Agenda and draft minutes

Housing Scrutiny Commission - Thursday 5 March 2026 7.00 pm

Venue: Ground Floor Meeting Room G01A - 160 Tooley Street, London SE1 2QH. View directions

Contact: Adam Wood, Scrutiny Officer  Email: adam.wood@southwark.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES

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    To receive any apologies for absence.

    Minutes:

    Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Livingstone, Councillor McAsh and Councillor Rose, and Co-opted member Brendan O’Brien.

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 no urgent items of business.

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:

    Councillors Harper and Tester disclosed interests as Council leaseholders. Councillor Harper also noted that Item 5 included a report on Voids and referenced the Aylesbury Estate where she lived.

     

    Andrew Eke disclosed an interest as a resident of the Tustin Estate.

     

    Ina Negoita disclosed an interest as a resident of Devon Mansions.

4.

MINUTES

5.

INTERVIEW WITH THE CABINET MEMBER FOR COUNCIL HOMES

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    To hear from the Cabinet Member supported by Officers on housing-related matters including specific work on:

     

    ·  supporting social landlord performance and communications

    ·  progress implementing the recommendations on Fair Street/Devon Mansions, Canada and Kirby Estates QHIP Major Works Projects (with accompanying report)

    ·  progress implementing The Good Landlord Plan (with accompanying report)

    ·  Empty Homes, Voids and related issues (accompanying report to follow)

     

    Supporting documents:

    Minutes:

    The Chair invited Councillor Mwangangye (Cabinet Member for Council Homes) and Officers Hakeem Osinaike (Strategic Director of Housing), Ryan Collymore (Director of Repairs and Maintenance), Paul Murtagh (Design and Delivery Manager), Abi Oguntokun (Director of Landlord Services) and Candida Thompson (Director of Housing Needs and Support) to start the interview by summarising the five accompanying reports and key aspects of the portfolio.

     

    Councillor Mwangangye informed the Commission that in respect of the Fair Street/Devon Mansions, Canada and Kirby Estates QHIP Major Works Projects:

     

    • to date, 27 of the 36 recommendations had been implemented and completed
    • resident panels had been appointed to help resolve issues as these arose
    • a management action plan was in place with incompletely implemented recommendations having been assigned dates for expected completion

     

     

    In respect of Voids, Councillor Mwangangye reported that:

     

    • only void council homes came under the Cabinet Member for Council Homes portfolio – those relating to private homes or as empty homes related to homelessness were the remit of the Cabinet Member for New Homes & Sustainable Development
    • private sector empty homes were managed and, in some cases brought into the council’s supply of housing through, for example, compulsory purchase orders, empty dwelling management orders, and loan funding (with matched funding from owners)
    • Southwark had high levels of empty homes as a result of estate regeneration, new builds (where properties were waiting sign-off from surveyors), buildings awaiting demolition (e.g. Ledbury and Marie Curie) and being situated in London where homes were sometimes left empty by property developers and private owners
    • to help with homelessness and rough sleeping, suitable properties were made available where possible – currently around 85% of rough sleepers were housed in appropriate long-term accommodation
    • empty homes were being brought back into use for homeless families
    • contractors had been appointed to strengthen existing provision with work underway on the Aylesbury Estate

     

     

    Regarding downsizing, Councillor Mwangangye reported that:

     

    • the Older People Strategy passed earlier this year detailed the incentives in place to encourage larger properties being made available to families

     

    On The Good Landlord Plan, Councillor Mwangangye informed the Commission that:

     

    • resident boards had been launched
    • residents would be increasingly involved in procurement and decision?making as with the pilot at Chilton Grove where a resident was sitting on the procurement panel appointing a contractor

     

     

    The Chair invited the Commission to question the Cabinet Member and Officers – questions included:

     

    • the sum of loan funding for bringing private homes into Council use
    • whether downsizing from a 3-bedroom property to 2 conferred the same advantages (in terms of Banding) as downsizing to a 1-bedroom property
    • what a temporary accommodation void was
    • whether the team managing voids on the Aylesbury Estate sat outside of the main voids service and, if so, the extent to which lessons learned there could be generalised to the wider voids service
    • whether Plentific had been used to procure the four contractors
    • whether benchmarking data was available to compare Southwark’s council housing voids performance with that of other large, local authority landlords
    • the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

COMMISSION DISCUSSION OF DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS TO CABINET

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    To discuss and decide the Commission’s Recommendations to Cabinet resulting from its 2025 to 2026 scrutiny work.

    Minutes:

    The Commission discussed the recommendations it might make to Cabinet as a result of its scrutiny work over the previous three meetings and the meeting underway. A draft report containing some potential recommendations had been provided to members of the Commission and, following discussion and amendment of these, a definitive list of recommendations was formulated.

     

    AGREED:

     

    That the Commission’s Scrutiny Report be sent to Cabinet.

     

     

7.

CABINET RESPONSES TO THE HOUSING SCRUTINY COMMISSION'S "OUTCOME OF THE REVIEW OF THE CANADA ESTATE 2017/18, FAIR STREET / DEVON MANSIONS 2018/19 AND KIRBY ESTATE 2028/19 QHIP MAJOR WORKS PROJECTS" REPORT

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    To note Cabinet’s responses to the Housing Scrutiny Commission's "Outcome of the Review of the Canada Estate 2017/18, Fair Street / Devon Mansions 2018/19 and Kirby Estate 2028/19 QHIP Major Works Projects" Report

    Supporting documents:

    Minutes:

    This item was taken at the end of Item 5 Interview with the Cabinet Member for Council Homes.

     

    NOTED:

     

    Cabinet’s responses to the Commission’s recommendations contained in the report "Outcome of the Review of the Canada Estate 2017/18, Fair Street / Devon Mansions 2018/19 and Kirby Estate 2028/19 QHIP Major Works Projects"

     

     

8.

WORK PROGRAMME 2025-2026