Agenda item

To present the report of the Head of Housing Services.

The report of the Head of Housing Services incorporating the Asset Management Strategic Plan for 2022-29 was presented for the Committee’s consideration and scrutiny. The Plan sets out how the Council will manage, maintain, and invest in its housing stock over the Plan period.

The report and Strategic Plan were presented by Councillor Gary Pritchard, Portfolio Member for Children, Youth and Housing Services who referred to the Plan’s purpose as ensuring that the Council makes informed decisions about the investment in individual properties based on an understanding of their performance on a social, economic and environmental basis and that the Council’s housing stock provides safe and suitable homes for its tenants, complies with Welsh Housing Quality Standards (WHQS) 2023 and wherever possible, meets decarbonisation targets.

The Housing Technical Services Manager summarised the priority areas of the Asset Management Strategic Plan which includes meeting new challenges in relation to decarbonisation and energy efficiency improvements contained in WHQS 2023. The Service completed a housing stock condition survey in 2022/23 which provides the basis for future planning including meeting the investment requirements of the service’s 30-year business plan and achieving WHQS 2023. Among the areas of investment will be the replacement of key components such as boilers and kitchens in accordance with the expected life cycles as well as the installation of renewable energy measures such as Solar PV and Battery Storage. 

The main points of discussion arising from the Committee’s scrutiny of the Asset Management Strategic Plan were as follows –

·      The effectiveness of asset management software applications and systems and the impact which technical issues could have on the realisation of the Strategic Plan.

·      The financial implications of the Plan as well as the certainty of funding sources to enable its implementation.

·      The monitoring, governance, and evaluation arrangements to ensure the plan is realised.

·      The ways in which the plan aligns with and contributes to achieving the objectives of the Council Plan 2023-28

·      The risks to the achievement of the Plan and how it is proposed those risks are mitigated.

The Portfolio Member and Officers responded as follows –

·      Provided assurances regarding the information held by the Service and the effectiveness of the systems used to manage it. Stock condition data is key in in ensuring that future costs are robust and provide a sound base for planning. The recently independently completed stock condition survey provides new baseline data which is supplemented by historical information about the housing estate.

·      Confirmed the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) as the principal source of funding where the income from tenants’ weekly rents on homes and garages is ring-fenced for expenditure and investment in the Council’s housing stock. As such the HRA provides a robust financial foundation for the next 5 years and the life of the Plan. Where there is an element of uncertainty is in relation to the overall cost of meeting the requirements of WHQS including completing Targeted Energy Pathways for each Council owned property, once those costs are known they can be factored into the HRA Business Plan. The Welsh Government also provides a major repairs allowance to help councils with their housing stock. There are competing priorities that will have to be addressed in meeting the challenges set by WHQS 2023 including achieving a balance between developing new properties and investing in current homes.

·      Confirmed the governance and evaluation arrangements for the Plan including the reporting mechanisms to enable progress to be monitored effectively via Asset Project review meetings, the Housing Senior Leadership Team, Corporate Senior Leadership Team and the Executive. A Tenant Monitoring group has already been established for WHQS 2023.

·      Clarified how the Strategic Plan contributes to the achievement of the Council’s corporate priorities through the development of a Welsh speaking Housing services workforce and deployment of local contractors, making best use of the housing stock through timely investment thereby contributing also to the local economy and by supporting education through the service’s links with Coleg Menai and apprenticeship schemes. The journey towards net zero which includes the decarbonisation of the Council’s housing stock and the technologies associated with it are also expected to create opportunities in terms of skills, training, and employment.

·      Confirmed that the main risks relate to knowing the total cost of delivering WHQS 2023 as well as factors in the labour market and the availability of contractors especially as other social landlords will be competing for the same resources and expertise at the same time to undertake the same work. A further challenge relates to the rent setting regime and the rent increases approved by Welsh Government which in turn affects the amount of revenue/income into the HRA and subsequently the level of investment which the Housing Service is able to make in its housing stock. The Service is fortunate in being among the first to complete a stock condition survey which is key to generating planned maintenance and improvement programmes and enables the Council to get ahead with regard to piloting the Targeted Energy pathways and maintain an advantage as regards securing the resources to carry out the work. The Council has over a number of years been proactive in installing solar energy measures with up to 20% of its housing stock having had those measures already installed and 28% of its stock has reached SAP75 EPC C.

Noting the availability of contractors as a challenge and potential risk to the delivery of the Plan, the Committee proposed, and it was agreed that the feasibility of establishing an in-house team or teams to deliver planned work programmes such as kitchen replacement and renewable energy measures over the course of the next five years be examined.

Having scrutinised the Asset Management Strategic Plan 2024-29 and noted the response of the Portfolio Member and Officers to the issues raised, the Corporate Scrutiny Committee resolved –

·      To recommend the Asset Management Strategic Plan 2024-29 to the Executive for its approval

·      In light of the shortage of contractors, to ask the Housing Service to explore the feasibility of establishing an in-house team(s) to undertake planned work programmes such as kitchen replacement and renewable energy measures and/or other improvement work as required.