Agenda item

The report seeks approval to replace the Estate Improvement Grant (EIG) Scheme and introduce a Housing Environmental Improvement Programme (HEIP). Both are funded from the Housing Revenue Account and must directly benefit council tenants by improving housing assets.

Resolved: That the Housing Environmental Improvement Programme (Annex A of the report) and spending criteria (Annex B of the report) from April 2017 be agreed.

Reason: This scheme takes a more strategic approach to environmental improvements, it is less bureaucratic, can combine with other funding schemes to provide better schemes that reflect the needs across the whole council stock.

The Executive Leader considered a report that sought approval to replace the existing Estate Improvement Grant (EIG) Scheme and introduce a Housing Environmental Improvement Programme (HEIP) that would continue to directly benefit council tenants by improving housing assets. It was noted that added value would be achieved by blending the use of the Housing Revenue Account money with that of the ward monies, and increase the engagement with ward committees.

Officers gave an update and confirmed that over the last 25 years the Estate Improvement Grant had been offered every year to the Residents Associations (RA’s) within council housing areas. With it being an annual allocation the amount of funding available to tackle significant issues such as parking and storage had been restricted. The RA’s sought views of tenants annually to determine what improvements the funding would provide and the Executive Leader noted the various estate improvement schemes the EIG had funded including those that were not necessarily strategic or were unachievable due to insufficient funds. 

Officers stated that the tenancies in council estates had fallen over the years due to the right to buy schemes resulting in mixed tenure estates. Given that the EIG budget had to demonstrably benefit councils tenants this had become more difficult to justify with the rise of privately owned homes. They clarified that under the new proposals the HEIP funding would be allocated on a 4 year basis, across all wards, with the final decisions being made by the HEIP panel which would include ward councillors, officers, interested tenants/residents and resident association representatives. The £30,000 currently allocated to the federation would continue to be prioritised by the federation.  It was noted that this approach would allow the potential to combine ward and HEIP funding streams to enable larger schemes to be delivered that would have a more significant impact on the estates and allow the funding to benefit tenants and residents.

In answer to the Executive Leaders questions officers confirmed:

·                    the development of larger schemes in mixed tenure estates   would be split between the HEIP and other ward based funding or grant bids. 

·                    they had consulted with the Federation of Tenant and Residents Association.

·                    the consultation did not bring up an substantive objections but some residents groups did show some dissatisfaction to aspects of the new proposals, however, they understood the new approach would still give them the opportunity to feed into potential schemes at ward committees.

·                    the Communities and Equalities team would support Ward Councillors through the new proposals.

The Executive Member noted that the new approach was more democratic, more flexible and more sustainable which would make a tangible difference in some areas.

Resolved: That the Housing Environmental Improvement Programme (Annex A of the report) and spending criteria (Annex B of the report) from April 2017 be agreed.

Reason: This scheme takes a more strategic approach to environmental improvements, it is less bureaucratic, can combine with other funding schemes to provide better schemes that reflect the needs across the whole council stock.