The Housing and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel met to discuss housing and community safety in Greenwich. Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, gave an update on housing management, repairs, capital works, rent collection, homelessness, and working with central government. Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, then updated the panel on community safety and enforcement, including strategies to end male violence, tackle modern slavery, and improve private sector licensing. The panel also discussed housing compliance and agreed to the 2025/26 work programme.

Capital Works Programme

Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, addressed concerns about changes to the capital works programme, particularly regarding kitchen and bathroom installations. Councillor Nas Asghar raised the issue, noting a recent council celebration of new kitchen and bathroom installations, and asked why the programme appeared to have come to a halt.

Councillor Slattery explained that the council had to prioritise safety-related capital works to meet new building safety standards.

Richard Parkin, Senior Assistant Director, explained that while the council had invested significantly in kitchen and bathroom replacements, the £450 million budget was finite and the focus had to shift to safety-critical items like lifts and fire safety. He clarified that kitchen and bathroom replacements would continue, especially where they were beyond reasonable repair, but not on the same scale as before. He also noted that the council was trying to save £40 million from the capital programme to balance the Housing Revenue Account¹.

Councillor Asghar asked when the £400 million programme was budgeted for, and why the increased fire safety work required wasn't envisaged at the time. Richard Parkin said the programme was budgeted around 2021-2022, and that while there was provision for safety elements, there had been a greater focus on safety since then. He also noted that intrusive surveys sometimes revealed unexpected issues that required additional work.

Building Safety Cases

Councillor Nas Asghar asked how many of the council's blocks had been requested for a building safety case² by the Building Safety Regulator. Richard Parkin confirmed that the council had received 16 requests for building safety cases. He clarified that councils are expected to have their building safety cases ready, and that when a request is received, they must compile all the information they have. He noted that the regulator often gives short notice for requests for further information.

Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation

Councillor Nas Asghar asked whether families previously housed in hotels as temporary accommodation had been moved to other forms of temporary accommodation or permanent council housing, and what implications this had for the rest of the housing list. Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said that some families had been moved to permanent council housing, while others were in self-contained temporary accommodation.

Housing Register Bands

Councillor Nas Asghar asked for an update on the band C issue on the housing register. Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said that a proposal was being developed for a new band three, which would include people who have high needs but do not quite meet the criteria for band one.

Fly Tipping

Councillor Nas Asghar asked how the council was doing with responding to fly tipping on estates. Richard Parkin said that the council removes fly tipping fairly quickly, and that the caretaking service removes fly tipping day in and day out. He noted that there had been a significant increase in fly tipping, which was increasing costs for the council. He also mentioned that DG Cities, an innovation company, had done some work on estates to look at behaviour change and innovative approaches to tackling fly tipping.

Leaseholder Repayments

Councillor Lakshan Saldin referred to a previous meeting where concerns were raised about the financial risks to the council if major capital programmes were not paid for in time. He asked when the council would receive a report on this. Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said that a report was coming in September formalising the offer to leaseholders facing major bills because of the capital programme.

Repairs Backlog

Councillor Lakshan Saldin asked about the repairs backlog in hours, which had been discussed at the last meeting. Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said that the backlog was coming down and was now significantly below 3,000. He said that he did not agree that looking at the backlog in hours was a valuable way of looking at things, and that he preferred his officers to focus on getting the work done. Councillor Saldin argued that the number of jobs did not give an idea of the volume of work, and that a metric used pretty much everywhere else would provide a valuable bit of transparency. Councillor Slattery said that he would look into it, but that he would rather his officers focused on getting the work done than doing arcane calculations.

Safer Neighbourhoods Teams

Councillor Lakshan Saldin asked about progress on a borough-wide scheme where Safer Neighbourhoods panels could contact housing repairs directly to stop issues escalating. Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said that the principle was fine, but that he was concerned about the amount of work it would create and whether it would become a wish list of repairs. He said that he did not want to over-promise and under-deliver, but that he would think about it.

Procurement and Value for Money

Councillor John Fahy raised concerns about procurement and value for money, particularly in respect of housing repairs. He said that he was frustrated when members were told that they could not have information because it was commercially confidential. He also raised concerns about contractors being granted extensions and added finance.

Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said that there were certain things that people were allowed to see and certain things that were commercially sensitive that people could not see. He said that the council was bound by procurement rules and the Procurement Act, and that it had to approach the market in a certain way. Richard Parkin added that sometimes there were unknown unknowns, such as asbestos being found in a loft space, which led to extra costs.

Councillor Fahy asked where the council looked to for best practice in regard to getting value for money. Richard Parkin said that the council's head of procurement would be happy to answer any questions on procurement. He said that there was learning across the board, and that the council's managers were very skilled at procurement. He added that when the council went out to contract, it generally had a quality cost mix for how it judged those contracts, and that the cost was a cost and whoever won that won it.

Lifetime Homes and Downsizing

Councillor John Fahy asked whether the council was looking to maximise the number of lifetime homes³ as part of its strategy, and whether good progress was being made with downsizing. Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said that the council was working with adult services and place and growth to create an extra care facility in the borough. He said that whenever the council acquired or built properties, it made sure that at least 10% of them were accessible to people with mobility issues. He added that the council had just put quite a lot of extra money into grants and loans for people to spend adapting their homes so they could stay in them for longer.

Councillor Slattery said that the Deputy Prime Minister had announced that right to buy discounts would be dramatically reduced. He said that in the three-week window before the discounts were reduced, the council had received a thousand applications for right to buy, compared to the usual 60 a year. He said that he thought this would shake down to a further 400 homes that the council would lose this year to right to buy, but that after that he thought it would be in double figures a year. He added that the council had increased the incentives for people to downsize, and had freed up perhaps 30 family-sized homes since April.

Empty Homes

Councillor Leo Fletcher, Chair of Housing and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel, asked what the council was doing about bringing empty homes into the rented sector and building new council homes. Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said that the council had money from the government and the GLA to buy about 150 new street properties this year. He said that the council also had compulsory purchase order powers, and that it was about to use one in Eltham.

Housing Register

A member of the audience, Mr Bout, raised concerns about the housing queue and the treatment of people with mental health issues. Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, apologised if staff had behaved badly and offered to look into the case. He explained the priority system for the housing register, and said that there was a severe shortage of affordable housing.

Casework and Complaints

Councillor Nas Asghar noted that casework and complaints were a weak area, with 46% not replied to on time. She asked why this was a weak area and what could be done to make that 46% zero percent. Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said that it was probably because the council had not had enough staff dealing with it. He said that there was also a cultural issue around not seeing complaints as an opportunity to apologise and learn. He said that the council had recruited some new staff and was bringing in temporary workers to help reduce the backlog.

Richard Parkin added that the council had been fixing the problems that led to complaints, and that it now had to get on top of the timeliness. He said that the council was bringing in extra staff to get on top of the backlog, and that his target was to see a significant increase in the percentage of complaints being responded to in time by the end of the year.

Capital Works Programme (Follow Up)

Councillor Sandra Thomas asked for clarification on the capital works programme, and whether jobs had been booked in for kitchens and bathrooms. Richard Parkin said that there was no situation where the council had told people they were going to get a kitchen and bathroom and then turned around and said they had run out of money. He said that the council had come to the end of the initial programme and was not starting a new programme.

Waiting Lists

Councillor Sandra Thomas asked if there was any mechanism by which people who had been on the waiting list for a long time could be helped. Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said that if people were in band C and had no priority, then it was true to say that the council would not be housing them for some time if ever. He said that if Councillor Thomas thought there was a special reason why these two people should be helped, then she should drop him a note.

Job Duplication

Councillor Sandra Thomas asked what progress had been made resolving the job duplication thing. Councillor Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said that he did not recall what that was referring to.

Ending Male Violence Against Women and Girls

Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that the council was evolving its violence against women and girls policy to focus specifically on working to tackle male violence. She said that the shift was from behaviour change in women to keep themselves safe to behaviour change in men as perpetrators. She noted that 96% of victims of serious violence in the borough were women, and that the vast majority of perpetrators were men. She said that the council was a White Ribbon ambassador borough, and that part of this was about creating male allyship. She added that the council was looking at a male psychological safety plan to support men and boys who may be vulnerable to toxic influences.

Modern Slavery

Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that modern slavery was a significant issue within Greenwich and could take various forms. She said that the council was developing a new modern slavery action plan which set out how it would identify victims, remove them from modern slavery, support them, and catch perpetrators and bring them to justice. She added that the council was working with police and colleagues in adult services to identify agencies that were exploiting care workers.

Private Sector Licensing

Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that the council currently had a selective private sector licensing scheme which covered five wards, and mandatory and additional HMO schemes which covered the whole borough. She said that the council had introduced new software for managing the licenses, and that it was currently seeking to build a robust evidence base to support the expansion of the selective licensing scheme. She added that the council was introducing a new private sector licensing policy in the next few months.

Alcohol, Entertainment and Late Night Refreshments

Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that the council was going to consult on its licensing strategy for alcohol, entertainment and late night refreshments later this month. She said that the consultation would primarily be through the council's engagement platform, but that officers would also be meeting with licensed premises and other stakeholders. She added that the council was going to have a stronger expectation on safety of women around Ask for Angela⁴, counter-terrorism measures, and licensees within the policing footfall of Charlton Athletic.

Serious Youth Violence

Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that the council was working closely with colleagues in children's services to keep children and young people safe from serious violence. She said that the council delivered and commissioned a range of services aimed at tackling the problem at different levels, including universal prevention, targeted support, and targeted responses. She added that she had opened the council's fourth knife surrender bin, and that the council had taken over 200 weapons off the streets in the first six months.

Beresford Square

Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that since Beresford Square had been handed back to the council following its redevelopment, there had been some significant challenges with crime and anti-social behaviour and street littering. She said that the council had been proactive in responding to these challenges through its integrated enforcement model, and that it was reinstating its PSPO signage.

HMOs

Councillor John Fahy said that Kidbrooke Park Ward had become the capital of the HMO industry, and that the council seemed to be quite relaxed about it. He said that he found it worrying that the decision on planning took place first and then the issue around licensing took place after planning. Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that there was a statutory legislation issue with the way in which there were two processes for the creation of a HMO. She said that in an ideal world, the council would like to be able to bring those processes together.

Councillor Sandra Thomas said that she got lots of complaints about HMOs in Peninsula ward, and asked if the council had any plans to make the spread more even across the borough or limit them in wards. Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that half of this sat within planning, and that the council had very few mechanisms to object to HMO planning. She said that she was focusing on how to identify HMOs that did not have licenses, and that she was trying to work on finding a better way in which the council could have a public-facing list of HMOs.

Knife Bins

Councillor John Fahy asked what the criteria were for where the knife bins should be placed. Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that this was still a trial, and that the bins had to be placed in places where they were likely to see the best effect. She said that she was talking with officers about where the next bins would be placed, and that she would be bringing that forward to discussion quite soon.

Modern Slavery (Follow Up)

Councillor John Fahy asked whether the council still had a Home Office Metropolitan Police officer operating out of the Woolwich Centre, and what their role was in assisting the council's staff in dealing with modern slavery issues. Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that she was not sure whether the council still had the officer based within its premises, but that she would have to come back to him on that. She said that the council was making a lot more referrals to the National Referral Mechanism, and that it was bringing training across its entire staff base to recognise the warning signs of modern slavery.

Environmental Health Officers

Councillor Nas Asghar asked why the council was not getting the inner London weighting for environmental health officers, and whether that was why it could not hire enough people. Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that it certainly did not help, but that it was also an issue that was nationwide. She said that the council was looking at market supplements for certain levels within that structure.

Licensing Strategy

Councillor Nas Asghar asked whether there were any plans to include conditions for licensees to provide transport home for their staff in the licensing strategy. Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that she had got a sentence added in around staff safety into the strategy as guidance.

HMO Licensing (Follow Up)

Councillor Nas Asghar said that it appeared that to get a HMO license, the landlord applied, paid their fee, and got the license as long as they had ticked all the right boxes, and that there were not actually any physical inspections that went on of the properties before a license was given. She asked whether that happened at all, and if not, how a license could be given if the property had not been inspected and it was a paper exercise. Councillor Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Cabinet Member Community Safety and Enforcement, said that the council was going out to visit ones where it believed that there were particular issues, but that it probably did not have the capacity to inspect every HMO license physically.

Compliance Performance Update

Richard Parkin, Senior Assistant Director, introduced Sue Murray, Head of Landlord Risk and Compliance. He said that the report was part of the assurance framework for the council, and that it updated the panel on how the council was doing on safety. He noted that there had been a specific increase around electrical safety, fire safety, gas, lifts, and water. He also noted that the report included an external audit completed by Savills.

Dry Risers

Councillor Leo Fletcher, Chair of Housing and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel, asked whether the theft of dry risers in tower blocks had decreased. Sue Murray said that the perpetrator had been caught, and that there had not been a dry riser stolen since.

Tier One Contractor

Councillor Roger Tester asked for more information about the tier one contractor that the council had had to terminate the contract with due to them being unreliable. Sue Murray said that the council had direct awarded the contract to Wates under lots of conversations in terms of their ability to do the work. She said that Wates had not delivered, and that the council had given them a significant run and lots of governance. She said that it had got to a point where it was not feasible, and that the council had needed to part ways. She added that Wates had only ever got paid for the works that they had actually completed.

Electrical Safety Checks

Councillor Lakshan Saldin asked for more details around why an injunction was necessary to carry out an electrical safety check, and whether the council was in a position to seek to recover costs in terms of obtaining that injunction. Sue Murray said that the council had a very clear process around no access, and that it did a huge piece of work before it got to an injunction stage. She said that the resident had either just point blankly refused to let the council in. She added that the council would recharge a resident for the costs that were recovered, but that it did not know whether it would be able to recuperate back those funds.

Regulator of Social Housing

Councillor Lakshan Saldin asked how long it would be before the council was out of the sin bin with the Regulator of Social Housing. Richard Parkin said that the tenor of the conversation with the regulator was very positive, and that the regulator had said that it could really see a massive difference from where the council was a year ago. He said that the regulator's concern was the fire risk actions, and that the council needed to reduce those further. He added that the best the council could do to get that regulatory notice lifted was to continue the good work, continue to drive actions down, and show that it had a continued programme that it was working to.

Direct Awards

Councillor Lakshan Saldin asked whether there was any value in members being heard on the whole direct award culture. Richard Parkin said that the direct award to Wates was decided as the best approach because previously the council had been let down by other contractors. He said that the fire safety industry was a very difficult industry to get good contractors in who would get the work done, and that it was a seller's market.

Work Programme Schedule 2025/26

The panel agreed to note the 2025/26 work programme items and agree the scope.