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The Council considered a report
seeking approval to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget and
Rent Setting for 2024/25.
 
In moving the motion, the
Executive Member for Housing & Housing Development (Councillor
Jeannette Thomas) advised that the HRA budget had been set in line
with the assumptions used in the revised 30-year Business Plan that
was approved by the Executive in November 2023.  The aim of
the budget was to balance the needs of the existing housing stock,
while allowing investment in new replacement homes for those lost
under the Right to Buy system.  The budget included funding
for £37Million on revenue and capital works to existing homes
and £29Million of investment in new housing stock for
residents.  These investments were part of the Council’s
ten-year plan to improve the maintenance of its homes and ensure
that tenants had good quality, safe and sustainable homes to
live-in, particularly in response to the climate crisis.
 
The Executive Member for
Housing & Housing Development stated a key priority would be to
maintain full compliance with all statutory and regulatory
requirements to ensure that tenants’ homes remained
safe.  The Council would further
progress its low to medium rise flat block refurbishment programmes
and would undertake further building safety and refurbishment works
to the Council’s five high rise flat blocks.  Over the
next three years of the Council’s decent homes programme, 995
new kitchens or bathrooms would be installed, there would be 1,875
heating upgrades, 1,500 window or door upgrades and 1,400
properties would receive works to improve their energy efficiency
with the aim for all properties to be at an energy performance
rating of C by 2030.
 
The Executive Member for
Housing & Housing Development commented that in the next 5
years the budget would contribute towards the delivery of 447 new
homes in line with the Council’s 5 Star promise. This was on
top of the over 500 homes that the Council had delivered to
date.
 
The Executive Member for
Housing & Housing Development explained that the revenue growth
included within the 2024/25 budget totalling £2.4Million
would enable the Council to meet additional costs relating to void
properties and support the work in clearing the current backlog of
fencing repairs and replacements.  Work
would continue to implement improvements to the Council’s
Repairs and Voids service, to ensure it offered choices to tenants
and delivered cost-effective repairs and improvements. Further
proposals in this regard would be presented to the Executive in due
course.
 
The Portfolio Holder for
Housing & Housing Development advised that additional resources
had also been allocated in response to new and ongoing operational
challenges, including higher levels of arrears, and the
introduction of new and revised social housing standards and
regulations.  This would be alongside growth of £419,000
that would enable transformation projects, which would deliver
service improvements and help offset pay awards and IT related
pressures.  As part of the
Council’s climate change commitment, the vehicle fleet would
be switching (where possible) to Hydrotreated Vegetable
Oil fuel from October 2024.
                      
                 
The Portfolio Holder for
Housing & Housing Development commented that, as always, rent
provided the main source of funding for the HRA and these had been
increased by 7.7%, in line with the Government’s rent setting
guidelines, using September CPI plus 1%.  This meant that
average weekly rents would increase by £8.56 for social
rents, £10.09 for Low Start Shared Ownership homes and
£13.30 for affordable rents.  However, due to a large
reduction in utility costs, some tenants in the Council’s
flat blocks would see an overall reduction in their combined rent
and service charges next year.
 
The
Portfolio Holder for Housing & Housing Development explained
that new loans totalling £37.6Million and £18.8Million
were expected to be taken in the current and next financial
year.  However, the timing of this
borrowing would be reviewed weighing up the cost and the Public
Works Loan Board interest rates.  The
interest payable in 2023/24 and 2024/25 was estimated to be
£8.9Million and £9.4Million, respectively.
 
The Portfolio Holder for
Housing & Housing Development stated that, since the draft
budget was presented to Members in December 2023, recharges between
the HRA and the General Fund had been finalised.  Overall,
this had increased costs to the HRA by £179,000 and the HRA
deficit for the year by £261,000.  This would be funded
from balances and adjusted in future revisions of the Medium Term
Financial Strategy.
 
The motion was seconded by the
Executive Member for Culture, Leisure & Information Technology
(Councillor Loraine Rossati).
 
In response to various
questions raised during the debate on the motion, the Portfolio
Holder for Housing & Housing Development stated:
 
·    
in relation to the decarbonisation of the
Council’s housing stock, the Council had to bid each time for
Government funding for these works.  SBC
had been successful in two such bids, and work was ongoing in some
of the Council’s older housing stock;
·    
the Council did not currently benchmark its services
against Housing Associations nor other local authorities with their
own housing stock, although this could be looked at in the future;
and
·    
the corporate and democratic costs allocated to the
HRA was its proportion re-charged to the General Fund.
 
Upon the motion being put to
the vote, it was RESOLVED:
 
1.         
That Housing Revenue Account (HRA) dwelling rents be increased
(week commencing 1 April 2024) by 7.7%. 
This equates to an average increase of £8.56 for social
rents, £13.30 for affordable rents and £10.09 for Low
Start Shared Ownership homes per week (based on a 52-week
year).

 
2.         
That the 2024/25 service charges be approved, as set out in
Paragraph 4.2 of the report.
 
3.         
That the HRA budget for 2024/25, as set out in Appendix A to the
report and as revised from the January 2024 draft budget report (as
explained in Paragraph 4.8.1 of the report), be approved.
 
4.         
That the 2024/25 growth options, as set out in Section 4.4 of the
report, be approved.
 
5.         
That the 2024/25 Fees and Charges, as set
out in Appendix B to the report, be approved.
 
6.         
That the minimum levels of balances for
2024/25, as shown in Appendix C to the report, be
approved.
 
7.         
That the Rent Increase Equalities Impact
Assessments, appended to the report in Appendix D, be
noted.
 
8.         
That the contingency sum of
£400,000, within which the Executive can approve
supplementary estimates, for 2024/25 (unchanged from 2023/24) be
approved.
 
9.         
That the comments from the Overview and
Scrutiny Committee, as set out in Paragraph 4.10.2 of the report,
be noted.
 
10.      
That key partners and other stakeholders
be consulted and their views considered as part of the 2024/25
budget setting process.