Agenda item

Subject to the required notice being given, Members of the Council can ask questions of the Chairman of the Council, the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

The time allocated for receiving and disposing of questions shall be a maximum of 30 minutes. Any question not disposed of at the end of this time shall be the subject of a written response, copied to all Members the following working day unless withdrawn by the questioner.

Two questions have been received, on notice, from Members of the Council on this occasion.

Subject to the required notice being given, Members of the Council could ask questions of the Chairman of the Council, the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

Two questions had been submitted by Members on this occasion as set out below:-

Question One

Councillor Garry Calver asked Councillor Paul Honeywood, the Housing Portfolio Holder:

“In the Leader of the Council’s Budget speech made on 16^th February he said, on the subject of the Right to Buy Scheme: “We need to keep pushing the Government to consider modernising the scheme.  As I mentioned last year, we need to remove the associated risk from decisions about building or acquiring new homes.”

Will the Portfolio Holder for Housing please inform Members as to what action the administration has taken to persuade the Government to update or even reverse this dreadful policy and whether it has received any positive response?

If it has not received any positive response will he please inform Members as to what action is being taken by the administration to progress this further especially as this policy has had such a major negative impact on the provision of housing for far too long and which continues to restrict our ability to provide the necessary levels of housing required across the Tendring District?”

Councillor Honeywood replied as follows:-

“Thank you Councillor Calver for your question.

Firstly, I think it’s important to say that the issues associated with the Right to Buy scheme affect all stock holding councils and are not unique to us.

Over the past few years the Council has undertaken a number of actions in respect of highlighting the implications of the right to buy scheme on stock holding councils.

The first time I recall raising this issue was in 2012 when I attended a meeting with the then Housing Minister and had an opportunity to question him on the subject.

In December 2018 members from the Right to Buy team at the MHCLG visited Tendring and received a tour of Jaywick Sands. They heard about our plans for the area and the wider implications of the Right to Buy scheme on Councils who are keen to build new homes. During the meeting officers explained that an extension of the 15 year cost floor to 30 years would be a great help in reducing the financial risk associated with the scheme and give councils greater confidence to build new homes.

In January this year the same matter was raised again by one of our officers with an MHCLG official at a meeting of the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH) and again at the ARCH Chief Officers’ conference held only a few weeks ago (4/5^th March). Other members of ARCH share our concerns, including the limited timeframes during which right to buy receipts need to be spent. The MHCLG official agreed to take the matter away for further consideration.

I can assure you that this administration has raised concerns about the right to buy scheme with Government both directly, and through our membership of the ARCH board – a body that campaigns on behalf of its members. Representatives from ARCH have monthly meetings with MHCLG officials and I know that the right to buy features regularly in those discussions.

I cannot say that we have had a positive response other than an assurance that MHCLG will be looking at the issues raised. This may though be a case of watch this space.”

Question Two

Councillor Jo Henderson asked Councillor Michael Talbot, the Portfolio Holder for Environment & Public Space:

“Will the Portfolio Holder for the Environment please outline his long term plan to install solar panels to all council houses in the Tendring District and include the time frame for achieving it?”

Councillor Talbot replied as follows:-

“Thank you Councillor Henderson. I welcome your question as it is absolutely relevant in our target to become a net zero carbon Council by 2030.

The installation of solar panels on the roofs of our council owned houses will not only benefit the tenants who could take advantage of reduced energy prices, but also to us as a Council by offsetting some of our greenhouse gas emissions.

Clearly such a project comes at a cost and Officers have been looking into possible options. Please bear in mind the fact that to purchase and install such panels would cost several million pounds – surplus funding that we simply do not have within our housing revenue account. There will also need to be a great deal of consultation and engagement with our tenants.

One option that is being explored currently is to enter into a partnership with an installer using external investment to fund the installation costs. Such a scheme could also incorporate battery storage for each property in addition to the solar panels – the batteries would mean that surplus energy generated during the daytime can be stored for use at night time. Tenants would have the option as to whether they signed up to take advantage of the renewable energy or to continue with their existing energy suppliers.

All in all there is a lot to consider and I don’t have to tell Members that this is way beyond my level of technical expertise.

To put a timeline on this project would be kidding ourselves this early, but it is certainly something we aim to have completed by 2030, subject always to appropriate financial arrangements being in place. That is the date we have set as our target to become a net zero carbon council, but please be assured that options will be explored fully and brought to Cabinet for consideration I would anticipate within the next 12 months.”

Councillor Henderson then asked a question of clarification to which Councillor Talbot responded.