Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors T Jay, M Greatorex, D Maycock, P Thurgood, J Wadrup and County Councillor T Jay.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2022 were approved as a true record.

(Moved by Councillor R Rogers and seconded by Councillor R Kingstone)

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair reported that a request to provide comments on the Staffordshire Health and Wellbeing Board’s Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment Consultation had been circulated to members and the Consultation was open until 5 September 2022 if any member wanted to participate.

The Chair further reported that at a Board meeting of the Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust (MPFT) proposals were received and accepted which were expected to mean that inpatient mental health services provision from the George Bryan Centre would not be reinstated.  The Chair reported that the Staffordshire County Council Health & Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee was expected to have an Integrated Care System (ICS) Transformation item focussed on the George Bryan Centre on its 1 August 2022 meeting.  The Chair invited any members to raise any specific points with her which they would like considered further.

(To receive an update on the Council’s Housing Strategy)

The Chair welcomed the Assistant Director, Partnerships to the meeting and noted that the Executive Director, Communities and the Portfolio Holder for Homelessness Prevention and Social Housing had sent their apologies.

The Assistant Director reminded the Committee that whilst it was not a statutory requirement for the Council to have a Housing Strategy, it did afford the Council a clear direction of travel and priorities and the current Strategy had been agreed at Cabinet in October 2020.

The Assistant Director provided an overview of the 4 Priorities set out in the Housing Strategy, although she would focus on Priority 4 given its relevance to wellbeing.  It was reported that the Strategy included actions drawn from various other corporate strategies including the Local Plan, the Future High Streets Project, Climate Change policy, Housing Allocations Policy, Housing Acquisitions Policy, Affordable Rents Policy, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, Private Sector Enforcement Policy and the Community Safety Plan.

The Assistant Director highlighted some of the future proposed actions which included:

·         An update to the Empty Homes Strategy to increase housing provision

·         The development of an Older Persons Housing Needs Strategy in conjunction with stakeholders

·         Work to determine the criteria for the First Homes requirement, whereby 20% of the affordable homes on a development would be allocated as first homes for Tamworth residents.

·         To develop relationships with the voluntary sector to maintain healthier communities and sustain independent living

·         To develop an approach to the needs of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in line with Government policies

The Committee commented and sought clarifications in the following areas:

1.    How the criteria for the First Homes requirement would address the issue of resale of those affordable first homes such that the benefits of the scheme would be retained in perpetuity and that the benefits of any market price discount was continued through resales of the First Home.  The Assistant Director reported that the criteria was under discussion and that this was led by the planning team.

2.    The need for the Committee to receive regular and measurable data in respect of the various action plans / metrics included in the strategy, so that there could be effective scrutiny of the implementation of the strategy and performance. It was further identified that to support this scrutiny, the data should not be solely a snapshot in time but would need to be provided over a period of time (for example over three years) to enable trends to be identified.

3.    It was raised that there was a need for urgency in addressing areas within housing related to climate change given the aspiration of the Council to be Carbon Net Zero by 2030 if financially able to do so.  Given the housing stock owned by the Council, and given the expected Government initiatives to stop the installation of new gas heating in homes from potentially 2030, there would be significant challenges to the Council in delivering appropriate housing to Tamworth’s vulnerable residents in line with the Council’s Climate Change agenda unless  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

(Update on responses to the Reports of the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee)

There were no responses to report.

(Discussion item)

No matters had been referred.

(To receive the Digest from Staffordshire County Council’s Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee and an update from County Councillor T Jay)

The Chair reported that the Staffordshire County Council Health & Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee had met on 11^th July 2022 and the focus of that meeting had been on the Integrated Care Board.

Please see the link to the Forward Plan:

http://democracy.tamworth.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=120&RD=0&bcr=1

It was noted that there was a Net Zero Carbon – baseline reporting item on the Forward Plan for consideration by the Infrastructure Safety & Growth Scrutiny Committee on 14^th September prior to Cabinet consideration on 20 October 2022.  The Chair agreed to liaise with the Chair of the Infrastructure Safety & Growth Scrutiny Committee regarding this item.

To consider items for Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Work Plan

The Committee considered its Work Plan and updated it as follows:

Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Work Plan