Minutes of meeting
Renfrewshire Council · 14 January 2025
Back to Communities and Housing Policy Board — 14 January 2025 and its agenda
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Minute of Meeting Communities and Housing Policy Board Date Time Venue Tuesday, 14 January 2025 13:00 Council Chambers (Renfrewshire), Council Headquarters, Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley, PA1 1AN Present: Councillor Jacqueline Cameron, Councillor Carolann Davidson, Councillor Gillian Graham, Councillor John Hood, Councillor Robert Innes, Councillor Alec Leishman, Councillor Kenny MacLaren, Councillor Mags MacLaren, Councillor Colin McCulloch, Councillor Janis McDonald, Councillor Cathy McEwan, Councillor Jamie McGuire, Councillor Marie McGurk, Councillor Iain McMillan, Councillor John McNaughtan, Councillor Iain Nicolson, Councillor Emma Rodden Chair Councillor McGurk, Convener, presided. In Attendance G McNeil, Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure; L McIntyre, Head of Policy & Partnerships, A Walter, Strategic Partnership & Inequalities Manager, A Williamson, Strategy & Place Manager, S Inrig, Assistant Manager (Employability), K Dalrymple, Development Plans & Housing Strategy Team Leader, N Drummond, Lead Officer (Community Capacity), K Russell, Local Partnerships Development Officer and M Kirk, Assistant Planning & Policy Development Officer (all Chief Executive’s); C Dalrymple, Head of Facilities & Property Services, L Feeley, Head of Housing Services, G Hannah, Head of Climate, Public Protection & Roads, G Heaney, Climate & Public Protection Manager, T Irvine, Homeless & Housing Support Services Manager, R Marshall, Environmental Health Business Regulation Manager, J Murdoch, Housing Regeneration Manager, C Robertson, Warden Services Manager, K Sillars, Housing Asset & Investment Manager, M Brown, Housing Asset & Energy Strategy Manager, P McLean, Housing Lead Officer (Participation, Performance & Policy), R Walkinshaw, Housing Regeneration & Development Manager and A Miller, Development Officer (Housing Regeneration & Service Improvement) (all Environment, Housing & Infrastructure); and J Kilpatrick, Finance Business Partner, E Gray, Senior Committee Services Officer and D Cunningham, Committee Services & Licensing Officer (all Finance & Resources).
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Webcasting of Meeting Prior to the commencement of the meeting the Convener intimated that this meeting of the Policy Board would be filmed for live or subsequent broadcast on the Council's internet site. Declarations of Interest and Transparency Statements There were no declarations of interest or transparency statements intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting. 1 Police and Fire and Rescue Services Scrutiny Sub- committee There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of the Sub-committee held on 29 October 2024, a copy of which forms the Appendix to this Minute. DECIDED: That the Minute be approved. 2 General Services Revenue, Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and Capital Budget Monitoring as at 8 November 2024 There was submitted a General Services Revenue, Housing Revenue Account and Capital Budget Monitoring report by the Director of Finance & Resources for the period 1 April to 8 November 2024. The report stated that the projected outturn as at 31 March 2025 for all services reporting to this Policy Board was a break-even position against the revised budgets for both the General Services and Housing Revenue Account. The projected Capital outturn for projects reporting to this Policy Board was also a break-even position. Summaries were provided over the relevant services in the tables within the report, together with further analysis. The report advised of the drawdown of £0.518 million from HRA reserves, detailed in section 5.9 of the report, and sought approval of a budget adjustment, details of which were outlined in paragraph 7.2 of the report. DECIDED: (a) That the projected Revenue outturn break-even position, be noted; (b) That the projected Capital outturn break-even position, be noted; (c) That the drawdown of £0.518 million from HRA, detailed in section 5.9 of the report, be noted; and (d) That the budget adjustment, detailed in section 7.2 of the report, be approved.
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3 Service Update Report There was submitted a report by the Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure relative to key service activities which provided an operational performance update in connection with services and key projects and changes to service areas covered within the remit of this Policy Board since the previous meeting. Updates were provided in respect of housing services, public protection, community development and justice social work activities which detailed specific projects and recent changes within each service area. DECIDED: That the report be noted. 4 Temporary Accommodation Charging Policy There was submitted a report by the Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure relative to the revised Temporary Accommodation Charging Policy, developed to provide an updated framework which could be used for the charging of rent and service charges to homeless households for the provision of furnished temporary accommodation. The report stated that the proposed Temporary Accommodation Charging Policy would assist the Council in meeting the needs of those who had nowhere to stay whilst fully reflecting the increase in costs in recent years and would be in line with the Local Housing Strategy and Renfrewshire’s Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan. The overall aim of the Policy was to ensure that rent and service charges for furnished temporary accommodation were set at an affordable level for all, provided financial sustainability, allowed the Council to continue to provide good quality furnished accommodation for those in housing need and meet the actual cost of providing the accommodation and related services. DECIDED: (a) That the Renfrewshire Council Temporary Accommodation Charging Policy, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report, be approved; and (b) That the Temporary Accommodation fees and charges, set out in section 4.6 of the report, be approved. 5 Homelessness Benchmarking Report There was submitted a report by the Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure relative to the Council’s performance in dealing with the homelessness challenges in comparison to other local authorities. The report referenced the regular reports submitted to this Policy Board over the past 18 months on the nature and scale of the current homelessness situation in Renfrewshire.
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Each year the Council submitted returns to the Scottish Government on a broad range of homelessness statistics. The Scottish Government had published homelessness statistics for 2023/24 in September 2024 and, through its membership of Scotland’s Housing Network, the Council had been able to compare where it was performing well against other local authorities and identify areas for improvement. DECIDED: That it be noted how the Council was performing in response to those who were statutorily homeless in comparison to other local authorities. 6 Allocation of property to staff, elected member or committee members: Housing Rule 2.5 There was submitted a report by the Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure relative to Housing Rule 2.5, which required all housing allocations which involved either (i) Council members or their immediate families or (ii) members of staff of the Housing Services Division or their immediate families to be notified to the relevant Policy Board. DECIDED: That the report be noted. 7 CCTV Installation Policy There was submitted a report by the Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure relative to the proposed adoption of guidance on the procedures to be followed when making feasibility decisions regarding the installation of Public Space CCTV cameras in the Renfrewshire area. The report advised that Renfrewshire Council managed the Public Space CCTV system, which consisted of 65 CCTV cameras covering the wider Renfrewshire area as well as a number of Household Waste Recycling Centres. The system was designed to promote Community Safety and overall wellbeing within the community. The positioning of the current CCTV infrastructure was subject to periodic review to ensure the locations utilised remained appropriate, based on crime and incident pattern analysis. It was highlighted that the Council received requests to install additional public space CCTV cameras and the purpose of this report was to provide clear guidance on the procedure to be followed when making feasibility decisions in this regard. It was noted that, at the current time, there were no plans to install additional CCTV infrastructure in Renfrewshire outwith the CCTV due to be installed in Dargavel as a result of the conditions connected with the Section 75 agreement with BAE. DECIDED: That the CCTV Installation Policy, as attached as Appendix 1 of the report, be approved. 8 Community Funding Update There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to community funding. The report advised that in order to strengthen the oversight of funding applications, a consolidated community funding report was submitted each meeting cycle providing updated information and setting out recommendations for approval in relation to the
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Greenspaces, Villages Investment and Sustainable Communities Funds. The report stated the key objectives and criteria of the fund had been agreed at the meeting of the Leadership Board held on 20 September 2023. In addition, it had been agreed that recommendations in relation to funding applications would be submitted to this Policy Board for final approval, following assessment by a cross service officer panel. An officer panel had subsequently been established to review applications and make recommendations on funding awards to this Policy Board. At the meeting of this Policy Board held on 29 October 2024, it was agreed to pause any new applications to both the Sustainable Communities Fund and the Villages Investment Fund, to allow for a review of the funding guidance to be undertaken. At that time, ten existing applications to the Sustainable Communities Fund were being processed. The report provided, in Section 4 and Appendix 1, specific information relating to these applications to the Sustainable Communities Fund together with recommendations for funding. Appendix 2 of the report provided information on projects previously awarded funding through the Sustainable Communities Fund. The report highlighted that following the review of the guidance for the Sustainable Communities Fund and Villages Investment Fund, updated guidance would be submitted to the meeting of the Leadership Board to be held on 19 February 2025 for consideration and, if appropriate, approval by that Board. DECIDED: (a) That the funding recommendations in relation to the proposed allocation of the Sustainable Communities Fund, detailed in Section 4 and Appendix 1 of the report, be approved; (b) That the information provided on projects previously funded through the Sustainable Communities Fund, detailed in Appendix 2 of the report, be noted; and (c) That it be noted that the review of the Sustainable Communities Fund and Villages Investment Fund guidance was nearing completion and that it was anticipated that this would be submitted for consideration and, if appropriate, approval to the meeting of the Leadership Board to be held on 19 February 2025, with the Funds being relaunched and reopened to applications thereafter.