Agenda item

With reference to Article 3 of the minute of the meeting of the Urgent Business Committee of 29 February 2024, the Council had before it a report by the Chief Officers - Capital, Housing and Corporate Landlord which provided an update on the work underway and highlighted some of the key findings at this stage of the options appraisal.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)           note the information contained within the report about the various options under consideration;

(b)           agree and approve that Option 1: Bearing Shelf Extension be ruled out as a viable remedial option (paragraphs 3.37 - 3.39);

(c)           approve that engagement on the remaining three options, be planned to be held during July 2024, which would be open to all Council tenants as required by the Housing Act 2021 (Appendix B: Proposed Stakeholder Engagement);

(d)           note that it was proposed that private owners/tenants should be invited to participate in that engagement as noted in recommendation (c) above;

(e)           note that the information collated from the tenant engagement as intimated in recommendations (c) and (d) above would be considered alongside the technical evaluation of options;

(f)             note that from a construction perspective, officers continued to reinforce the need for tenants to be rehomed irrespective of the outcome of the option consideration;

(g)           note that the intention was to come back with a recommended option to the next Council meeting which was scheduled to take place on 21 August 2024;

(h)           note the reference to the expected levels of consequential costs because of carrying out remedial measures for the options which retained the existing properties, as intimated in section 4 of the report;

(i)             note that intrusive surveys of RAAC impacted properties were still progressing as part of an ongoing mitigation strategy to allay any assurance concerns to existing Council tenants (paragraph 3.6);

(j)             note that 138 of the properties identified with RAAC in the Balnagask area were privately owned (Appendix A: Property Ownership and Housing Mix); and

(k)           note with regard to Private or Registered Landlord properties, 40 buildings were not adjoining any Council owned property, 61 building were adjoined and there were 33 addresses which shared a building with the Council (Appendix A: Property Ownership and Housing Mix).

Councillor Watson moved as a procedural motion, seconded by Councillor Malik:-

That the Council suspend Standing Order 14.1 to hear the deputation in relation to the report.

On a division, there voted:-

For the procedural motion  (21)  -  Councillors Ali, Blake, Bonsell, Boulton, Brooks, Crockett, Cross, Farquhar, Graham, Grant, Houghton, Kusznir, Lawrence, Macdonald, McLeod, Malik, Massey, Mrs Stewart, Thomson, Tissera and Watson.

Against the procedural motion  (22)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Al-Samarai, Allard, Alphonse, Hazel Cameron, Clark, Cooke, Copland, Cormie, Davidson, Greig, Henrickson, Hutchison, MacGregor, McLellan, McRae, Mennie, Nicoll, Radley, van Sweeden and Yuill.

Absent from the division  (1)  -  Councillor Bouse.

The Council resolved:-

to reject the procedural motion.

The Council received a presentation from the Chief Officer - Capital and the Chief Officer - Housing which was followed by an opportunity for questions on the presentation and the report.

The Council further resolved:-

(i)             to agree the addition of a ‘demolition and consideration of future housebuilding’ option for consideration by Council on 21 August 2024;

(ii)           to explain that 'demolition and consideration of future housebuilding’, alongside the demolition costs, would detail (a) the future potential housebuilding options; and (b) estimated building costs range; and

(iii)          to approve the recommendations contained within the report.