Agenda and minutes

Environment and Community Engagement Scrutiny Commission (Decommissioned 5 October 2023) - Monday 20 February 2023 7.00 pm

Venue: 160 Tooley Street, London, SE1 2QH

Contact: Julie Timbrell 

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

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    To receive any apologies for absence.

    Minutes:

    Apologies were received from Councillor Ketzia Harper and Lydia Marsden.

2.

Notification of any items of business which the chair deems urgent

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    In special circumstances, an item of business may be added to an agenda within five clear working days of the meeting.

    Minutes:

    There were none.

3.

Disclosure of Interests and Dispensations

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    Members to declare any interests and dispensations in respect of any item of business to be considered at this meeting.

    Minutes:

    There were none.

4.

Minutes

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    To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on  12 January 2023, to follow.

    Minutes:

    The minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2023 were deferred to the following meeting.

5.

We Walworth

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    Rebecca Towers, Programme Director, will attend with Richard Galpin, Pembroke House.

     

    A briefing is enclosed.

    Supporting documents:

    Minutes:

    Rebecca Towers, Programme Director, will presented,  with Richard Galpin, Pembroke House.

     

     

6.

Climate Emergency Citizens Jury

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    Chris Page, Climate Change and Sustainability Director, will attend and present on the Citizens Jury, with a focus on the community engagement process. A briefing is enclosed.

    Supporting documents:

    Minutes:

    Chris Page, Climate Change and Sustainability Director, presented on the Citizens Jury, with a focus on the community engagement process.

     

     

7.

Resident Participation Framework

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    An officer presentation and paper is attached addressing three main areas:

     

    •  Update on implementation of the Resident Participation Framework,

     

    •  Impact of the Regulatory Code on participation and the framework,

     

    •  What good practice in resident participation looks like.

     

    A briefing paper is enclosed from theTenants Council Representative.

     

    The February 2020 Cabinet report on the Southwark Resident Participation Framework is enclosed as background.

     

    The following officers will attend to present:

     

    ·  John McCormack, Tenant and Homeowner Involvement Team Leader

    ·  Nat Stevens, Resident Involvement Manager

     

    Cllr Natasha Ennin, Deputy Cabinet Member for Diversity will attend.

     

    The following housing stakeholders will attend:

     

    ·  Cris Claridge, Tenants Council, accompanied by  Althea Smith, joint Chair of Tenants Forum, Chris Meregini, SGTO Chair and Dario Blake, SGTO Vice Chair.

    ·  BasseyBassey, Southwark TMO

    ·  Ina Negoita, Homeowners Forum• 

    ·  Melvin M Kanu (Alberta TRA)

    ·  Harry Matthews (Thurlow Lodge TRA)

    ·  KudiratOlamide Balogun (Brandon 1 TRA)

    ·  Sheila Benjamin (Brandon 3) TBC

     

     

    Supporting documents:

    Minutes:

    The chair opened the meeting by explaining this item is a mini review on the Resident Participation Framework. The February 2020 Cabinet report on the Southwark Resident Participation Framework is enclosed as background as this was when the arrangements last changed.

    John McCormack, Tenant and Homeowner Involvement Team Leader, provided a presentation virtually, enclosed with the papers, addressing three main areas:

    • Update on implementation of the Resident Participation Framework,

    • Impact of the Regulatory Code on participation and the framework,

    • What good practice in resident participation looks like.

    Nat Stevens, Resident Involvement Manager joined in person. He said the service has some award winning work engaging the community.

    The chair then invited the following housing stakeholders to present and contribute:

    ·  Cris Claridge, Tenants Forum, accompanied by Althea Smith, joint Chair of Tenants Forum, Chris Meregini, SGTO Chair and Dario Blake, SGTO Vice Chair.

    ·  Ina Negoita, Homeowners Forum

    The chair explained that Bassey Bassey, Southwark TMO scrutiny representative sent his apologies as he was unable to attend this evening, but he had met with her and the scrutiny Project Manager prior to the meeting.

    Ina Negoita, Homeowners Forum scrutiny representative, said that the background to the Cabinet decision and report in February 2020 to change Resident Participation Framework was the Kaizen report, which found that relationships were broken between officers and tenants. Following this there were 14 meetings to co-design a new participation structure.  Some resident stakeholder groups did not attend because they did not have faith in the process, however the homeowners/ leaseholders representatives did attend, but with perception that the outcome was predetermined. Towards the end of this process a paper was presented with options agreed through the co-design process, but these were significantly changed by cabinet lead member. 

    The chair urged a focus on how to change the current participation framework going forward. In response the Homeowners Forum representative said that in her opinion the local area forums are not working, because either officers do not attend or provide long papers, with limited input into the agenda by residents.

    Cris Claridge, Tenants Forum scrutiny representative:  said that the previous tenant participation structure, in her view, needed to be adapted to encourage more engagement. However the combination of the changes made by Cabinet in early 2020 and the pandemic has left engagement decimated She said that SGTO did recognise that people wanted digital engagement and that it was right to consider how to enable engagement from those places without a TRA, as they were not included in the previous structure . However she said that SGTO and housing resident representatives wanted help with solving these issues, which was not forthcoming. Her preference would be to look at the old framework and enable us get it working once again, with more support to enable greater participation.

    Tenants Forum representative added that she did not welcome the proposal for financial reimbursement from central government as this feels like a devaluation of the voluntary dedication to the work of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Review: Financing and resourcing the Climate Emergency plan - officer briefing

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    The following briefings are enclosed covering:

     

    ·  Low carbon heating and retrofit projects for council homes

     

    ·  Climate finance

     

    The following officers are confirmed:

     

    ·  Chris Page, Climate Change and Sustainability Director

    ·  Tom Vosper, Strategic Project Manager

    ·  David Hodgson, Director of Asset Management

    Supporting documents:

    Minutes:

     

    The following officers  presented and took questions:

     

    •  Chris Page, Climate Change and Sustainability Director (in person)

    •  Tom Vosper, Strategic Project Manager (virtually)

    •  David Hodgson, Director of Asset Management (virtually)

    •  Juliet Seymour, Planning Policy Manager (virtually)

9.

Interview: Cabinet member Climate Emergency and Sustainable Development

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    The commission will interview Councillor James McAsh, who is providing maternity cover for Cllr Helen Dennis, Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency and Sustainable Development, whose portfolio is enclosed.

     

     

     

     

     

    Supporting documents:

    Minutes:

    The commission interviewed Councillor James McAsh, who is providing maternity cover for Cllr Helen Dennis, Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency and Sustainable Development.

10.

Work Programme