The Housing and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel discussed the future of the council's garage sites and their potential for building new homes, and decided upon their work programme for the coming year. The Panel decided to add a review of the estate regeneration process to their work programme.

Garage Sites

The Panel discussed a report on the future of the council's garage sites. The report set out how many of the council's garages are currently let out, how much revenue they generate and the potential for building new homes on the sites. There are 1862 garages in the borough, divided into 585 garage sites, with 60% of garages currently let out. The council estimates that the sites could accommodate up to 400 new homes, subject to planning permission.

The report recognised the concerns of existing garage tenants:

The report acknowledges that the loss of garages, even if they are not being used to store vehicles, may be unpopular with some residents and that any future proposals will need to be developed in full consultation with them.

— Garages Update (item 5) p2.

Councillors discussed the need for adequate provision of garages for existing tenants to move to, and whether the council should survey tenants to better understand how they use their garages, and what their needs are.

Work Programme

The Panel discussed its work programme for the 2024-2025 council year.

The draft work programme included pre-existing plans to discuss the following:

• The Housing Repairs Service
• The Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code
• Estate Regeneration and Development
• The Housing Department’s Response to the climate emergency
• Community Safety on estates

Councillor Chris Lloyd proposed adding a specific review of the estate regeneration process to the work programme.

I think it’s important that we have a specific piece of work that looks at the estate regeneration process from beginning to end...to look at the strengths and weaknesses of our current process and identify areas for improvement.

— Councillor Chris Lloyd, Transcript of Housing and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel 09 July 2024 (item 6), p.16.

The proposal to add a review of the estate regeneration process to the work programme was agreed.