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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Offices Angel Street Bridgend CF31 4WB. View directions

Contact: Andrew Rees  Senior Democratic Services Officer - Committees

Items
No. Item

30.

Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008 (including whipping declarations)

 

 

 

Minutes:

The following declarations of interest was made:

 

Councillor E Venables declared a prejudicial interest in agenda 5 – Empty Properties as she owns two empty properties.  Councillor Venables withdrew from the meeting during consideration of this item.   

31.

Approval of Minutes pdf icon PDF 92 KB

To receive for approval the minutes of the meetings of the 17/01/18 and 12/02/18

 

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:            That the minutes of the meetings of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny 3 of 17 January and 12 February 2018 be approved as a true and accurate record.   

32.

Forward Work Programme Update pdf icon PDF 63 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Officer reported on items which had been prioritised by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee which included the next item delegated to this Committee to consider.  She also presented a list of further potential items for comment and prioritisation and requested the Committee identify any further items for consideration using the pre-determined criteria form. 

 

Conclusions

 

(1)  That the Committee approved the feedback from the previous meeting of this Committee and noted the list of responses including any still outstanding;

(2)  The Committee noted that it had been delegated an item on Emergency Housing for its next meeting;

(3)  Identified further detail required for other items in the overall FWP at Table B of Appendix B;

 Considered the completed criteria forms at Appendix C and determined whether it wished to add these proposed items to the FWP.

33.

Urgent Items

To consider any item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in

accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

 

Minutes:

The Chairperson accepted a presentation by Jennifer Ellis, Housing Strategy and Investment Manager, RCT Council on the approach taken by RCT Council to tackle empty properties as urgent in accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules within the Constitution, in order that it be considered in conjunction with the report on Empty Properties. 

34.

Empty Properties pdf icon PDF 178 KB

Invitees:

 

Cllr Hywel Williams – Deputy Leader

Cllr Richard Young – Cabinet Member Communities

Andrew Jolley – Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services

Martin Morgans – Head of Performance and Partnership Services

Jonathan Parsons – Group Manager Development

Helen Picton – Shared Regulatory Service

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received from a presentation by Jennifer Ellis, Housing Strategy and Investment Manager of RCT Council on its approach in tackling empty properties.  She stated that the approach in tackling empty properties was borne out of having 3,375 empty properties in 2014/15, which represented 2% of the stock, compared to the picture in BCBC where it has 2,800 empty properties, representing 2% of the stock.  RCT Council had established a Scrutiny Working Group, which came up with a series of recommendations, amongst which was to identify funding opportunities, to have a targeted approach, awareness raising and advice and information. 

 

The Housing Strategy and Investment Manager informed the Committee that high and demand areas were considered, recognising that a one size fits all approach was not appropriate, as there were stark differences between communities in the north and south of the Borough in terms of the demand for housing.  A postal survey was sent to owners of properties which had been empty for 6 months in order to get a greater understanding of the condition of properties and the intentions of the owners. 

  

She highlighted the Council’s role, the resources and projects devoted to tackling empty properties and she also highlighted a case study which had seen the Old Town Hall in Aberdare brought back into use.  RCT Council had approved 117 Empty Property Grants to date totaling £2.2m in 2018/19. The Housing Strategy and Investment Manager outlined the enforcement approaches taken by RCT Council.  RCT Council planned to re-establish a Virtual Empty Properties Team; a new empty property strategy; increase scale; identify further funding sources and opportunities to work regionally and undertake further research to underpin new approaches.

 

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services informed the Committee of the approach undertaken by BCBC which was being pulled together by the Head of Performance & Partnership Services.  He also informed the Committee that the Council had approved a post of Empty Properties Officer and he sought a recommendation from the Committee as to how best to proceed with resourcing the post.  He stated that excellent support continues to be received from Shared Regulatory Services (SRS) and there is an option for SRS to fulfill this role due its expertise in dealing with derelict properties and with the service having cover arrangements in place, as opposed to employing one officer directly with no cover arrangements.   

 

The Head of Performance & Partnership Services informed the Committee that a cross Directorate Working Group has been established, with its first priority to establish what the landscape is in terms of the scale of empty properties, compared to other local authorities in Wales and UK wide.  He stated that there is currently significant activity in tackling empty properties; however Directorates had not previously operated cohesively in dealing with the problem.  He also informed the Committee that there is significant best practice on how to tackle empty properties and SRS has significant information on its property data base.  A questionnaire is being finalised to be sent to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

 

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