Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

a)  To agree the Minutes of the previous meeting held on 24 October 2024

b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 24^th October 2024 were agreed and signed as a true record.

There were no matters arising.

Report of the Director of City Services

The Board received a Briefing Note providing an update on the part-night Lighting.

At the Council meeting held on 20^th February 2024, the Council agreed, as part of the budget setting process, to introduce citywide part-night lighting.  The programming of the streetlights started in May 2024 and all eligible streetlights were programmed by July 2024.  It was estimated approximately 70% of lights would operate part-night however, once the criteria had been applied, this reduced to 60% (excluding the City Centre).

The part-night lighting was estimated to make savings of the street lighting electricity budget by £700,000 and this funding would be used to protect other vital services.  Due to the decrease from 70% to 60% of lights, programming of the lights taking 2 months and the reduction in the cost of energy from October 2024, the saving target had been reduced to £600,000.  Savings from the part-night from May to December 2024 had been approximately £350,000 based on 38pkwh.  The Council’s energy price reduced to 26pkwh from October 2024.

The Police had conducted a review of the part-night lighting and found no evidence of crime going up as a result of the changes in street lighting.  It was noted that there had been a reduction in night-time collisions during the hours of the part-night switch off.

A petition bearing 1482 signatures to switch the lights back on had been received.  The petition had been discussed with the Cabinet Member for City Services who had agreed to issue a determination letter advising that the part-night lighting policy would continue as there had not been any increases in crime.

The upgrading of 29,500 street lighting to LEDs was agreed at Council on 14 January 2025.  The LED lighting would provide a better quality of light but use half the amount of energy.  The upgrade would also provide Council with more flexibility over the street lighting.

An Equality Impact Assessment had been carried out and it was found that there were groups of people that could be negatively impacted by the part-night lighting however, as the police had reported there had not been an increase in criminal activity.

West Midlands Police provided an overview of police data for the period since thepart night street lighting had been introduced,

In considering the briefing note, the Board questioned officers, received responses and discussed matters as summarised below:

• Any crime related issues concerning the part-night light switch off were discussed regularly in partnership with local policing and community safety colleagues. Community meetings were held to understand where crime/anti-social behaviour trends were taking place in the city.
• Car crime in Coventry from May 2024 – November 2024 was below trend.
• Police data was intelligence led rather than being published figures.  Data showed that crime was expected to be the same as before the part-night light switch off.
• Information regarding the fear of crime, not specifically relating to the part-night switch off had been included within the report.  Residents were being encouraged to report crime via  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Report of the Director of Adults and Housing

The Board received a Briefing Note providing a progress update on the Supported Housing Improvement Programme (SHIP) funding, as well as an update on progress with changes to legislation.  Exempt Supported Accommodation was previously considered by Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee at its meetings on 7 December 2023 and 8 January 2022.

Exempt accommodation was supported housing which was exempt certain Housing Benefit provisions.  It often housed more marginalised groups with support needs such as prison leavers; care leavers; those fleeing domestic violence; and homeless people with substance dependence or mental health issues.

There was an element of care, support and supervision provided and it was exempt from Local Housing Allowance (LHA) caps.  These exemptions enabled organisations providing this type of housing to charge higher rates to clients living in their properties.  Where the accommodation was provided by an organisation other than a registered provider, Local Authorities would bear the additional costs of the provision beyond the LHA rate.

Exempt accommodation clients were usually housed in Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs).  The three main types of providers in Coventry were:

• Registered Providers’ who provide supported housing eg. Citizen, St Basils
• Non-RP’s which were well established organisations eg. Salvation Army, Coventry Cyrenians, Mind
• Community Interest Companies who often had limited expertise/experience of accommodating vulnerable groups.

Following a successful bid for funding via SHIP with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG), the Council was awarded circa £350,000 funding to deliver a robust set of actions to improve the quality of SEA in the city.

Following successful recruitment to the 3 newly created roles, the SEA Team began to work towards the objectives set out in the SHIP delivery plan.  The team had successfully:

• Liaised with teams within the Council and with external stakeholders who had a known relationship with SEA providers.
• Created a Quality Assurance Tool Kit
• Created a Gateway for providers wishing to operate SEA within the city
• Developed a single access point to capture “Comments, Concerns and Complaints” relating to a provider or accommodation
• Created a virtual panel to assess new applicants

Annual figures from April 2023 to May 2024 evidencing savings made from Housing Benefit payments when a provider’s rents had been restricted and costs negotiated, had been provided in the report.

Details of costs avoided where housing benefit had refused payment to a provider or revoked the status of a provider based on information provided, suggested the provider was unable to provide Supported Exempt Accommodation which met the minimum requirement for Housing Benefit regulations, had also been provided in the report.

The team were continuing to undertake reviews of the quality of support offered and the housing conditions through inspections to assess minimum standards via the Housing health and safety rating system (HHSRS) in licensed and non-HMO properties.  The team aimed to visit all supported accommodation at least once during the project length as per the project plan.  The team would continue to respond to reactive complaints via the online portal regarding poor housing conditions and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

Report of the Director of Law and Governance

The Communities and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Board (4) received a report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator that detailed issues on the Board’s Work Programme for meetings of the Board for 2024/25.

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RESOLVED that the Communities and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Board (4) notes the issues on the Board’s Work Programme for 2024/25 and requests that: 

1)  Prior to any policy decision being made, LED lighting to come back to SB4 including financial information and roll out of the programme.

2)  Retrofit of social housing to be allocated to a specific meeting.

There were no other items of public business.