Issue - meetings

It was MOVED, SECONDED and RESOLVED that Mayor and Cabinet:

·       Authorise officers to run a procurement for all of the Council’s insurances that are due to expire on 30 November 2023, in accordance with the timeline of engagement and decision-making set out in the report.  The new insurance policies would be for a period of three years, with an option to extend for a further two years at a total estimated cost of £14.2m including insurance premium tax over the full 5-year period.

·       Approve the award of contracts to the preferred providers, provided the contract values were within authorised limits.

·       Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Corporate Services (in consultation with the Director of Law, Governance and Elections and the Group Manager, Insurance and Risk) to select the preferred providers in accordance with the selection criteria published in the tender documentation and agree final form of contract.

5.1     The meeting received an update report by Councillor Brenda Dacres, the Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Housing Development and Planning relating to the outcome of representation of making a non-immediate Article 4 Direction for Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) in the remainder of the borough. 

5.2      In introducing the recommendations, Councillor Dacres advised as follows:

·            That under Permitted Development Rights, individuals could convert a family dwelling to a small HMO of a maximum of six individuals without a planning permission without the need of a planning application.

·            That although exempt dwellings were not covered by Article 4, it should be recognised that HMOs were supporting the Council to manage its housing supplies, as they represented a legitimate form of housing in the London Plan and the Local Plan.

·            That Article 4 proposals would not only enable the Council to determine if HMOs were good quality and in a suitable location, but would also be able to prevent their concentrations in certain areas within the borough.  Thus, 81% of respondents who made representations were supportive of the proposals which would require individuals to apply for HMOs as part of the Council’s planning process alongside its licensing scheme.

·            That if the recommendations were approved, the policy would come into force on 19 January 2024, which would be 12 months after the Article 4 direction would have been published.

It was MOVED, SECONDED and RESOLVED that Mayor and Cabinet considered the responses to the consultation set out in Section 5 of the report, and:

·                Authorise the Director of Law and Corporate Governance to confirm the non-immediate Article 4 Direction, which removes permitted development rights from C3 Dwelling Houses to C4 Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) for the remainder of the borough.

·                Authorise the Director of Planning to carry out the statutory notification of the decision to confirm the Article 4 direction

·                Note the legal and financial implications set out in Sections 6 and 7 of the report.