Agenda and minutes

[To receive any apologies for absence]. 

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Dehar and Cllr Dr Hardacre.

[To receive any declarations of interest].

There were no declarations of interest. 

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record]

Resolved: That the minutes of the Residents, Housing and Communities Scrutiny Panel held on 14 July 2022 be confirmed as a correct record. 

[To receive a presentation on Community Safety]. 

The Chair advised that Scrutiny Board Members had been invited to attend for the item on Community Safety.  She could see that some members of Scrutiny Board were in attendance and she would use her discretion as Chair to allow them to take part in the discussion.  

The Head of Communities advised that there would be two areas of particular focus in the presentation, serious youth violence and violence against women and girls. 

Superintendent Inglis from West Midlands Police began by defining the term, serious youth violence.  Serious youth violence in itself was not defined as a specific crime.  The Home Office did use a definition of serious youth violence, which was then interpreted at a local level.  Serious youth violence was defined as: -

·       Assault with injury (s.47 & s.20)

·       Assault with intent to cause Serious Harm (or attempted) (s.18)

·       Assault with injury – administering poison

·       Assault Police

·       Racially or religiously aggravated assault

Serious Youth Violence statistics were based on the age of the victim rather than the perpetrator.  People under the age of 25 were included in the statistics.  Robbery was not included in the data for serious youth violence, but that could be defined as a form of serious youth violence.  When considering the number of serious youth violence offences from 1 April 2022 Wolverhampton was doing quite well compared to other areas within the West Midlands Police Force region.  He presented a slide showing the statistics for serious youth violence in Wolverhampton and the robbery data. 

The Superintendent commented that that there had been an issue with robbery at Wolverhampton bus station.  There had been a significant rise in robbery data in April of this year.  Robbery and anti-social behaviour had been prevalent when large groups of young people had been congregating at the bus station, particularly between 4pm and 7pm.  Following investigations, they had identified 12 perpetrators carrying out crime at the bus station, there had been reports that the number was as high as 100, but this was not what they had uncovered.  Some arrests took place with several people requiring attendance at Court, others had attended the Divert programme.   Cameras were installed in the bus station and there were increased patrols, which included plain clothes Offices.  Key work had taken place to identify the perpetrators.   Some of the perpetrators had been given orders not to attend the bus station.

The Head of Communities presented a slide which detailed the universal, secondary, tertiary and strategic activity taking place to try and prevent serious youth crime.  The Superintendent spoke on the Divert Programme.

The Head of Communities stated that once a young person had been identified as needing support, she was confident there was a wide range of support available.  However, the support available was not always communicated amongst professionals, parents and communities.  She wanted to focus on how to raise awareness of the signs and indictors of young people needing support, so more people could be identified and helped at an earlier point.  She wanted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

[To receive a report on the energy efficiency of the housing stock and fuel poverty]. 

The Temporary Director for City Housing and Transport introduced a presentation on the energy efficiency of the housing stock and fuel poverty.  It was a most timely presentation given the national situation and the costs of energy rising.  The interim Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Policy commented that in 2015 the Paris Climate Agreement agreed to cut carbon emissions to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Centigrade.  The UK had committed to becoming net zero by 2050 and to reduce the nations carbon on 1990 levels by 78% by 2035.  The West Midlands Combined Authority had committed the West Midlands to be net zero by 2041.  In 2019, Wolverhampton Council had declared a Climate emergency.  Around 35% of the City’s carbon footprint was produced from domestic buildings though electricity and heating.  The Council’s: Our City: Our Plan supported the climate agenda in the delivery of good homes in well-connected neighbourhoods and healthy, inclusive communities.  The Housing Strategy 2019-2014 also committed to delivering, “Better Homes for all”. 

The Interim Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Policy stated there were national issues impacting local affairs.  There were rocketing energy prices, inflation at a 14 year high and households choosing whether to “eat or heat”.  To address the current cost of living crisis, the Council had launched the Financial Well-being Strategy.  This was a multi-agency approach with a long-term vision to support households in need.  As part of workstream 2, “Tackling Food and Fuel Poverty” there was an objective to tackle inequalities by reducing the number of residents in fuel poverty by tacking the causes and helping to meet the needs of people in crisis. 

The interim Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Policy stated that there were 112,202 homes in Wolverhampton.  21,816 were owned by the Local Authority, 6,765 by a private registered provider and 83,621 were in the private sector.  She presented a table showing at Ward level the deprivation score, the % of fuel poor households, gross/net annual income levels, stock tenure and the numbers of EPC ratings D to G.  There were a number of households in Wolverhampton which had low EPC (Energy Performance Certificates) ratings.  In Wolverhampton there were 24,845 households which were classed as poor fuel. 

The Interim Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Policy presented information on what the Council was doing to support people living in privately owned properties.  The Private Sector Team worked proactively to improve the quality of privately rented homes.  This allowed them to live in a safe and healthy environment and addressed hazards such as damp and mould.  The Council worked with the minimum “fitness” standards defined by the Housing and Safety Rating System.  The Home Improvement Service delivered grants/loans for essential repairs and maintenance, including energy efficient works for owner occupied properties.  Disabled Facilities Grant were offered to support any private property with adaptions to meet the needs of the disabled occupied, including new heating systems if required. 

The Interim Service Manager for Housing Strategy and Policy referred to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

[To consider the Scrutiny Work Programme]. 

A Panel Member asked if the item on Trees could be moved to an earlier date.  The Chair stated she would consider the request.

The Chair extended a vote of thanks to the Scrutiny and Systems Manager who was leaving the authority.  The Panel gave a round of applause in recognition of her work for the authority.

[The date of the next scheduled meeting is Thursday, 17 November 2022 at 6pm]. 

The date of the next meeting of the Residents, Housing and Communities Scrutiny Panel was reported as Thursday, 17 November 2022.

The meeting ended at 8:23pm.