Agenda item

Proposal to commission tailored private sector housing and environment support:

Appendix 1    Private Sector Housing and Environment Officer – practicalities and suitability for the North Areas (to follow)

Appendix 2    Private Sector Housing and Environment Officer Role Profile

Appendix 3    Examples of Milestones, Outcomes and Intervention Performance Monitoring Template (NE Area)

Appendix 4    Central Area Council Early Performance Report

The Area Council Manager introduced this item and updated the Area Council on the workshops that have taken place in relation to private sector housing and environment issues and outlined the proposal for these issues to be addressed by commissioning tailored support.

It was highlighted that a healthy discussion took place at the workshop held on 6^th February, which was also attended by Jane Brannan, Cath Fairweather, Jeanette Millward and Paul Jolley.  The workshop looked at the breadth of cases which could arise in terms of private sector housing as experienced by the Central Area Council in terms of case studies.  Members’ attention was drawn to the Private Sector Housing and Environment Officer Job profile, milestones, outcomes and types of interventions.  Members who attended the workshop found it to be very informative and complementary to other projects such as enforcement and clean and green. 

A discussion took place regarding the fact that the amount of private sector housing varies widely across the wards and that some wards will not receive any benefit.   The four other Area Councils which have commissioned the service - Dearne, Central, South and North East also have differences across the wards but this is not viewed as a problem as the area as a whole benefits.   The Private Sector Housing and Environment Officer for the North Area would be on a 12 month fixed term BMBC contract, commissioned by North Area Council, based at Churchfields and managed by the Community Safety Manager.   

Members were reassured that the officer would deal primarily with environmental issues but would flag up enforcement issues and refer on as  appropriate.  Members would be provided with single point of contact details to make referrals.

In terms of costings, on-costs will be need to be added together with other ad-hoc localised costs such as provision of skips for big clean ups and removal of fly-tipping etc., the costs of which could be claimed back from landlords.  A bodycam would also be purchased.  Including on-cost the value of commissioning this additional officer for the North Area is £33,000. 

RESOLVED that

(i)    Members note the workshop updates regarding private sector housing environment support contained within the report and appendices. 

(ii)  Members note the financial implications of commissioning private sector housing support for the North Area

(iii)Members agreed that they wish to proceed with the commissioning of private sector housing support.