Service Update Report CaH 21 05 24
Renfrewshire Council · 21 May 2024
Back to Communities and Housing Policy Board — 21 May 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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___________________________________________________________________ To: Communities and Housing Policy Board On: 21 May 2024 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Director of Environment, Housing and Infrastructure ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Service Update Report ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 This report provides an overview of key service activities, an operational performance update since the last Policy Board meeting on the services and key projects and updates on any other relevant changes to service areas covered within the remit of this Board. 1.2 Specifically, the report requests that the Policy Board homologate the decision of the Head of Housing Services, in consultation with the Convener, to accept Scottish Government grant funding to support the delivery of new build housing in both Howwood Road and Gallowhill West, as well as Scottish Government grant funding from the Ukrainian Long Term Resettlement Fund. 2. Recommendations It is recommended that the Communities and Housing Policy Board 2.1 Homologate the decision of the Head of Housing Services, in consultation with the Convener of the Communities and Housing Policy Board, to accept Scottish Government grant funding of £10,022,083 and £9,630,795 for the housing regeneration projects at Howwood Road and Gallowhill West subject to compliance with the relevant grant conditions. 2.2 Note that Scottish Government grant funding has been accepted to support current and historic housing regeneration projects.
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2.3 Homologate the decision of the Head of Housing Services, in consultation with the Convener of the Communities and Housing Policy Board, to accept Scottish Government grant funding for £159,956 from the Scottish Government ‘Ukrainian Long Term Resettlement Fund’ which covers the repairs and furnishing costs for 20 ‘Last in the Block’ properties which have now been let to Ukrainian Displaced Persons. 2.4 Note the contents of this report. Updates for Communities and Housing Policy Board 3. Housing Services 3.1 Housing-Led Regeneration and Development Regeneration 3.1.1 As reported to the Board at its meeting of 12 March 2024, good progress continues to be made on the rehousing of Council tenants and the acquisition of privately-owned homes in order to progress demolition in regeneration areas. To date, 46 of 89 properties have been acquired and a further 8 acquisitions are agreed and with legal services to conclude at this time. Table 1 below illustrates the situation as of 12 April 2024. Table 1 Regeneration & Renewal Area Council Demo Props Props to be acquired Props acquired to Date Total for demo Demo void end Mar 24 %age void Auchentorlie 17 1 0 18 17 94% Ferguslie/Broomlands 64 16 7 80 32 40% Howard Street Area 55 11 7 66 42 64% Howwood Road Area 163 15 9 178 38 21% Springbank/Mossvale 118 36 18 154 75 49% Thrushcraigs 90 6 2 96 38 40% Waverley Road Area 68 4 3 72 65 90% 575 89 46 664 307 46%
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Property Acquisition and “Last in the Block” disposals 3.1.2 Since the introduction of the property acquisition scheme in 2019, a total of 34 properties have been acquired and added to the Councils’ lettable stock (this figure does not include any properties acquired to enable demolition within the Housing-Led Regeneration and Renewal programme as detailed separately above). Properties that have been acquired in this way have been purchased with vacant possession to allow works to be carried out to bring the properties to the Council’s letting standard before being offered to applicants from the Council’s housing waiting list. 3.1.3 In the 2023/24 financial year (ending 31 March 2024), the Scottish Government extended the Rental off the Shelf (ROTS) scheme with Councils and RSL partners to allow the utilisation of grant funding from the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme (SHIP funding) to support open market acquisitions of suitable properties in line with the Council’s approved Acquisitions Strategy and contribute to meeting identified local housing needs throughout Renfrewshire. £712,225 has been received from the Scottish Government towards 23 of the ROTS acquisitions claimed in 2023/24. 3.1.4 Officers are working on the sale of “last in the block” properties as approved by the Communities and Housing Policy Board on 16 August 2022 with monies received from property sales ringfenced for acquisitions to continue to add to the lettable stock and increase Council ownership in other mixed- tenure blocks across Renfrewshire. Properties identified for sale tend to be in blocks where it has not been possible to achieve owner agreement to proceed with larger investment programmes or where the cost to deliver improvements is not considered value for money for the Council. Given the low numbers of sale transactions and the aim of buying suitable replacement properties with the ringfenced capital, it is believed that this approach will have a positive impact for tenants and housing applicants in the long term as the Council will be in a better position to deliver energy efficiency improvements in blocks where we have full or majority ownership going forward. Further detail about how Scottish Government funding is being used to repair ‘Last in the block’ properties to let to Ukrainian Displace Persons is available at paragraph 3.3.5. Newbuild Projects 3.1.5 The contracts for the design and build of 70 homes at the Howwood Road Area Phase 1 (the former Cochrane Castle Primary School site) and design and build of 65 units at Gallowhill (vacant site off Montgomery Road, next to Glencairn Court) have now been awarded. Initial consultation events will be held on the 22 May 3pm – 7pm at Thorn Athletic for Howwood Road and 28 May 3pm – 7pm at Gallowhill Community Centre for Gallowhill. The events will be an opportunity for the local communities to see early proposals and provide feedback on the site and house layouts. Residents will be notified via letter drops, social media and posters in the local area.
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3.1.6 The contract values for these projects is £14,249,611.93 at the Howwood Road area and £13,721,921.34 at Gallowhill, supported by Scottish Government Affordable Housing Supply Programme grant funding of £10,022,083 and £9,630,795 respectively. Affordable Housing Supply programme (AHSP) Funding Update 3.1.7 Each year, the Scottish Government, as part of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP), allocate funding to Council areas to support development of new affordable homes delivered as part of the Council’s five- year Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP). In recent years levels of funding for Renfrewshire have been around £17.000m each year which, at Scottish Government benchmark rates, should support affordable housing providers to deliver approximately 200 new build homes for social rent in Renfrewshire each year. 3.1.8 In December 2023, the draft Scottish Government budget proposed a significant reduction in funding for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) of £196.145m for the year April 2024 to March 2025. This has resulted in a confirmed reduction in Renfrewshire’s funding allocation for 2024/25 of £4.577m (27%) to £12.623m from the previously anticipated £17.200m with early indications suggesting that a similar level of funding (i.e., £12.623m) is possible again in 2025/26. 3.1.9 In recent years inflationary pressures have also significantly increased the cost of new build housing development for both the Council and its housing association partners with consistently high tender prices, alongside the incorporation of new qualitative features in homes, resulting in an exceptional increase in development costs which now significantly exceed Scottish Government benchmark grant rates. This issue is replicated nationally and effectively means that the significantly higher levels of grant required to make development viable for affordable housing providers (which can be almost twice the benchmark rate) will significantly reduce capacity to deliver as many new affordable homes each year. 3.1.10 The Council are currently engaged in ongoing discussions with both the Scottish Government and our housing association delivery partners to reprofile timescales for the delivery of new affordable homes and will prepare a new draft Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) for the Policy Board’s approval for public consultation which will set out delivery priorities taking account of resource availability. 3.1.11 The entire funding allocation from the Scottish Government for 2024/25 (£12.623m) has now been allocated by the Scottish Government to those developers who were either already on site or were due to start on site imminently, with these projects also allocated all anticipated available resources in 2025/26. This funding will support delivery of 7 high priority sites for affordable housing in Renfrewshire over the next 2 years, with timescales and estimated funding availability for all remaining projects to be determined through discussions with affordable housing developers as part of the preparation of the next Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP).
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Projects: Project Name No. of Units Developer Cartha Crescent, Paisley 33 units Williamsburgh HA Hawkhead, Paisley 30 units Link HA Orchard St 46 units Paisley South HA East Lane, Paisley 48 units Loretto HA Paisley West End 120 units Sanctuary Scotland Gallowhill, Paisley 65 units Renfrewshire Council Howwood Road area, Johnstone 70 units Renfrewshire Council 3.1.12 An additional affordable housing site in Johnstone Castle by Link Housing Association delivering 68 homes is starting on site in May 2024 with all homes expected to be completed in 2026. This project is funded via a separate ‘Allia’ Scottish Government funding stream. 3.1.13 The reduction of RPA within the Renfrewshire area together with noted increase in costs will reduce the number of projects and associated completions which can be approved at any one time. Accordingly, this will impact the funding capacity and timescales of the new build housing projects identified within the Strategic Housing Investment Plan. 3.1.14 On the 26 April 2024, the Scottish Government announced funding of £80 million across 2024/25 and 2025/26 to support the continuation of the National Acquisition Programme which will assist affordable housing providers to increase the supply of affordable homes through the open market acquisition of suitable properties in line with the Council’s Acquisitions Strategy. 3.1.15 This £80 million funding will be accessible across Scotland (£40 million each year) and has the potential to increase the supply of affordable homes in Renfrewshire building on the 23 properties acquired in 2023/24. The Scottish Government have still to confirm the criteria for accessing this funding. Customer Satisfaction Survey 3.1.16 The Annual Return on the Charter (ARC) has six satisfaction questions that we are required to ask tenants. These are reported to the Scottish Housing Regulator as part of our ARC. Landlords are required to ask these questions at least once every three years. Like almost all landlords, this is done through a Tenant Satisfaction Survey and generally we carry this out every two years. We use this opportunity to ask tenants for feedback about a range of housing services, rather than just asking the six questions required by the Scottish Housing Regulator. 3.1.17 The service has commissioned an independent company called Research Resource to carry out our Tenant Satisfaction Survey. Interviews are being conducted by telephone throughout April and May. No-one will call at tenants’ doors for this survey and participation is completely voluntary and confidential. Tenants have been advised by letter in advance of the survey and can choose to opt out from the survey should they wish to do so.
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3.1.18 The questions in the survey are designed to help us understand what tenants think about the housing services we deliver. The questions cover a wide range of housing service areas, for example: • Satisfaction with housing services and neighbourhoods. • What do tenants like about their home? • How tenants contact the Council and their reasons for contact; and • Questions about repairs services, rent arrears and estate management. 3.1.19 The results of the survey will be reported to the Communities and Housing Policy Board and publicised in an edition of The People’s News. 3.2 Housing Management Income Advice 3.2.1 Information from income advice interviews at the end of March confirms that over 2,983 income advice cases involved households from Council Tenancies this financial year. 3.2.2 During financial year 2023 / 24, 161 tenants qualified for the Tenants Support Fund, with a total figure of £32,580.73 awarded. The scheme commenced in October 2023; therefore, the figures represent a 6-month operating period. Officers will continue to engage with tenants to maximise access to any underlying entitlement to benefits and funds available during 2024/25. Housing Advice 3.2.3 There has been continued take-up of the option to apply to join the Council’s housing waiting list using the online application form. The online system was introduced in November 2023 and, at 31 March 2024, 704 applicants had completed the online form. Staff are still available to assist in completing online forms and all applicants still have the opportunity for housing options advice; to assist those making a housing enquiry to gain a realistic understanding of the choices available to suit their circumstances. The online housing application is available alongside existing ways to apply, such as telephone, video conferencing (Near Me), email and in person as requested. Tenancy Management 3.2.4 Ninety-two members of staff from the housing team participated in learning about ‘Trauma-informed’ practice, to learn more about the causes of trauma and the impacts of trauma on people. The learning is intended to assist our staff in their roles when working with people and each other, to recognise causes and behaviours which may relate to previous or current trauma in their life, and to respond in a supportive manner. There has been positive feedback from those who attended, the team have benefited from the learning, with comments demonstrating knowledge and understanding, and recognition of opportunities to respond with helpful approaches to connect with and support those affected by trauma and when manifesting stress and distress. Taking account of feedback, next steps are being explored to promote and support on-going developments.
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3.3 Homelessness and Housing Support 3.3.1 There continues to be increased demand for assistance from our Homeless and Housing Support Services and a separate full report on these pressures is provided to the Policy Board at agenda item 6. 3.3.2 As regards other matters from across homeless and housing support, we have been able to have over 70 staff from across the homeless and housing support team to complete Level 2 ‘Trauma Skilled’ training. The advanced learning outcomes from this training will enable staff to better understand and support service users, tenants and families who are dealing with the impact of trauma, as well as protect and support their own wellbeing in dealing with difficult circumstances in both their work and home environment. 3.3.3 The trauma skilled training course focused on four main areas: • Understanding the impact of trauma and responding in a trauma- informed way • Trauma in children and young people • Understanding the impact of trauma on mental health and evidence- based pathways to recovery • Understanding the use of substances to cope with the impact of trauma. Refugee Resettlement 3.3.4 The number of Ukrainian Displaced Persons being supported at our Welcome Hub near Glasgow Airport continues to reduce and 191 Ukrainian households have been supported to resettle in social rented tenancies across Renfrewshire. 3.3.5 In line with the Policy Board decision in 2023 to seek funding to allow a small number of ‘Last in the Block’ properties to be repaired and let to those resettling in Renfrewshire from Ukraine. The refugee resettlement team have now secured £159,956 funding via the Scottish Government’s ‘Ukrainian Long Term Resettlement Fund’ to cover the repairs and furnishing costs for 20 void properties which have now been let to Ukrainian Displaced Persons. 3.3.6 A broad range of local integration events are now regularly taking place, as well as initiatives such as special screenings being arranged in partnership with Showcase Cinemas of feature films with Ukrainian subtitles at their Linwood cinema complex.
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3.4 Housing Asset and Investment Stock Condition Surveys 3.4.1 Property consultants John Martin Partnership (JMP) have been appointed to carry out a condition survey of all our housing stock, lockups and launderette facilities. 3.4.2 The first surveys will commence in May 2024, with a 3-year programme planned with the aim of surveying all homes, subject to tenants providing access to their homes. The first year of the programme will mainly concentrate surveys in the areas of Paisley South and Central Paisley, as well as parts of Renfrew. Letters will be sent to tenants a few weeks prior to the surveyors attempting access in their area, explaining why the survey is required and what information is being collected. Local ward councillors and other internal stakeholders will be kept informed of the survey programme. 3.4.3 The stock condition surveys will gather data on the condition of the properties and estimate of remaining life span of key component parts such as kitchen, bathroom, windows, roof finish etc, as well as collecting energy data for the production of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). 3.4.4 The survey data will be used to update our Housing Asset Management System; informing our latest SHQS compliance rate, assist with plans for future investment programmes and inform the financial planning of our Housing Revenue Account (HRA) business plan. Private Landlord Forum Event 3.4.5 As reported in the last service update report, Housing Services, in conjunction with Licensing, organised a private landlord forum event in Paisley on 15 February. Renfrewshire Landlord Forum saw over 65 landlords and agents attend the event in the Town Hall. Topics covered at the event included an update from the Council on investment plans and programmes including the regeneration areas as well as providing information to attendees on Council energy efficiency targets. 3.4.6 Due to the high level of interest in this event a further online event was held on 1 May. A further 90 landlords/agents were invited to attend, with 30 joining online on the day. The Council will work with partner organisations Landlord Accreditation Scotland and Under One Roof to ensure that landlords in Renfrewshire continue to receive further training opportunities to ensure that they are kept up to date on changing legislation and standards impacting on the private rented sector. 3.5 Review of Void Property Management 3.5.1 The Single Voids Manager continues to develop and implement the action plan for improvement in conjunction with colleagues from all teams involved in the void process, including specifically: • The key positions of Interim Facilities Manager (Voids) and Interim Single Voids Team Officer have been filled, with the former now
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responsible for all trades supervisors and operatives working on voids and the latter now carrying out all pre-termination inspections; • We have changed our approach to textured ceiling and wall coatings, in order to minimise specialist removal works; • A contract has been let for a pilot project to provide potential tenants with links via social media to 360o virtual tours of void properties, in order to minimise refusal rates; and • The Single Voids Team has been co-located at Underwood Road, with Building Services trades supervisors and the Housing Services Empty House Team working closely together, including on some joint inspections in order to ensure consistency of scoping of void works and minimise the extent of additional work required later in the process. 3.6 Lock ups and ground sites 3.6.1 A working group of Council officers has been established to consider the future of Council owned lock ups and grounds sites (grounds sites are concrete bases which are leased by the Council to residents to erect their own garage). An initial non-technical review undertaken in 2023 concluded that there were 1,152 lock ups over 84 sites in Renfrewshire, and around 500 ground sites across 54 locations. Many of the Council owned lock ups and the structures on ground sites were found to be in poor condition with many void or apparently unused. 3.6.2 With regard to lock ups, the 2023 review suggested that a technical appraisal of all lock up sites is undertaken to help inform which lock ups should be retained, with associated repairs and costs identified. A stock condition survey is now underway. Once the stock condition survey information is available, the working group will complete an options appraisal to determine the future of the lock ups, with potentially some lock ups demolished and sites repurposed. The options appraisal will also consider future alternative uses for lock up sites. 3.6.3 For ground sites, the non-technical review found that only a small number had structures on them that were being used and maintained in good condition, and suggested that the owners of structures on other ground sites (i.e. those in poor condition) be engaged with to discuss the ending of leases and the removal of structures. An options appraisal exercise will also be undertaken by the working group to establish the future of ground sites. The options appraisal will also consider future alternative uses for ground sites. 3.6.4 The officer working group will continue with a more detailed review of all lock up and ground sites and consideration of their future use and report back to the Communities and Housing Policy Board in due course.
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4. Public Protection 4.1 Community Safety Dargavel CCTV Update 4.1.1 Funding of £100,000 for the provision of CCTV at the Village Square and Bishopton Rail Station was agreed as part of the Section 75 Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 for Dargavel. To accommodate the additional CCTV cameras there is a requirement to upgrade the server capacity at the CCTV Control Room. 4.1.2 This funding will cover the installation of cameras at these two locations as well as the required upgrade to the server. When the infrastructure comes to the end of its life, or if it becomes damaged prior to replacement, an assessment will be carried out using the public safety data available at the time to determine if the location merits replacement. 4.2 Trading Standards Tobacco and Nicotine Vapour Products 4.2.1 Work around Tobacco and Nicotine Vapour Products (NVPs or Vapes) continues to be of a high priority. 4.2.2 The Team recently concluded 20 Integrity Test Purchases at premises throughout Renfrewshire. Integrity tests are carried out to ensure that premises selling age-restricted products have robust systems in place to prevent underage sales – in particular that they are applying any “Challenge 25” policies properly. Test Purchases are carried out by a young adult, who is of age to buy the age-restricted product, to check that the business asks for proof of age and/or refuses a sale where no proof of age is presented. 4.2.3 Due to the high profile of Single-Use Vape Products, the Volunteer was asked to attempt to purchase one in each premises. The Volunteer was instructed to be truthful, and 20 premises were visited in total, with fourteen of those failing to make any checks on our volunteer (70% failure rate). Letters will be sent to all premises and follow up visits will be undertaken to ensure standards are raised. Weights and Measures 4.2.4 Legal metrology is the buying and selling of goods by weight, or volume. In times of economic downturn, it’s important to ensure that citizens (and indeed businesses through their own trade purchases) are getting what they paid for. This can be through activities such as checking packaged goods on sale in retail outlets, testing scales or checking petrol pumps. The Team recently undertook a pilot programme of short measure testing in licensed premises across Paisley. Twelve premises were visited, and two free pour measures of gin, rum, vodka, or whisky were purchased and tested in each premises. From these twenty-four measures, sixteen were found to be deficient (66% failure rate). From discussions at these visits, it would seem that training is possibly deficient in the use of brim (thimble) capacity
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measures. These breaches will be subject to advice/warning letters, and consideration is now being given on how to help raise standards across the sector through educational activity. 4.3 Environmental Health Time management Exercise 4.3.1 The Environmental Health Business Regulation Team are currently engaged in a national time measurement exercise (TME) with Food Standards Scotland. The current exercise (TME 2.0) will run for 3 months and follows on from a similar one carried out in September 2022, when Scottish Local Authorities undertook the first TME over an 8-week period. 4.3.2 Although adding to the workload of managers and officers, it is acknowledged that it is critical that empirical data is available to support engagement with; The Society of Chief Officers of Environmental Health in Scotland, Scottish Government, SOLACE and CoSLA, as well as other national regulators, when discussing demands on our services. 4.3.3 In addition, the exercise: • Facilitates an improved resource required calculation • Assists with Service planning • Enables enhanced change management • Gathers baseline data for the Scottish Authorities Food Enforcement Rebuild (SAFER) programme. • Serves as a pilot for wider EH Time/Resource Measurement Air Quality 4.3.4 The service has recently prepared and issued a draft Air Quality Action Plan inviting comments on the Plan, and the finalised plan is being presented to this cycle of the Communities and Housing Policy Board. The draft Air Quality Action Plan Update has been developed in recognition of the legal requirement place on all local authorities under the Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) statutory process and in particular the Scottish Government’s Local Air Quality Management Policy Guidance 2023 (PG(S)(23)). This latter guidance requires air quality actions plans to be reviewed and republished on a five yearly cycle from date of initial publication. As part of the development process and to ensure continuing improvement in air quality a number of new actions have been devised in consultation with service areas across the Council, statutory consultees and key stakeholders. 4.3.5 The report highlights that there has been no exceedances of statutory air quality objectives within Renfrewshire for a number of years (the last exceedance was reported in 2019) and consideration will, over the course of this year, be given to revoking the three Air Quality Management Areas within Paisley, Renfrew and Johnstone. Where these areas are revoked, current and newly identified measures will be incorporated into a Renfrewshire Council Local Air Quality Strategy. Progress each year will be reported in the
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Annual Progress Report (APR) produced by Renfrewshire Council, as part of the Council’s statutory Local Air Quality Management duties. Landlord Registration/Private Rented Sector 4.3.6 Enforcement activity continues to be progressed within the private rented sector to ensure that unregistered/expired landlord registrations are addressed with the landlords concerned to ensure they register, which is a legal duty on all private landlords. There is also ongoing activity to support tenants within private rented property to improve living conditions by requiring landlords to comply with their duties to provide accommodation which meets the terms of the statutory Repairing Standard and ensures that tenants are provided with safe accommodation which is fit for habitation. Enforcement powers available and which are utilised include reporting non-compliant landlords to the Housing and Property Chamber First Tier Tribunal, or to the Regulatory Functions Board to consider the fit and proper status of landlords. Table 2 Action 2023 total (calendar year) Jan- Mar 2024 Unregistered private landlords investigated 67 30 Expired private landlord registrations investigated 465 98 Rent Penalty Notices Issued 142 41 Number of disrepair enquiries within the private rented sector 71 35 Reports to the Housing and Property Chamber First Tier Tribunal* 4 0 Reports to the Regulatory Functions Board* 1 0 *Majority of enquiries are resolved informally without referral to the Tribunal/RFB Animal Licensing 4.3.7 Annual inspections of animal premises which require to be licensed have been taking place over recent months with most of these being found to be satisfactory and very few issues of concern being identified. Visits to horse riding establishments are undertaken along with a veterinarian who considers the health of the horses to ensure they are fit for riding purposes, as part of the licensing process. Premises requiring to be licensed include kennels and catteries, home boarding and commercial boarding of dogs and premises engaged in the selling of animals as pets (formerly pet shops). Currently there are 48 premises in total requiring inspection. 4.3.8 The service is receiving significant volumes of service requests to treat pests within dwellings and gardens (or provide advice), with 1,204 requests having been received during 2023/24. The team who undertake treatments consists of two Officers however since August 2023, this has been successfully supplemented by the addition of a temporary Invest Trainee position which is both adding resource to the team but also providing the postholder valuable work experience within the service.
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5. Community Development Team Up to Clean Up 5.1.1 A high volume of interest was generated by this Year’s Big Spring Clean with 725 events taking place, supported by 2,239 volunteers The business community across Renfrewshire, schools community groups and individuals all got involved with presentations also being delivered to school pupils stressing the value of keeping their community tidy and the local and global benefits. The Office team also delivered 4 litterpicking events at local retail parks throughout March, inviting businesses and volunteers, generating awareness of the Campaign, the principles, and the volunteer’s work. 5.1.2 The Conservation Volunteers again successfully delivered 3 workshops in Renfrewshire hosted by West End Growing Grounds Association (WEGGA), Evergreen Elderslie, and Renfrew Association of Growers & Gardeners (RAGG). Each of the events was well received with attendees learning how to create their own wildflower meadow areas. 5.1.3 Team Up to Clean Up were awarded an “Outstanding Achievement” accreditation at the Provost Awards in March. Sixteen volunteers enjoyed the award ceremony, they were accompanied by the office Team Up team. Attendees were treated to a 3-course meal and entertainment, while the Provost acknowledged and voiced appreciation for everyone involved, together with their dedication and commitment. 5.2 Environmental Taskforce 5.2.1 The Environmental Taskforce continues to deliver intervention to reduce instances of flytipping. Key statistics for the most recent period are: Table 3 Action 2023 total Proactive visits to identified hotspot areas 428 Number of reports investigated 343 Tonnes of flytipping removed 51 tonnes Number of sites secured to prevent further flytipping 0 Letters to private landowners re flytipping 9 Visits to businesses to ensure Waste Disposal Arrangements in place 17 Fixed Penalty Notices Issued 16 5.2.2 Taskforce cameras have been relocated to new obtain visual evidence at local flytipping hotspot locations.
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6. Justice Social Work 6.1.1 The Early Intervention Service is now operational. All staff have been recruited within the fieldwork service, the women’s justice service and Whole Systems. Bail Supervision commenced on 19 February 2024 and voluntary supervision transferred from the court team to this service on the same date. Thus, staff are now undertaking the full range of services including extended diversions and Structured Deferred Sentences. 6.1.2 Justice Social Work is part of the Children’s Services Redesign which is currently being implemented. David Wilson will replace Allison Scott as Justice Services Manager from 18 April 2024, and 2 Senior Manager posts have been created developed to ensure that Renfrewshire is prepared to take forward further developments in line with the national vision for Justice and the National Strategy for Community Justice. 6.1.3 A programme of engagement activity is planned over the coming months to understand the perceptions and experiences of community justice. This will involve people in receipt of services and those who deliver them. This is an early milestone in a strategic communications approach that aims to inform our communities and promote the benefits or rehabilitative approaches to offending and challenge ideas and thinking that can lead to stigma. 6.1.4 Further progress had been made though Renfrewshire’s Local Employability Partnership (LEP) to provide targeted employability support for people with convictions. Providers have been commissioned from the LEP’s 2024/25 grant fund to bolster Renfrewshire’s already strong employability offer with new pathways that address the specific challenges and complex needs of people with convictions. Implications of the Report 1. Financial – Any financial elements referenced in this report will be progressed through the Council’s financial & budget planning process. 2. HR & Organisational Development – None 3. Community/Council Planning – The report details a range of activities which reflect local community and council planning themes. 4. Legal – None 5. Property/Assets – None 6. Information Technology –None 7. Equality & Human Rights - The recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be
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reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 8. Health & Safety – None 9. Procurement – None 10. Risk – None 11. Privacy Impact – None 12. COSLA Policy Position – None 13. Climate Change – there are a range of actions and activities throughout the Service Update Report which support the Council’s Plan for Net Zero, ___________________________________________________________________ List of Background Papers: None ___________________________________________________________________ Author: Gordon McNeil, Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure Email: gordon.mcneil@renfrewshire.gov.uk