Housing, Dundee Contract Services And Environment Services Committee - 01/07/2009

At a MEETING of the HOUSING, DUNDEE CONTRACT SERVICES AND ENVIRONMENT SERVICES COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 1st July, 2009.

Present:-

Lord Provost John R LETFORD

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

Councillor Jimmy BLACK, Convener, in the Chair.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 11th May, 2009 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I REVIEW OF HOUSING REPAIRS PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT

Reference was made to Article V of the minute of meeting of this Committee of 23rd March, 2009.

There was submitted Joint Report No 312-2009 by the Director of Housing and Director of Dundee Contract Services on the review of Repairs Partnership Agreement 2004/2009.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the success of the Housing Repairs Service Partnership in delivering Value for Money and high levels of user satisfaction over the period of the current Agreement; and

(ii) to note the extension of the Agreement for the period 2009/2014.

II MILL O MAINS REGENERATION PHASE 1

Councillor Brian Gordon declared a non-financial interest in this item of business by virtue of family members being affected by the proposals.

The Director of Housing declared a non-financial interest in this item of business by virtue of her partner's employment with Home Scotland.

There was submitted Report No 291-2009 by the Chief Executive seeking approval for various recommendations.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to the disposal of land extending to 2.26 hectares in total (as marked in Appendix 1 of the report) to Home Scotland Housing Association at the agreed valuation of 600,000 for the provision of social-rented housing;

(ii) to the demolition of the following properties in order to clear land to enable Phase 2 construction of the masterplan to commence:-

1 Colonsay Terrace

1 Lismore Terrace

18 Lismore Terrace

16 Mull Terrace

21 Mull Terrace

22 Mull Terrace

27 Mull Terrace

5 Lewis Terrace

6 Lewis Terrace

(iii) to remit the Director of Housing to stop letting the properties listed at (ii) with immediate effect;

(iv) to the demolition of 1-13 Mull Terrace lock-up garages situated on Area 1 in Appendix 1 of the report;

(v) to remit the Director of Housing to award redevelopment priority status for rehousing, together with the Statutory Home Loss payment to remaining tenants;

(vi) to remit the Director of Housing to award those tenants affected by demolition priority for social rented housing available in the local area;

(vii) to the repurchase of the owner-occupied properties, in principle; and

(viii) to remit the Director of City Development to enter into negotiations with the owners on a "without prejudice" basis and the Director of Housing to award the appropriate financial and rehousing package.

III IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HOUSING (SCOTLAND) ACT 2006 - PROPOSED TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

There was submitted Report No 302-2009 by the Director of Housing seeking agreement to the implementation of transitional arrangements, effectively an interim Section 72 Statement, in respect of the provision of grant assistance pending the production of a Statement of Assistance which the Council was required to produce to meet its obligations under Section 72 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the duty to provide mandatory grant assistance to disabled adaptations at a minimum rate of 80% and at a rate of 100% where the applicant was in receipt of certain benefits;

(ii) to the provision of current levels of grant assistance determined by a Test of Resources in respect of properties subject to a Statutory Repairs Notice where Formal Notice of Approval was granted prior to 1st April, 2010;

(iii) with immediate effect to restrict discretionary grant assistance to a fixed rate of 40% to the following categories of work where no Formal Notice of Approval had been issued:-

- Below Tolerable Standards (BTS) properties

- Mutual repairs

- Serious disrepair

- Security

(iv) that in relation to (iii), where additional work was identified, this work may become a condition of any grant awarded but may not itself attract additional grant assistance; and

(v) to an allocation of 66,000 in support of Dundee Care and Repair to maintain the existing level of service.

IV PURCHASE OF VEHICLES

There was submitted Report No 340-2009 by the Head of Waste Management seeking authority for the purchase of the vehicles listed below which were to be used for a range of services within the Waste Management Department.

The Committee agreed to accept the offers detailed from the suppliers as follows:-

The Committee noted that the vehicles were to be procured via Scotland Excel Vehicle Framework Contract.

V CONTAMINATED LAND STRATEGY - SITE INVESTIGATION CONTRACTS

There was submitted Report No 346-2009 by the Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards informing of the projects undertaken in 2008/2009 and making recommendations for the continuing implementation of the Contaminated Land regime, in particular, letting of contracts for site investigation works.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the projects that were undertaken in 2008/2009 as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(ii) that the Environmental Health and Trading Standards Department (EHTS) continued to use the City Engineer in a consulting role, utilising their expertise in tender preparation and project management;

(iii) that the City Engineer be authorised to accept the most favourable tender for each work package and that all such tenders be reported retrospectively to Committee for information and on completion of works programme; and

(iv) to the spending of up to 114k in financial year 2009/2010 for the purpose of progressing the Contaminated Land Strategy.

Jimmy BLACK, Convener.