Decent Homes target questioned again by Lib Dems (Wokingham Liberal Democrats)

Wokingham Liberal Democrats <info@wokinghamlibdems.org.uk>

Decent Homes target questioned again by Lib Dems

May 21, 2010 12:00 PM

The Conservative Executive on Wokingham Borough Council have set themselves the easiest of targets when it comes to bringing the Council's housing stock up to the Decent Homes Standard, as it will be met if just one house is improved between now and 2013. Despite Cllr Phil Challis' (Liberal Democrat Councillor for Loddon) questioning of the Executive about the target's smartness in January, it still remains the one to which the Council aspires.

Cllr Phil Challis said: 'The Council will meet their target if they bring just one more house up to the Decent Homes Standard before 2013 - is that really the best that they can do? I believe this Council must be more ambitious. I am very sad that under the Conservatives it looks like hundreds of tenants will have to put up with living in housing that may not meet the Decent Homes Standard for years to come.

The Liberal Democrats have vowed to continue their scrutiny of the Decent Homes target, and Cllr Jenny Lissaman (Liberal Democrat councillor for Bulmershe and Whitegates ward) will be asking a question about it at the Executive meeting next Thursday.

Detailed Questions and Answers:

The following exchange between Cllr Phil Challis and Cllr David Lee is taken from the minutes of the Executive meeting on 28th January 2010:

Minute 91.01:

Question

Phil Challis asked the Executive Member for Social Care the following question which was answered by Councillor David Lee in Councillor Edmunds absence:

The Housing Strategy Action Plan refers to the need to have SMART targets and yet many of the targets are not SMART; for example, the Council will be measuring its success on Decent Homes based upon whether 'the number of Council homes meeting the Decent Homes Standard has moved towards 100%'. Do you accept that this target would be met if just one more house was brought up to the Decent Homes Standard?

Answer

I suppose the answer to your question is yes. Where possible SMART targets have been set within the Housing Strategy and these are laid out in detail in the appended Action Plan. However, in some cases there needs to be some further developmental work undertaken to inform the setting of a SMART target at a later stage. In the case of the Decent Homes target the Action Plan highlights a specific milestone to produce a Decent Homes programme of works by April 2010. So we will be starting the new year with a very clear programme but actually work has either just started or is about to start and this will set incremental targets for moving towards achieving the Decent Homes Standard.

Supplementary Question

I guess you would agree that setting this target in this way wasn't that SMART because there are nearly 2,800 Council homes and to do one home up to the Decent Homes Standard isn't really a real achievement. As such shouldn't the target be 100% by 2013 which in itself is three years late?

Supplementary Answer

I would love to be able to say that yes we would have 100% done by 2013 but you, as a Member of this Council, are very well aware that 50% of our residents' rents are taken and distributed to other parts of the country and we currently spend over £4m each year on repairs and maintenance. About half of that is classed as major capital works and the rest is the ongoing repairs to the housing stock. We can only do what we can physically do and you well know that and I have invited you and everyone else in this Council to help with our representations to Government to get this very unfair tax stopped. So I can't give you any guarantee, I am sorry, but it is also why we are looking at all options to actually make sure that our tenants have got good quality housing at affordable prices.