Agenda, decisions and minutes

The agenda and reports associated with this minute can be found here.

Please note that if any changes are made to this minute at the point of approval, these will be outlined in the subsequent minute and this document will not be retrospectively altered.

The Committee had before it the minute of the previous meeting of 18 November 2021, for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute as a correct record subject to the inclusion of Councillor Henrickson as a substitute for Councillor Al-Samarai, which was omitted from the minute.

The Committee had before it the committee business planner as prepared by the Chief Officer – Governance. 

The Committee resolved:-

to note the information contained within the business planner.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Customer Services, which presented Committee with the status of key performance measures relating to the Operations (non-Education) and Customer functions.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee provide comments and observations on the performance

information contained in report Appendix A.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)              in regards to complaint statistics for building services, to request that the Chief Officer – Operations and Protective Services, provide details to members by way of email, the percentage of complaints that were made before COVID restrictions were imposed and what percentage of complaints were after COVID restrictions;

(ii)             to request that the Chief Officer – Operations and Protective Services, provide information to members by way of email, with details on the national average in relation to vehicles passing their MOT first time; and

(iii)            to otherwise note the information contained in the Performance Report. 

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Operations and Protective Services, which considered objections and comments received as part of the statutory consultation period with respect to proposed Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs).

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)            acknowledge the objections received as a result of the public advertisement of proposed traffic regulation orders;

(b)            in relation to “The Aberdeen City Council (Middlefield Terrace, Aberdeen) (Prohibition of Waiting) Order 202(X)” overrule the objection received and approve this order be made as originally envisaged; and

(c)             in relation to "The Aberdeen City Council (Donmouth Area, Aberdeen) (20mph Speed Limit) Order 202(X)”overrule the objection received and approve this order to be made as originally envisaged.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations. 

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Operations and Protective Services, which sought approval for the managed student accommodation waste policy, which was a newly created document to provide the managed student accommodation providers with clear guidance regarding the domestic waste recycling service provision, their waste management responsibilities and the consequences of non-compliance with the policy.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee approve the proposed managed student accommodation waste policy attached at appendix 1.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendation.

With reference to article 15 of the minute of 16 September 2021, whereby it was agreed that an update report would be provided in relation to Void Housing, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, which provided an update on the progress of managing Void Housing properties.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee notes the current position regarding Void Housing property performance. 

The Committee resolved:-

(i)              to request that officers provide details by way of email to members, regarding buy back property figures;

(ii)             to note the current position regarding Void Housing property performance; and

(iii)            to agree to hold a cross party meeting to establish the feasibility and potential remit of a Voids Working Group.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, which sought approval for the proposed revised Allocation Policy, which took into account the adoption of a Choice Based Letting (CBL) approach to the letting of council housing, which would replace the current system.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)            approve the Choice Based Letting amendment to the Allocations Policy as detailed in Appendix 1; and

(b)            instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to implement the amendment to the Allocations Policy.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, which provided Committee with the Child Poverty Action report for 2020/21 as required by the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)            approves the joint Aberdeen City Council and NHS Grampian Child Poverty Action Report 2020/21 for submission to the Scottish Government; and

(b)            notes that these reports have been created without access to national child poverty data, which was not yet available for the 2020/21 year; and that a service update would be issued once this data was available.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)              to recognise the significant progress made by our own teams and our partner organisations in delivering much improved outcomes for local children and families affected by poverty during such challenging times;

(ii)             to note with concern that 23% of households are presently believed to be experiencing fuel poverty in Aberdeen;

(iii)            to instruct the Chief Executive to write to the UK and Scottish Governments  highlighting the good work undertaken by Aberdeen City Council to reduce child poverty and the damage which would be caused to children and families already experiencing hardship if they are driven deeper into fuel poverty;

(iv)           to include within the letter to the UK Government a call to increase the value of the financial assistance offered by the Warm Homes Discount Scheme and to widen its eligibility criteria to include more families living on low incomes, in order to prevent them from falling into fuel poverty; and

(v)             to otherwise approve the recommendations contained in the report.

-        Councillor Philip Bell, Convener