Agenda item

In accordance with the decision recorded under article 1 of this minute, the following items were considered with the press and public excluded.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

The Convener and Councillor Yuill declared interests in the report referred to in the following article by reason of their membership of Unison. Councillors Crockett, Graham and Young also declared interests by virtue of their membership of Unite the Union.  None of the members felt it necessary to withdraw from the meeting.

Reference was made to article 51 of the minute of the previous meeting of this Committee of 17 June, 2010, at which time there was under consideration a report prepared for the Audit and Risk Committee on the matter of tied housing and the justification, if any, for houses to remain tied, which had presented a number of options to members regarding the future management of the properties in question.  As part of the decision of this Committee on that occasion, the Head of Asset Management and Operations was instructed to consult the tenants of the staff houses on various appropriate issues that may affect their future occupancy, including the proposal to remove the rental discounts currently applying and to increase the rents payable by them to the levels of the prevailing Housing Revenue Account rents, all as detailed within the report before the members at that time, and to report back to the Committee with the outcome of that consultation.  The Committee now had before it a report by the Director of Environment, Planning and Infrastructure which contained the information requested.

The report referred to the decision taken by the Committee at its meeting on
17 June, 2010, and pointed out the need, in terms of Sections 25 and 39 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, to consult such tenants before giving notice of a rent increase and to have regard to the views expressed by those consulted.  Having confirmed that the Head of Asset Management and Operations had responsibility for fifty one staff houses, the report (1) advised of the numbers which were currently vacant, were still required to be kept as tied housing and were currently occupied by persons awaiting relocation; (2) advised also of the notification given to the tenants affected and their trades union representatives; and (3) confirmed that eighteen responses had been received, including two from trades unions, copies of which were before the Committee.

The report proceeded to outline the concerns expressed by the affected tenants and their trades union representatives and provided officers responses in this regard.  Also mentioned was the commitment given by the Council to the Scottish Government that all housing stock would be brought up to the Scottish Housing Quality Standard by 2015, and the implications for that commitment arising out of the issue of staff housing.  The situation with tied housing in the cities of Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow was also outlined within the report, as was the role of the Housing Cases Review Sub Committee in considering applications from tied tenants for rehousing.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)       have regard to the views expressed by or on behalf of those tenants consulted;

(b)       approve the removal of the rental discounts currently applying to the staff house rents of those tenants consulted, with effect from 1 December, 2010 or as soon as practicable thereafter;

(c)        approve the increase of the rents currently payable by all those staff house tenants consulted, to the levels of the prevailing Housing Revenue Account rents, with effect from 1 December, 2010 or as soon as practicable thereafter;

(d)       agree that no Service is required to pay any rental subsidies in respect of the tenancies that are the subject matter of this report, with effect from
1 December, 2010 or as soon as practicable thereafter; and

(e)       instruct the Head of Asset Management and Operations to take, or arrange for the taking of, any such actions as may be necessary in order to implement the above recommendations.

At this point in the meeting and with reference to the decision taken earlier regarding the receipt of deputations (article 1 of this minute refers), a deputation from the Unite and GMB Unions was invited to address the Committee.  Subject to an apology on behalf of the representative from the GMB Union who had been called away on other union business, the Committee heard Mr Robb as Convener of Unite the Union, who began by declaring an interest in the subject matter of the report, by reason of his tied tenancy of a staff house belonging to the Council.
Mr Robb was allowed to proceed on the understanding that he speak only about the general issue in hand, and in no way about his specific circumstances.
Mr Robb, in addressing the Committee, made reference  (1)  to the agreements entered into in 1990 between individual members of staff and the former Grampian Regional Council, following discussions between the local authority and the then trades unions which represented the staff involved; (2)  to the custodianship aspects of the arrangement entered into, a matter which it was acknowledged at the time would deliver benefits to the local authority in the form of reduced vandalism costs and improved security;  (3)  to the devastating impact on the lives of the staff involved, that would result from increasing rent charges by the order of, on average, 800%; and  (4)  to the need for the local authority to take a more reasonable approach to the matter and to accept that the situation was not the fault of the staff members involved.  Mr Robb concluded his presentation by pointing out that although the rent payments for staff housing had failed to increase over the years as might have been expected, the other side of the equation was that little or no repair or refurbishment work to the properties had been undertaken during that period.  He requested that the Committee accept that it was unfair to expect staff occupying tied houses to absorb 20 years of rent increases all at one time, and to consider a more gradual approach to the matter.  Mr Robb withdrew from the meeting on concluding his presentation and prior to any debate on the matter taking place.

The Convener, seconded by Councillor Fletcher, moved:-

            that the report’s recommendations be approved and that, in addition, the Director of Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure prepare a further report exploring the possibility of staff occupying former tied houses, following the realignment of their rents to prevailing HRA levels, being able to benefit from the full range of rights currently available under a normal council house tenancy (including inheritance rights and right to buy).

Councillor Crockett, seconded by Councillor Laing, moved as an amendment:-

            that the report recommendations be not approved; and that appropriate officers be requested to provide more detailed
 information showing the level of rent increase proposed in each case and explaining any, additional tenancy rights which may be created following realignment to HRA levels.

On a division, there voted:-  for the motion (10) – the Convener, the Vice Convener and Councillors Cormack, Dean, Fletcher, Leslie, McCaig, May, Wendy Stuart and John West; for the amendment (5) – Councillors Cooney, Crockett, Farquharson, Graeme and Laing.

The Committee resolved:-

 that the terms of the successful motion be adopted.