Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Hamitouche, Mackmurdie and Spall.

There were no declarations of substitute members.

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a)   Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b) Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f) Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 12 September 2019 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

The Chair mentioned his concerns with regards to the recently released inquiry report about the Grenfell Tower fire incident. He was concerned that the report findings focussed on the evacuation policy and in particular the action of the fire fighters instead of addressing the systematic failure of the buildings especially in terms of the claddings. In addition the 18 month period allocated for the completion of the second inquiry would be considered as an injustice to victims and their family.

The Chair recommended to members the Annual Building Conference being held on 28 & 29 November as a valuable resource for members and anyone interested in learning more about building related issues. In addition the meeting was informed about the forthcoming London Tenancy Forum on 23 November facilitated by three organisation which will be of interest to both residents and tenants.

The order of business would be as per the agenda.

For members of the public to ask questions relating to any subject on the meeting agenda under Procedure Rule 70.5. Alternatively, the Chair may opt to accept questions from the public during the discussion on each agenda item.

None

Members received a presentation from Martin Fox, Commercial Manager of Camden Council’s Property Management Division(PMD) regarding their procurement options with their Planned Works programme. The following issues were noted :

·         Members were informed that Camden’s Property Management Division manages its housing stock of 33,000 occupied by Council tenants and 9,000 leaseholders. PMD looks after the Council’s 150 Corporate properties, and 1,000 commercial properties and responsible for managing 60 schools in the borough.

·         Martin Fox provided a brief history of the mechanisms which Camden had employed in the commissioning and procuring of Major and Planned works. The 4 areas that the council procures are the day to day Responsive repairs (taps and pipes leaking), major repairs like roof leaking, voids (with vacant properties) and mechanical and engineering servicing (important from a compliance issue) and the planned works which is a 5 year programme.

·         Meeting was advised that 10 years ago Camden went into a Partnering arrangement with two main contractors to manage day to day responsive repairs while term contractors managed major repairs and voids. Minor day to day works was predominantly managed by the in house team.

·         The Commercial Manager informed members that a decision was taken about 3 years ago in terms of responsive repairs to move away from partnering into frameworks and that mechanical and electrical servicing will be carried out by 5 term contractors. Meeting was informed that major repairs and void works still remains with the main contractors Waite and day to day minor repairs is managed by the in house team.

·         Members were advised that with the formation of the Council’s Property Management Division, the general direction for procuring repairs had changed to that of where possible to bring it in house hence the initial consideration with schools. The Manager reiterated that although Camden is committed to bringing the service in house where feasible, leadership recognises that as some works are very technical and with a high skill set, it will not be possible. Meeting was informed that Camden currently spends £200m on repairs to its housing stock and noted that in recent years the Council’s DLO budget has increased from £10m to £20m in the last 18months,however it is important that when the present contracts ends, that the Council continue to have a flexible approach to procurement.

·         Meeting was informed that in April 2020, Camden will be bringing void services back in house and in other areas if not possible, there is a desire to consider the use of local contractors and labour through its Dynamic Procurement System, which allows work to be put into the system, an opportunity to attract local contractors to bid for works and bring in some competition especially as the big companies and suppliers dominate the framework.

·         Members were informed that although partnering option was relatively successful especially with its two partners who carried out repairs in the north and south of the borough, leaseholders felt disenfranchised and unhappy especially as there was no further opportunity for engagement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 130.

RESOLVED:

That the work programme be noted.