NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE COUNCIL
HOUSING CABINET MEMBER
2 January 2003
126 (51) CONFIDENTIAL MATTERS ADVISORY
PANEL - 9 DECEMBER 2002 - HOUSING MATTERS -
Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting held
on 9 December 2002 setting out recommendations of the panel be
approved in so far as they relate to housing matters.
127 (52) FENCING - The
Director of Social and Housing Services submitted a report
informing the cabinet member of the outcome of the consultation
exercise with council house tenants about responsibility for
maintaining fences for council houses.
Tenants had been consulted using the Tenant Newsletter 2002. The
consultation period ended on 30 October 2002.
249 tenants responded to the survey. Only 136 tenants responded
to questions about fencing.
Details of the responses were set out in the report.
Resolved - (a) That the results of the survey
be passed to the Residents Forum for consideration, and (b) that
the outcome be reported back to the Housing Cabinet Member.
128 (53) RECOGNITION OF RESIDENTS
ASSOCIATION - HALLCROFT CLOSE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION - The
Director of Social and Housing Services submitted a report seeking
approval for the official recognition of the Hallcroft Close
Residents Association.
A copy of the association's constitution, which was in
accordance with the council's guidelines for associations, was
appended to the report.
There had been a lot of positive interest in the group from
people living in the area.
Resolved - That the Hallcroft Close Residents
Association be officially recognised by the council and be eligible
for membership of the Residents Forum.
129 (54) LOW DEMAND VOIDS
STRATEGY - The Director of Social and Housing Services
submitted a report setting out a strategy for dealing with vacant
council properties that suffered from low demand.
The council had been successful in reducing the number of
outstanding voids from 542 in November 2001 to 339 by 13 December
2002. The council had also been very successful in marketing low
demand voids. 384 properties defined as low demand had been let
since November 2001.
There was still a core of between 120 and 130 voids defined as
low demand, many of which had been vacant for many months, and in
some cases years, for various reasons related to low demand.
Research had been commissioned during 2002 to identify the
distinct groups of low demand voids and the issues that led to them
becoming low demand voids. The research resulted in a report upon
which the proposed strategy was based.
The strategy was designed to meet short-term needs of reducing
low demand council voids. It would take account of wider community
regeneration issues and link in with other council strategies and
action plans such as economic development, community safety, social
inclusion etc.
Residents' Forum officers and other directorates would be
consulted and any views expressed would be reported to the Housing
Cabinet Member.
Resolved - That the proposed strategy for
dealing with low demand voids outlined in paragraphs 2.5 to 2.9 of
the report be approved in conjunction with the Housing Cabinet
Member.
