Agenda and decisions

(i)             to note that, to date, £34m has been invested during 2024/2025 delivering upgrades to Council homes -  165 kitchen upgrades, 102 bathrooms, 219 windows, 372 fire doors (FD60);

(ii)           to commit £76m in 2025/26 to continue capital upgrades within Council housing stock to ensure these homes meets current and future standards;  

(iii)          to welcome the 206 Union Street project which is due to be completed in 2025, delivering 28 high quality, affordable social homes on Union Street, which will lead to more people living in the city centre;

(iv)          to welcome that £28m has been spent this year delivering the Cloverhill housing project, Craighill housing project and the Council’s other new build projects;

(v)           to approve the budget as attached in Appendix 1, page 2, of the report, subject to the following amendments:

(a)       that no contribution towards capital expenditure will be made from revenue in 2025/26;

(b)       that no contribution towards restoring HRA Reserves will be made in 2025/26;

(c)        that there will be a contribution of £792,000 from HRA Reserves during 2025/26, leaving the projected value of HRA Reserves as at 31 March 2026 approximately £7.6m or 6.5% of HRA operating costs - below the 10% HRA Reserves target;

(d)       that grounds maintenance on HRA land will be reduced during 2025/26 by 20%, saving £600,000; and

(e)       to introduce an additional new build premium of 15% for those properties that are first let, or thereafter have a change in tenancy, having been handed over to the Council after 18 March 2021, with effect from 7 April 2025; resulting in:

(f)         approval of the setting of the weekly unrebated rents at an increase of 7.5%, for municipal homes, to take effect from Monday 7 April 2025;

(vi)          to agree to work towards restoring the working balances to 10% in future years to meet future operational requirements and risks, noting that if the Housing Revenue Account records a deficit and has no reserves then the Council’s General Fund must make a contribution to balance the Account;

(vii)        to approve the level of miscellaneous rents and service charges, including Heat with Rent and the General Fund Support Services Charges as detailed in Appendix 1, pages 18 to 19, to take effect from Monday 7 April 2025;

(viii)       to approve, based on a rental increase of 7.5% the Base Capital Programme for the financial year 2025/26 Appendix 1, pages 22 to 24;

(ix)          to approve an expansion of the Rent Assistance Fund in 2025/26 to a maximum value of £1m, the intention being to reduce bad debt, and noting that an evaluation of the initial pilot will be reported to Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee in 2025, after 1 full year of operation;

(x)           to instruct the Chief Officer - Housing in consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance and Chief Officer - Digital and Technology to explore the resource and technical implications of moving from a 48 week to a 52 week rent structure with effect from April 2026,  ...  view the full decision text for item