service.

5.9       Lewisham Homes also runs drop-in sessions on digital skills for residents. 

5.10    In terms of leaseholder satisfaction, the committee noted that Phoenix Housing had improved satisfaction rates through increased engagement.

5.11    The committee queried what Lewisham Homes is doing to help those residents who are unable to access services online.

Resolved: the Committee noted the report.

Resolved: the Committee noted the report.

Steve Bonvini (Operations Director, RB3)introduced the annual report. The following was noted:

6.1       This year customer satisfaction increased to 95%. There was, however, a 1% increase in complaints.

6.2       Planned works will continue each year until the end of the PFI contract.

6.3       RB3 confirmed that residents had been asked to remove flower pots from the balconies. RB3 acted on the advice of independent fire assessors, who pointed out that they could be a trip hazard in a fire.

6.4       RB3 agreed to provide the committee with the number of people who completed the customer satisfaction survey.

6.5       RB3 agreed to provide the committee with the details of local residents’ associations.

6.6       RB3 agreed to provide the committee with a programme of planned works to help councillors if residents contact them.

6.7       The committee queried how RB3 define a complaint.

Resolved: the Committee noted the report.

Resolved: the Committee noted the report.

7.1       The council continues to work closely on fire safety with Lewisham Homes and other housing partners in the borough.

7.2       By May 2018, around 100 new council homes will have been built since 2014. By 2020, the council will have built around 500 new council homes.

7.3       Officers noted that it has taken longer than expected to build the target of 500 new council homes, but said that they are now set up to deliver more homes in the next administration.

Resolved: the Committee noted the report.

Resolved: the Committee noted the work programme.

There were no referrals to Mayor and Cabinet.