Agenda item

To consider the final report and recommendations of the External Refurbishment of Housing Stock Short Sharp Review Group.

(Report attached)

RESOLVED that

1) light colour paints be utilised to decorate garage doors to improve their visual appearance (as detailed in paragraphs 4.2 – 4.2.3 to the report);

2) the retaining wall to the rear of 1-12 Martley Close be redecorated as part of a Council arts project (as detailed in paragraphs 4.4 – 4.4.4);

3) the Council ensure that, when replacing diseased and dead plants, different types of plants are introduced to ensure there is a variety of leaf colours and foliage in any given area (as detailed in paragraphs 4.6 – 4.6.3);

4) the remaining Section 106 money available for use on capital landscaping work in the Greenlands Open Spaces be allocated to soft landscaping work in the courtyard area located in Wishaw Close (as detailed in paragraphs 4.7 – 4.7.6);

5) in order to minimise the level of disruption experienced by local residents, a holistic approach to the delivery of frontline services be adopted (as detailed in paragraphs 4.8 – 4.8.2);

6) representatives of local schools be invited to participate in estate walkabouts (as detailed in paragraphs 4.9 – 4.9.6);

7) representatives of the local GP’s Consortium be invited to participate in the estate walkabouts once the consortia have been introduced in 2012/13 (as detailed in paragraphs 4.10 – 4.10.4);

8) WorcestershireCounty Council Highways Officers be contacted to require them to repair the road surface entrance to Rushock Close (as detailed in paragraphs 4.12 – 4.12.4);

9) the Portfolio Holder for Housing, the Local Environment and Health be urged to consider the abolition of the garages in Wishaw Close as a priority case due to their bad state of repair (as detailed in paragraphs 4.13 – 4.13.3);

10) further information on the following matters be reported back to a future meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

the decoration of the lintels featured on Council properties to improve the visual appearance of those properties (as detailed in paragraphs 4.3 – 4.3.2);

the Council assuming responsibility for the maintenance of small strips of land located close to private properties and public spaces in the Woodrow area (as detailed in paragraphs 4.5 – 4.5.3);

consultation with Council tenants and owner occupiers to find out whether they would support repainting of the pebbledash properties on Ombersley Close and Rushock Close using lighter colours and, if so, which colours they would prefer to use (it being made clear to owner occupiers that this service would only be made available to them at a cost) (as detailed in paragraphs 4.11 – 4.11.5);

13) the report be noted.

The Chair of the External Refurbishment of Housing Stock Task and Finish Group, Councillor Graham Vickery, attended the meeting of the Executive Committee to present the Group’s recommendations following its brief review of the external appearance of the Council’s housing assets in the Woodrow area. Members had noted the poor external appearance of a proportion of the Council’s assets and aspects of the environment in which they were located and suggested that these problems might contribute to social pressures and low aspirations amongst those living there. A number of relatively small-scale measures had been identified by the Group to help alleviate some of these difficulties and it was proposed that these could be translated to other areas of the town in due course.

Members of the Committee welcomed the report and largely endorsed both the analysis of the effect of a poor environment and the measures that were being proposed. There were concerns over several of the measures in respect of the possible cost and resource implications and Officers were requested to carry out further work on a number of the proposals. Notwithstanding these minor reservations, the Committee thanked the Group for a fine report that had the potential to improve the lives of a significant number of the town’s residents.