Minutes of ACF Meeting
Thursday, 17th September 2009
Southwick Green Communal Lounge, Southwick

Present: -  Wendy Farmer (Chair), Bruce Andrews, Ruth Andrews, Fred Bathurst, Rose Boden, Bill Bone, David Guy, William Guy, Sue Holland, Paula Kinsella, Elsie Kitson, Sue Lane, Bob McClellan, June Molton, Tony Morris, Bridget Orman, Sylvia Page and Tanya Page.

ADC: Barry Maxey (Tenant Participation Officer).

• Welcome and introductions

Wendy welcomed everyone to the meeting.

• Apologies

Apologies were received from Basil Canivet, David Donaldson, George Jones, Brian Higgins, Ron Pope, Stan Reed and Edna Wye.   

3.         Minutes of the last meeting 11th June 2009

The minutes were agreed.  Apologies to June for the misspelling of her surname.

4.         Matters arising

• The Social Committee have booked the Barn Theatre at the Southwick Community Centre for the evening of 3rd December for this year’s Christmas Social.  Further meetings of the committee are being planned to finalise the details.
• There has been no progress on establishing ownership of the entrance road to the council garage compound at the rear of the Whitelot Close flats.  As a consequence of this, the pot holes in the road are still awaiting repair.  It was agreed that the residents’ association would write to the council about this and if necessary, would contact the Local Government Ombudsman if no action was forthcoming.
• A contractor carrying out repairs at Whitelot Close has cut back some of the vegetation that was blocking the rear path to the houses, so that he could gain access.  In the discussion that followed, it was argued that owner occupiers who purchased under the Right to Buy scheme must have a responsibility to keep their part of the path clear and that the council should be doing more to enforce this.  It was agreed that the residents’ association would write to the council about this.
• A request to paint benches on Southwick Green has been referred by the Park Services Manager to their maintenance contractor for inspection.

5.         Treasurer’s report

Ruth reported that there is £2,633.01 in ACF funds.      

6.        Bids for environmental improvements

There were no bids for environmental improvements grants.

7.         Local Offices

Wendy explained that a report will be going to the Cabinet on 24th November recommending that the Local Offices are closed from April 2010 and that the Southwick Office be sold and the Lancing Office rented out. 

The matter will also be discussed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 10th November.  A copy of the Cabinet report will be sent to all ACF members when it is ready.

The report will also recommend that, in the meantime, the Local Offices are closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays when there are no cashiering services.  Wendy explained that there are going to be staff shortages at the Local Offices in the next few months.  Under the current set-up, this will mean that Housing Management Officers will be required to staff the offices more often and will not be able to carry out as many visits. 

Questions were asked about the practicalities of employing temporary staff or drafting in staff from the Civic Centre but it was argued that the costs of this may outweigh the benefits. It was therefore reluctantly but unanimously agreed that the ACF would not oppose the office closures on Wednesdays and Thursdays, as an interim measure until the issue is brought before the Cabinet.

8.         Election of reserve ACF Advisor to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee

            It was felt at the last meeting that the ACF should nominate someone to attend meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee if the ACF elected representative was unable to attend.  This has now been agreed with the Council’s Democratic Services Manager.

            There were two nominations - Ruth Andrews (nominated by Wendy Farmer and seconded by Paula Kinsella) and Sue Holland (nominated by Tony Morris and seconded by Sue Lane).

            A secret ballot was held in which Sue received 8 votes and Ruth 7 votes.  Sue Holland was therefore elected as reserve ACF Advisor to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

9.         Modernisation programme

            Ruth expressed concerns that the council are not giving high enough priority to some aspects of the Decent Homes programme and in particular, to upgrading security doors and renewing the electrics in tenants’ homes.  She also quoted a recent report in the local press in which it was suggested that the council is going to receive an extra £2.3 million each year as a result of changes in way the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) is financed.

It was acknowledged in the discussion that followed, that the standard of the Decent Homes programme is quite low and that it can be achieved with only partial modernisation of properties.  It was also accepted that discussions are still taking place on proposed changes to the HRA and that these may not come into effect for a couple of years but the ACF would like tenants to be more involved in deciding how any additional money is spent.          

10.       Cabinet Agenda

There are no items on this agenda directly relating to housing services.

11.       Reports of the Sub-Committees

i)          Compact Monitoring Group

It was agreed to put this matter on the agenda of the next Management Committee meeting to decide what the ACF would like to achieve from this group.

• The Forum

The editorial panel have their first meeting on 6th October to plan the December edition of the Forum.  Wendy appealed for contributions from residents’ associations and individuals to be submitted by 29th October at the latest.

• Adur Leaseholders’ Forum

Bill reported that he had been re-elected as Chair of ALF at their AGM on 15th July.  The next meeting will be held at the ACF Office on 4th November at 2.15pm.  

• AiP

Ruth said the next meeting of AiP will be on 21st October when grant allocations for the next couple of years will be discussed.        

11.       Any Other Business

• Ruth said a neighbour had asked her to find out why repairs cannot be reported to the council by text message, as like many people now, she doesn’t have a landline and is charged when using the repairs “freephone” number from a mobile phone.  It was agreed to find out from the council if they thought this would be practical and whether they have any plans to introduce this service in the foreseeable future.
• The Building Services Manager has agreed a visit by ACF members to the DSU depot to see how repair requests are allocated and dealt with.  Seven members expressed an interest in attending and details of the visit will be arranged shortly.  This group would also like to see a demonstration of how repair requests are logged.  This will be arranged and will probably take place at the Civic Centre.
• Tenants aged 18-34 are to be invited to a session at the Civic Centre to find out their views on the housing service.  This follows the results of the last STATUS Survey, which indicated that tenants in this age group are generally less satisfied with their homes and the housing service.  Some ACF member felt strongly that tenants of all ages have the same priorities and that attempts to pigeon-hole them is not the best use of resources and would not be productive.
• Barry handed out some posters on the National Tenant Voice and explained that this is a new body being set up by the government to enable social housing tenants to influence housing policies.  Applications for board membership are available by logging on to www.hays.com/jobs/ntv or by phoning 0800 917 7396.  The closing date for applications is 16th October 2009.
• The evening raffle raised £22.00 for ACF funds.

12.       Date of next meeting

The next meeting will be held at 7.00pm on Thursday, 15th October 2009 in the communal lounge at Southwick Green.