WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.81

Thursday 15^th December 2022, 1:30pm via Zoom

List of those present:

• Councillor Gurpreet Johal - Housing Convener (chaired meeting)
• Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRA
• Ruth Dickinson - Willox Park TRA
• Mary Paton - Willox Park TRA
• June Todd - WDTRO
• Harry McCormack - Tullichewan TRA
• Alan Young - Housing Asset & Investment Manager
• John Kerr - Housing Development & Homelessness Manager
• Scott McLelland - Housing Operations Co-ordinator
• Jane Mack - Senior Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation)
• Martin Feeney - Building Services Officer
• Hanne Thijs - Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation) - minute taker
• Nicola Pettigrew - Housing Operations Manager
• Stefan Kristmanns - Housing Development co-ordinator ( joined meeting at item 4.

Welcome, introductions and apologies

Apologies from David Lynch, Councillor Sorrell and Stefan Kristmanns joining when able.

Jane apologised for late start of meeting due to technical difficulties.

Updates on actions from previous minutes (copies of updated actions distributed ahead of meeting)

 Martin provided a verbal update on his outstanding actions,

• Additional sockets – multi-storey strategy group and Better Homes Group are looking at these at the moment. Mary advised that at Willox Park programme to get USB sockets has started. Peter confirmed that work was ongoing, discussions started after Grenfell, started on individual, reactive basis but now have a planned programme.
  
  
• Dedicated repairs staff for MSFs – resources had to be pulled back due to backlog in repairs service. Contractor is carrying out 3 month cyclical reviews of fire doors, bins and hoppers. Will keep group updated on when WDC staff move back to these roles.
  
  
• Cyclical programme – programme still in development. Will be ready early in the new year. Gurpreet added that elected members are putting a motion to full council next week regarding the dampness/mould issue and key focus is on how to address.

Lift Protocol – Nicola advised that protocol in place. Texting element not active yet – challenge is to ensure consistent response even when out of hours. Solution been put forward and confident that should have operating in new year. Will update fully as soon as possible.

Review of Financial Strategy/Building Services Surplus (Peter Barry)

Peter outlined this long standing issue where the WDTRO feel that surplus made by Building Services should return to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and not into general services budget. Council’s position is that current situation meets with legal requirements and been checked with Audit Scotland.

Peter said that current financial situation in Council is very difficult with unprecedented pressures in 30 years. Removing the surplus from general services would make this even worse so not the right time to do any wholesale change. Appreciated the value for money concerns and so planning to introduce new thinking thro a review of the Council’s financial strategy. Peter reiterated that he has always promoted the WDTRO’s position and his and other officer’s intention, is to fashion a way to migrate away from current situation and would be included in Financial Strategy when it is considered by Councillors in October 2023.

Frances asked Peter to confirm commitment to review in 2023, which he did. June noted that would like to have some sight of this before it was finalised, Peter noted that there is no duty to consult with tenants on this and it is councillors who make the decision but happy to share the proposal with the WDTRO ahead of the Council meeting. Gurpreet thanked Peter for coming to address the issue and keen that WDTRO know he is listening to them. Harry confirmed the WDTRO’s frustration so far but appreciated the progress made today.

Update on Repairs performance and repairs call handling performance (Martin Feeney) – performance info distributed ahead of meeting

Martin spoke through figures provided. Improving picture- emergency response time down, non-emergency repairs up mainly due to backlog and working through that - also a lot are more complex repairs so take longer to complete and did met target in October.

Most figures are trending towards improvements.

Frances noted that number of duplicate repairs is very high. Martin advised can be for number of reasons and rely on CAS team – meant to check repair history but often get missed – staff turnover has added to this problem. At end of year data gets verified and corrections made before sent to Housing Regulator.

Gurpreet asked for clarification on the high numbers of “duplicate repairs” and “raised in error”. Also regarding “no-access”, still doesn’t capture situation when the tradesperson doesn’t attend and job gets cancelled.

Martin confirmed that the jobs cancelled due to ‘No access” is when tenant hasn’t given access or not answered the door. Martin confirmed that he will provide further information on when staff do not attend for next meeting.

Harry asked about incidences of “tenant refusing repair” and how this is approached - Martin clarified they would attempt to rearrange but if still don’t get access would then cancel.

Texts will be sent to tenants when repairs are cancelled in the future and gives link to rearrange the repair – being tested and should be live in the new year and should help reduce cancellations.

Increase in vandalism at multi-storey flats and Councils response (Scott McLelland

Scott advised that not been an increase in vandalism noted by Housing -has spoken to Police, housing officers and other partner agencies. Scott asked tenants to email him any concerns about vandalism and he will share with Police Scotland and then ensures that it can be recorded and actioned.  

Frances didn’t understand how don’t have record of incidents - at Littleholm, lifts are regularly being vandalised with buttons being bashed in, burnt, lift sprayed, spittle etc. They have been repaired but then broken again. Main entry door of West Court been boarded up and taken months to fix.

Scott confirmed not been reported as Anti-social behaviour but might be about how they define that – criminal act and a cost involved. Frances acknowledged that most of the incidents she reports are to repairs. Scott advised that he will check with Repairs team to see which repairs are as a result of anti-social behaviour.

Scott gave reassurance that has asked the anti-social behaviour teams to do foot patrols to multi-storeys and for the CCTV team also to focus on the flats so they will get monitored. The teams have also been asked to note any vandalism. Also confirmed that there is an internal process for caretakers and HOs’ to flag concerns about vandalism to the ASB team.

Action: Scott to liaise with colleagues and ensure foot patrol inspections are carried out regularly and any vandalism noted and actioned.

Forward plan (John Kerr) – including update on Brunswick, Montreal and Quebec – update on figures issued ahead of meeting

New Build updates given as follows,

• Clydebank East – pre-site start meeting on 11^th January -looking at 88 homes (55 flats, 33 homes), probably start building in April/May.
• Pappert development – have contractor tenders in, includes Passivhaus model and hopefully on site early 2023.
• Willox Park, Bonhill gap sites and Bank Street– combined package to keep costs down - looking to get planning applications done by external consultants.
• Clydebank Health centre – WDC buying this site from NHS – handover date in dispute and Council pushing for this financial year.
• Mount Pleasant – demolitions now complete ahead of schedule - moving to tendering committee for design and build.
• Buybacks going well – number of private landlords are looking to sell up so WDC looking to proactively speak to them about buying suitable properties. Scottish Government looking to set up national acquisition team which may mean more funding.
• Queens Quay – negotiating with the estate developer, looking to purchase additional sites to make site C more feasible.
• Brunswick, Montreal and Quebec – 29 active tenancies still - on track for moving tenants out and new housing officer working well with Development team.
• Willox Park – surveys have been commissioned - looking for 2 or 3 tenants to volunteer for more intrusive surveys. Would hope to conclude early part of 2023.
• Multi-storey high rise strategy –survey out now and had good responses so far which will be used in the strategy.
• Queens Quay district heating system – put together business plan to Scottish Government and longer term plan is to extend DHS to Dalmuir area. Hoping to see if additional funding will be put forward and will keep Liaison updated.

June asked for update on old Frank Downie house site and John confirmed that this been sold to a private housing builder and that there is no requirement to provide homes for rent.

Ruth asked for clarity on surveys at Willox Park as had been previously told that all flats would be surveyed. John clarified that the 2/3 properties will have the more intrusive surveys but still doing surveys in all properties.

Tenant Participation update (Jane Mack)

Rent setting consultation has started and all tenants will receive information thro the post about the options and how to vote. There are 2 options to consider 4% and 5% and these were the lowest options that could be offered while still investing in improvements to current stock, building new properties and ensuring current services weren’t cut.

Are consulting nearer to Christmas than would have liked but have made voting as easy as possible thro free post voting card, online, by text or email. Staff also been given a briefing note and asked to encourage tenants they speak to, to vote and help them vote if necessary to help get as high a response rate as possible.

TPAS re- accreditation been submitted and next stage is for TPAS to review it and then arrange focus groups in Jan/Feb with staff and tenants to ensure we do what we say we do.

Winter edition of the Housing News been delivered to tenants and the web link sent to staff.  Thanks given to everyone who submitted articles and the deadline for the spring edition is the 8/2.  

Few groups have had specific festive events such as Tullichewan and CATRA held a joint Christmas craft bazaar and Central Radnor Park TRA joined up with Ysortit to host a Christmas party for local kids -really good to see groups joining together to increase their impact. Risk St TRA have settled into their new community premises and Hanne been helping them kit out the flat and have some great plans for how they will use it.

Jane finished by giving thanks to everyone who attends the Liaison meetings and for helping them be an effective partnership and a great way to improve services and communication with tenants. Also appreciated was all the time the WDTRO members give over and above what they do in their local groups to work with the Council and hope that in 2023 will be back on track, making improvements and increasing tenant involvement.

AOCB 

Mary thanked Gurpreet for coming down to Willox Park to explain his role and was very informative.

Ruth also asked Martin about the new fire doors being fitted at Willox and if they would be painted? Martin confirmed that they don’t usually paint them but would speak with John and Nicola to see if that could be done.

Martin also noted that the call handling stats had been circulated and asked if there were any questions about these. Frances and Jane agreed that all figures looking good and number of calls abandoned and average queue times had really improved and were no questions.

Frances thanked everyone for coming along to the meeting and wished everyone a happy christmas.

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.80

Thursday 27 October 2022, 1:30pm via Zoom

List of those present:

• Councillor Gurpreet Johal - Housing Convener (chaired meeting)
• Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRA
• Ruth Dickinson - Willox Park TRA
• Mary Paton - Willox Park TRA
• June Todd - WDTRO
• Harry McCormack - Tullichewan TRA
• Alan Young - Housing Asset & Investment Manager
• John Kerr - Housing Development & Homelessness Manager
• David Lynch - Housing Operations Co-ordinator
• Tracy Crichton - Housing Operations Co-ordinator
• Jamie Dockery - Snr Housing Development Officer
• Dawn Connor - Snr Housing Development Officer
• Graham Watters - Housing Development Co-ordinator
• Jane Mack - Senior Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation)
• Martin Feeney - Building Services Officer
• Hanne Thijs - Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation) - minute taker
• Francis Eglinton - West Lothian Council
• Alison Kerr - West Lothian Council

Welcome, introductions and apologies

Everyone was welcomed to the meeting by Councillor Johal, chairing meeting in place of Frances as her camera not working. Introduced West Lothian Council tenant and staff who are observing how West Dunbartonshire Council run our liaison meetings.

Apologies received from Janette Donlin and Jacqui Peacock (both Dalmuir TRA), Stefan Kristmanns, Nicola Pettigrew and Councillor Sorrell.

Order of agenda changed as Martin Feeney had to leave for another meeting at 2pm so the Update on Repairs Performance was discussed first.

Update on Repairs performance (Martin Feeney) - information provided ahead of meeting.

Tables show performance for first 6 months up to end of September and Martin spoke through the figures. Non-emergency repairs were out of target and Martin advised this was due to some older repairs getting finished. The list of active repairs is falling as there are more completed repairs than reported repairs and will be in an even better position within 6 months.

Martin clarified that the ‘No access’ figures are where tenants have not been in, not that staff haven’t turned up. Jane reminded the meeting that the JRG also been looking at the no access/ cancellation processes and at their meeting previous week was agreed with Repairs to monitor as the improvements to the process should reduce the number of repair cancellations and this information can be shared at the Liaison meeting too. Graham confirmed that sending a text when a job is cancelled starting next week.

Cllr Johal referred to constituent cases where tenants are not told that tradesman not coming and Martin said that not sure why this is the case as there is a process in place - Planners should be rearranging these appointments. Cllr Johal also raised instances when tenants waiting over a year for a repair and Martin confirmed that his team are aware of these and are trying to make improvements. Martin confirmed that tracking of time starts when tenant first makes contact so WDC reports on inspection period and repair timing.

Before leaving meeting, Martin noted that tenants had asked for an update on the cyclical programme review and this is being pulled together and he will update at a future meeting.

Issues arising from update on actions from previous minutes – copy of updated actions issued ahead of meeting

In response to update about dedicated repair team for MSFs , Frances noted that does not seem to have sped up repairs. David advised that have been issues mainly due to vandalism - as soon as doors are fixed, they are broken again and Martec have some service issues. In absence of Martin Feeney, agreed to keep action active to monitor.

Walkabout and traffic calming roads at Willox Park complete apart from costs and implementation by Roads. John agreed to continue to give feedback as part of his regular forward plan.

Lift protocol –still issues with out of hours arrangements and who has responsibility for sending out text updates. David confirmed discussions ongoing with Citizen Services.

Cyclical programme information has been provided – agreed action complete and can be removed. Further action re update on review of cyclical programme still outstanding.

Housing Officers – TRAs happy with the information provided - agreed action complete and can be removed.

Update on Housing Officer contact arrangements- WDTRO had raised concerns about not being able to contact HOs direct. ( Nicola Pettigrew)

Written update provided and Tracy gave a summary of the changes. Mary said that the new Housing officer for Willox Park had contacted them and already met up so was pleased this now in place.

Harry noted that some tenants preferred to have a direct contact for Housing officers and there is concern about having to use the duty numbers but appreciated the drawbacks if tenants were phoning at night or not leaving message so could see both sides of the issue. Tracy confirmed that all messages will be passed on to relevant Housing Officer and they then make direct contact. Housing Officers are getting business cards which will still have individual mobile numbers for when they are dealing with a specific case.

Update on 87 O’Hare – buy back retrofit pilot (Dawn Conner)

Information provided ahead of meeting and Dawn went through presentation.

Have bought back a 3 bed property in O’Hare and going to use it as a pilot to test out different energy efficiency measures to help improve existing stock. Air sourced heat pump been considered in light of gas being phased out but very expensive when only fitting 1 so not value for money in this project so might be a gas boiler that is installed. Benefits of being able to do work when property empty as no disruption to a tenant so going to do underfloor insulation which when a property is occupied is very disruptive and difficult to do.  June asked what underfloor insulation is going in as concerned about fire safety and  Dawn confirmed that it will be insulation attached to the floorboards, usually synthetic and needs to meet fire regulations – often wool is used. 

Mary advised that similar problems at Willox with dampness so will be interested in outcome of pilot. Dawn confirmed that there was a specific assessment of the issues at Willox Park ongoing.

Demonstration of new tenant self-serve – (Graham Watters)

Graham shared his screen to demonstrate the new tenant self service portal. Able to check rent account, make payments, log repair and check progress on repairs already reported. If a repair was cancelled could then get it re-activated. Longer term plans are to add be able to apply for changes to tenancy (ie. succession, assignation) and housing applications.

Hanne asked if re-activated repairs would be new repair or re-instate old repair and Graham confirmed it would be logged as new repair and needs some more internal discussions.

Frances asked if there is scope for reporting communal repairs. Graham said that not yet possible but it will be developed. Jane confirmed that this is a key issue as often people assume that someone else has reported a communal repair so would be good if tenants could check what communal repairs were already reported. Graham confirmed they are looking at ways to show which communal repairs have been reported and need to be careful re wording if going to be made public as were GDPR considerations -discussions ongoing with staff to ensure no sensitive information provided.   

Cllr Johal asked if you would get confirmation of repairs logged. Graham said that it should show up on system as logged repair and tenants should also get a text message.

Harry was impressed with portal and asked if TRAs can use this to report repairs for community flats. Graham said that would look at this as currently system is set up for those with secure or short secure tenancies but sure the community flats could be included.

Graham advised that he happy to come along to future meeting and update as system gets developed. Updates will also be publicised on website and through Housing News.

Action : Graham to see if community flats can be added to portal and keep Liaison updated as the portal is developed.

Social Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) update ( Jamie Dockery)

Jamie spoke through the briefing note provided prior to meeting. The SHIP for 2022-27 aims to deliver 523 homes in priority projects and with additional projects of Buybacks and Renting Off the Shelf purchases the figure rises to around 750 properties. 

Jamie noted that current Administration are keen to increase the number of properties delivered. Looking to maximise Scottish Government funding, buy back properties from open market as well as buy properties from private sector builders. All of these would have to meet WDC standards for accessibility and energy efficiency.

Cllr Johal confirmed that current Administration are keen to get more housing made available.

Update on Brunswick, Montreal and Quebec rehousing programme (John Kerr)

Information provided prior to meeting. Things are moving more slowly as people wait for rehousing offers though still on track for 3 year timeframe given. Hopefully void turnout will increase and this will help move people on.

Jane noted that screen version shows August figures which weren’t on paper copies however previous figures will be added in the future so that progress can be shown more easily.

Tenant Participation update (Jane Mack)

Hanne has linked up with Neighbourhood Networks who support people in West Dunbartonshire with additional support needs and aim to increase independence, life skills and community connections thro volunteering.  Have had a first meeting and discussed how they want the group to work. Some are council tenants or could be future tenants as they live with family and/or with other providers and were keen on getting involved and giving their opinions on WDC Housing services. 

Some ideas they spoke about was looking at the Tenant Handbook and making an accessible version,  sharing information with each other about things like contents insurance and highlighting more local issues  so a mixture between Scrutiny Panel style where they focus on a certain topic but also bit like TRAs where look to improve local things in their areas. Agreed to meet 3 times a year, TP will facilitate and keep WDTRO posted on how the group develops. 

We currently hold a gold TPAS Accreditation but it only valid for 3 years so we need to reapply. Are starting the self-assessment stage and need to give evidence of how we meet 10 specific criteria set by TPAS. After we submit our self-assessment TPAS will then arrange focus groups with staff and tenants to ensure we do what we say we do and hope we will get staff and tenant cooperation when dates for the focus group are arranged – probably in Jan/ feb.

Housing News – winter edition being put together and need any articles by Monday 31/10 at the latest.

A tenant guide to ASB is being put together and a draft been emailed out to WDTRO members for comments - comments needed back to Scott McLelland by 15 November.

AOCB

 Harry raised that walkabout at Tullichewan yesterday was successful. Things are mostly sorted and if they aren’t then they get updates.

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.80

Thursday 25 August 2022, 1:30pm via Zoom

List of those present:

• Councillor Craig Edward - Housing Convenor (chaired meeting)
• Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRA
• Ruth Dickinson - Willox Park TRA
• Mary Paton - Willox Park TRA
• Emily Dorrian - Senior Housing Development Officer
• Alan Young - Housing Asset & Investment Manager
• Caitlin Walsh - Housing Development Officer
• John Kerr - Housing Development & Homelessness Manager
• Jane Mack - Senior Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation)
• Martin Feeney - Building Services Officer
• Scott McLelland - Area Co-ordinator
• Hanne Thijs - Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation) - minute taker

Welcome, introductions and apologies

Everyone welcomed to the meeting by Craig Edward.

Apologies received from Janette Donlin and Jacqui Peacock (both Dalmuir TRA), Harry McCormack (Tullichewan TRA), Stefan Kristmanns, David Lynch and Suzanne Marshall.

Issues arising from update on actions from previous minutes – copy of updated actions issued ahead of meeting

Updated sheet shared on screen. Confirmed that pilot repair team for MSFs is in place and going block by block to ensure fire doors are in working order.

Lift protocol – meeting next Thursday to finalise the plans and to ensure out of hours arrangements in place too.

Repair cancellation process - texting/emailing processes currently being tested .Also discussions with Housing Operations for Housing officers to get involved for access if necessary. Issue is being discussed via Joint Rent Group and there is an action for more info and discussion.

Mary asked Martin about USB sockets if this will be going into Sheltered Housing too as more devices need USB.  Martin confirmed this will be all properties during void process and anywhere else they are needed. Martin expects all staff to put in USB sockets when need is identified and are stocked – idea is to reduce fire risk from over loaded sockets. Not currently part of an improvement programme and will be discussed at Better Homes Board about how to be rolled out.

Update on progress towards an Enhanced MSF Strategy – information distributed ahead of meeting – Emily Dorrian

Emily advised that the Council is wanting to develop an enhanced multi storey flats strategy and make these properties better places to live. They account for 10% of Council stock over 19 blocks so are an important HRA asset and homes to hundreds. Want to pull together a cohesive action plan to improve them and keen to get tenants views on their priorities. Emily is developing a survey to capture tenant views and asked the WDTRO to review the proposed questions to see if they are suitable and if any other questions should be asked.

Emily’s email address is on the briefing note and would welcome any suggestions before 10^th September.

Craig asked that for additional question about outdoor space as this can be very valuable to tenants.

Craig noted on item 5 re new heating systems that this may be setting false expectations - Emily will consider rewording this.

Jane confirmed she will check in with Dalmuir and West Bridgend TRAs to get their views too.

Forward Planning (John Kerr)

Regarding Brunswick, Montreal and Quebec blocks (BMQ) -is largely on target, aware that do not want to rush and leave some tenants staying in empty blocks. Housing Officer encouraging tenants to put in housing applications.

Got approval from Housing and Communities Committee for Net Zero strategy which means all new Council housing will meet this standard.

New site in Bonhill area for housing – between Main Street and Campbell st. £160,000 land transfer from general fund into HRA. Probably 25-30 new homes but also speaking to neighbour to try and buy this too so long as the asking price is as independently valued – will help maximise the site.

Queens Quay just about to complete. Handover dates may slip by a week or two -likely 15^th September for completion of the Council homes.

Clydebank East - site investigations showed worse picture of ground conditions. Looking at wider options appraisal for remediation works, not necessarily taking at the cheapest option, would rather look at what best works.

Craig asked regarding BMQ, if being cleared block by block or all at the same time as conscious of ongoing cost of repairs so getting demolished quickly is better. John advised that everyone is being moved out from all blocks at the moment as soon as they get a suitable offer of housing. Moving people into other blocks to clear a block may be considered in the future. Emily and Robbie (Housing Officer) are co-ordinating this and will listen to tenant concerns as they are raised.

Mary asking about Willox Park as heard there is a slight alteration to plans and are meant to be getting a newsletter with an update and tenants keen to hear. John confirmed a newsletter was being put together and would be issued imminently.

Tenant Participation Update (Jane Mack)

The TRAs are back after summer recess, some arranging AGMs and Hanne supporting them do that. All TRAs are active again and are being encouraged to ensure they focus on promoting their activities to encourage new members and ensure they are being representative and apolitical.

Dalmuir TRA have closed their community café but in discussions with Alternatives for them to run a community café like their Sweet success café in Dumbarton. Been agreed in principle and just need to sort out the financial contribution Alternatives will make towards the running costs that will help the TRA keep the premises as their base and the community benefit from having a community café.

Autumn edition of the HN being put together and thanks given to everyone who submitted material. Will include articles promoting the Tenant Priority Budget, the shower programme and the MSF consultation that Emily been outlining. Also focusing on the support available for people struggling with the cost of living crisis and will be out around the 23 Sept.

The Joint Rent Group (JRG) met again on the 18 August and had a good discussion on the updates provided and hopefully for the September meeting Finance will be in a better position to provide the financial info that the group’s waiting on. Also starting to think about rent setting and will involve the JRG and WDTRO when in a position to plan the consultation.

As part of our TP Strategy action plan our TP webpages been reviewed to make sure they are up to date and asked for comments as want to make sure they are a good source of information for tenants and tenant groups 24/7.  Any comments on the webpages should be passed to Jane.

AOCB

Jane advised that West Lothian had been in touch and particularly interested in Tenant Priority Budget and Liaison meetings. They have asked if some of their tenants can come along to observe next Liaison meeting – no one objected and Jane to extend invite to them.

Scott advised that a guide for tenants on Antisocial Behaviour is being produced and will ask for feedback when it ready.

Ruth asked Scott about one-way system which has been requested for Willox Park. Scott confirmed it was being considered and is collecting information on effects on emergency services etc to enable a final decision to be made. Is housing land so will be Housing not Roads that can decide.

Date of meeting 

• 1:30pm, Thursday 27 October 2022, probably via Zoom

Awaiting on public access at Council offices before moving to hybrid meetings- will be on zoom until then

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.79

23 June 2022, 1:30pm Via Zoom

List of Those Present at Meeting

• Councillor Craig Edward - Housing Convenor (chaired meeting)
• Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRA
• June Todd - WDTRO
• Ruth Dickinson - Willox Park TRA
• Mary Paton - Willox Park TRA
• Harry McCormack - Tullichewan TRA
• Alan Young - Housing Asset & Investment Manager
• John Kerr - Housing Development & Homelessness Manager
• Jane Mack - Snr Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation)
• David Lynch - Area Co-ordinator
• Martin Feeney - Building Services Manager
• Nicola Pettigrew - Housing Manager
• Scott McLellan - Area Co-ordinator
• Alasdair Bryson - Energy Advice Officer
• Suzanne Marshal - Area Co-ordinator
• Stefan Kristmanns - Housing Development Co-ordinator
• Hanne Thijs - Housing Development (Tenant Participation) - minute taker

Welcome, introductions and apologies

Everyone welcomed to the meeting by Craig Edward and Alasdair Bryson was introduced as been invited in relation to fuel poverty item.

Apologies received from Janette Donlin and Jacqui Peacock (both Dalmuir TRA).

Issues arising from update on actions from previous minutes – copy of updated actions issued ahead of meeting

The written update given on additional sockets refers only to the re-let standard but was asked if any work being discussed by the Better Homes Group? John advised that being looked at as part of wider review of the Capital programme and progress being made initially by the Void Working group and then would want to replicate in all stock .Cllr Edward asked if the Sept date is regarding re-let standard or wider programme and John confirmed this date is for re-let standard. Martin advised that USB sockets are being fitted as standard in void properties.

Dedicated repairs staff for multi-storeys – Martin advised that due to resource issues and demands placed on service, haven’t been able to start the dedicated team working in MSFs. Are currently recruiting and should have the enhanced service in place no later than end of August. Number of back-up contractors been agreed at recent tender committee which will help build resilience. Martin confirmed the apprentices will not be for this team and envisaged that the team will 4/5 strong. Have 10 employees trained by contractor to repair fire screens. Question asked if been any more thought to base the team at the high flats so that they can respond quickly to issues and Martin advised not and preference is to get them up and running first and could then be looked at. 

Road calming at Willox Park – Scott waiting for response from Roads engineer and will escalate to Liam Green. Scott wants to ensure there’s a comprehensive plan. Mary raised that lots of things from walkabout not being done, only one task done from list of approx. 20. Scott will raise any outstanding issues with other departments.

Lift protocol – Nicola provided additional info that all text messaging should be in place by end of July and confirmed that continue to get posters up if lifts are not working which had been done during recent lifts being off as well as welfare visits. Also Martin’s team have made contingency plan to have most common breaking spare parts available so that the wait won’t be as long in the future. Frances raised that tenants have been asking for spare parts to be kept for many years. Martin advised that the recent incident at Dunswin Court was that the motor had burnt out and so wouldn’t have been possible to keep such an expensive part as a spare – should last 30 years. Have been working with Kone to analyse the breakdown data from last 2 years to help prepare for incidences and help reduce time when any lift out of action.

Cancelled repair data  shared on screen and Cllr Edward raised that high numbers of jobs were  cancelled because they were “raised in error”, nearly 300 and ‘duplicate repair’ 200 and Martin explained that have a number of teams involved and have been training staff to help reduce duplication.

Charter action plan been updated with repair updates– Jane enquired as to what comes under “reactive planned” repairs and Martin explained that these are cyclical repairs e.g. cleaning extractor fans in high flats every year.

Repair cancellation process - discussion about confirmation texts about repairs which have been logged through council staff, the only opportunity for texts being sent are when it’s actually logged on the system as a repair.

Self-service portal – progress being made, project been prioritised and a contractor appointed to develop self-service portal. Assuming Sept “go-live” date and John confirmed this date was realistic.

Cyclical repairs – update refers to geographical pilot but was confirmed that enquiry had come from discussion about lack of knowledge about cyclical repair – what should get done when and action was about increasing tenant awareness of these programmes. Martin advised that particularly with gutter cleaning can often not get done when owners refuse to pay so not straightforward but agreed to confirm what repairs done as cyclical repairs and what timeframes are.

Action: Martin to provide details of what type of work is on a cyclical programme and what the frequency is.

Update on recent lift issues at both Dalmuir and Westbridgend.

This was mainly covered in updates above.

Scott advised that recent issue at Westbridgend flats was a unique situation due to problems getting a replacement chip for the main control panel. Once aware of situation, Housing Ops offered support to tenants, knocked doors and did daily welfare checks. Liaising with Martin’ team to reduce repair times in the future and lessons been learnt.

Update on temporary “specialist teams” setup for Housing Operations – are they still scheduled to end in September?

Nicola confirmed that on schedule for September to move back to neighbourhood based teams. Been meeting with staff about patch sizes to take into account work in various patches and ensure staff trained on all aspects of going back to generic working. Will share the plan with Councillors and tenants as soon as possible.

Action: Nicola to share timing of move back to generic working and confirmation of officer patches.

Update on area walkabouts – particularly recording them

 Cllr Edward asked for clarity on how these work and who taking the lead. Nicola advised that Housing Operations are taking the lead on coordinating and monitoring walkabouts. Number of walkabouts taken place and dates arranged for future ones. Housing Ops have central spreadsheet for monitoring and are discussed at monthly team meetings.

Nicola noted that a big challenge in the walkabout is the actions from other services. Recording template also now consistently being used and these will help push on if issues aren’t addressed.

Harry noted that Tullichewan TRA are having successful walkabouts - most issues are being resolved and communication from staff been good.

Cllr Edward raised that he was at a walkabout at Central Radnor but not had any updates or confirmation of what’s in progress. Nicola took that on-board and aim to have them all consistently done well. Walkabouts are a standing item for Housing Ops monthly meetings and will make sure that feedback mechanism is tightened up. Also need an escalation process.   

Jane raised that it is important that walkabouts are consistent across the council area and that an action plan is produced and kept updated. Actions also need to be realistic, sometimes council cannot action something and this should be made clear as to why not. Frances noted that tenant frustration is when things take too long to sort – Littleholm has a walkabout arranged for July but some issues been outstanding since before lockdown i.e. getting a bin outside the block.

All agreed that walkabouts are important locally and need to be done consistently and with honest conversation about what is realistic and can be achieved so that they have positive outcomes – key is good communication.

What can be done to tackle fuel poverty – can simple and cost effective ways to do this be looked at?– e.g. draught excluder  - Alasdair Bryson (energy advice officer)

Alasdair gave outline of current energy crisis. Usually would be able to switch between suppliers but not possible now, comparison sites gone and been a 54% increase in April. Pre-paid price cap is 2% higher than this and paying bill as it arrives costs 7% higher still.

Some behavioural changes are possible

• Can we change the times we use our heating?
• Can electric heating be better set to get cheap energy and use at the right time
• Is the white meter internal clock correct?
• Can we shower for shorter times?
• Can we reduce the amount of times the kettle is on?
• Can we change the way we cook things?
• Lightbulbs could be changed to LEDs.
• Switching lights off
• Electrical appliances could be switched off at the wall
• Draught excluders could help reduce losing heat unnecessarily.
• Ventilation is still very important- fine line to ensure sufficient ventilation and conserving heat.
• Looking at how we’re washing - less washing, cooler washing

These will make a small difference but the cost of gas and electric is still very expensive and many households will struggle. There is help available through Working4U and the CAB energy advisors. Alasdair can also offer practical advice and can refer to the CAB. Energy suppliers are also obligated to help so important to contact them and they have access to funding and advice.

Cllr Edward asked what council could be doing to support tenants and residents and Alasdair confirmed that Pre-payment meters are a particular problem with no easy solution. He has an energy monitor that he can use to help tenants understand where energy is being used – recent example where water temperature on boiler was reduced – still warm enough to bathe but used less energy.  

Hanne raised that there is a pilot about making better use of storage heaters planned for Kilbowie Court and Cllr Edward asked for information to be sent to him.

Alan advised that WDC has been prioritising work to reduce energy consumption - spending approx. £3m a year on external wall insulation and upgrading boilers. Are limited to how many they can do each year due to the cost but properties with the worst energy rating and in areas of multiple deprivation are targeted first. Older stock also more difficult and expensive to improve – easier to design in energy efficiency when building new.

Presentation couldn’t be shared on screen but will be sent out with the meeting note and includes Alasdair’s contact details. Alasdair was thanked for attending meeting.

Forward Plan update (John Kerr)

At Brunswick, Montreal and Quebec have 50 active tenancies and 2 tenants recently moved out - still on track for completing within 3 year target.  Ongoing work to make sure everyone has an active housing application.

New build updates: planning permission for Clydebank East was approved on 8^th June. Additional parking provision requested after plans rejected in Oct. Waiting on advised tender prices over course of next 6 weeks, anticipate 20% price increase, quality of homes will remain. Net zero development. Hoping site start later this year and will take approx. 94 weeks to complete and will be done in 5 phases.

Queens Quay - WDC has 29 properties and will be finished by end of August - Suzanne also noted that this development has a district heating system and been assured that will be cheaper than gas for tenants.

Hope to be onsite at Willox Park and Pappert at the end of the financial year.

Cllr Edward asked if Clydebank East could incorporate funding from other sources as close to train station but John advised that solely Housing funding being considered at the moment.

Tenant Participation update (Jane Mack)

TP performance report been produced to summarise the impact tenants have had as well as how TP budget is spent. Demonstrating tenant impact is the best advert for getting people involved and the fact that it can be difficult for us to demonstrate involvement is a sign that often progress is slow and that’s disheartening for tenants.

Easy to forget what progress been made but are good examples – particularly the Liaison meeting outcomes. Also fact managed to sustain all participation activities over the last 2 years is a testament to the commitment from WDTRO members, JRG and the scrutiny panel which is much appreciated.

Summer edition of the HN is out– includes an article introducing Craig as the new Housing Convener and an article on the 50^th anniversary of Tullichewan TRA as well as other info and updates. Managers and co-ordinators have been emailed the link to the online version and should ensure it’s circulated to their staff.

The JRG met on 16 June and commitments been made about updates on outstanding actions being provided and progressed at the next meeting in August.

The Sheltered Housing Forum has restarted – been amended to keep the meetings as safe as possible and so having separate meetings for the Clydebank complexes and the Dumbarton and Vale complexes to keep the numbers attending smaller. Members were happy to be back again and a number of issues have been able to be resolved for them as well as flagging outstanding issues.

New I-Learn course been created for staff to increase understanding of TP. Jane also looking at option of creating something similar for tenants to have access to via the website.

AOCB

Ruth asked John Kerr for update about telescopic dryers at Willox Park. John apologised as thought it had been done and will reply directly to Ruth.

Date of meeting

•  1:30pm, Thursday 25 August 2022, maybe via Zoom

Discussion about hybrid/in person meeting option - Jane noted that no option for hybrid at the moment as Council buildings not equipped yet so will continue on zoom until situation changes.

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.78

Thursday 28 April 2022, 1:30pm Via Zoom

List of Those Present:

• Councillor Diane Docherty - Housing Convenor
• Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRA
• June Todd - WDTRO
• Ruth Dickinson - Willox Park TRA
• Mary Paton - Willox Park TRA
• Alan Young - Housing Asset & Investment Manager
• John Kerr - Housing Development & Homelessness Manager
• Jane Mack - Snr Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation ) - chaired meeting
• Ian Dickson - Vice Housing Convenor
• David Lynch - Area Co-ordinator
• Martin Feeney - Building Services Manager
• Nicola Pettigrew - Housing Manager
• Scott McLellan - Area Co-ordinator
• Stefan Kristmanns - Housing Development Co-ordinator
• Hanne Thijs - Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation) - minute taker

Agenda Items

Welcome, introductions and apologies

Diane (as housing convener) thanked tenants for being involved and appreciated what a great job they did representing tenants.

Apologies received from Harry McCormack, Georgia McCambley, Peter Barry, Tracy Crichton, Janette Donlin and Jacqui Peacock.

Chairing of meeting was delegated to Jane as Diane has to leave early for a funeral and Frances had unreliable internet due to a recent move.

Issues arising from update on actions from previous minutes – copy of updated actions issued ahead of meeting

Re-let standard is under review as part of the Void working group.

Dedicated repairs team for multi-stories –been delays due to training but Martin advised should be up and running by end of May.

Traffic management at Willox Park – demolition completed. Traffic management plan will be in place for the construction phase and will be shared with tenants.

Traffic calming at Willox Park – Scott has spoken to manager of Roads and are looking at more long term approach and Scott will update Mary (Willox) next week after meeting with Roads dept.

Kilbowie Court – caretakers are going down regularly. Interviews have taken place to recruit new, full-time caretaker and an experienced caretaker will be deployed to Kilbowie as it’s on its own and the new caretaker trained up at other buildings.

Lift protocol will be updated with new procedure once development of text messaging is fully tested and have established who best to activate it – David Lynch confirmed is being worked on.

Repairs call handling update – copy of data for Feb distributed ahead of meeting

Jane shared screen, generally shows good improvement - number of calls abandoned is falling, amount of time on calls has reduced and queue time has reduced.

Agreed to continue to monitor to ensure improvements continue.

Repairs performance monitoring – update on quarter 4 (Jan-Mar) - copy distributed ahead of meeting

Performance info shared on screen and Martin explained the figures.

Looking to reduce repairs in system to 2000-2500, currently sitting at approx. 3100.

Worrying trend of cancelled appointments for no access, doing analysis to find out why this is happening to reduce it.

Big increase in numbers of people responding to satisfaction survey which makes satisfaction levels more significant.

Number of backlog repairs (reported prior to 26/4/21) is greatly reduced, 71 noted and Martin advised now down to 42.

Ruth asked about specific example of dealing with neighbours repair - Martin will look in to this.

Diane asked if there was information on whether tenant or WDC are cancelling appointments. Martin will share this information. She also asked whether sometimes WDC doesn’t turn up as been reported to her and Martin will look for this information.

Diane asked how much notice tenants get and Martin confirmed they get confirmation of the appointment when it is made and they are sent texts the day before and on the day.

Action: Martin to share information on cancelled repairs and split between WDC not attending or tenant not there to give access.

Diane and Ian left the meeting.

Update on Tenant Priority Budget - briefing note shared ahead of meeting

Jane read through the briefing note. Martin noted that is a big budget and would like to see lots more and bigger proposals.
Jane noted that proposals are sometimes slow to be completed and this makes it harder to get people to buy into the process - should be a good news story.

Stefan noted that estate walkabouts will be useful to generate more proposals and if these get embedded throughout the district then a good opportunity to raise new proposals.

John queried projects at Haldane to ask if these could have formed part of original plan. Hanne advised that these have come from new tenants so wouldn’t necessarily have been able to foresee these at building stage.

Frances asked about Littleholm laundries and Hanne advised still waiting on information back from architects and number of reminders been sent to them – will hopefully have an update for the public meeting on 11/5.

Charter Action Plan updates – shared prior to meeting

Verbal updates on outstanding actions given;

Review of repairs categorisations

Martin advised that struggling to recruit staff, looking at ways to get past this including agencies and subcontractors so not been able to improve response times. Categorisations have been reviewed and Martin happy to share this.

Action: Martin will share information on categorisation of repairs.

WDTRO suggested people get text confirmation of when repairs are put on the system. Martin advised that texts are sent when repair is logged as well as repair appointment date/time.

Stefan reminded re previous discussions to reduce jobs being cancelled may be worth texting before any repair is cancelled. Martin thinks this happens at the moment and will get an update. Stefan suggested using the Housing News as way of promoting improvement to the repair reporting process.

Action: Martin to confirm cancellation process and share.

Update on self-service portal - John appreciated the frustrations with the delays in the self-service portal and was able to update that parts of portal will be phased in and keen to making portal as tenant friendly as possible - is currently a development action.

Jane spoke through the written responses received from Housing Operations.

Scott noted that the recent walkabouts hadn’t used the template but that updates had been shared via email and template sheet will be used in future. Mary thanked Scott for walkabout, she noted that 30-40 points raised, but only 5 being monitored. Scott gave brief update and said that these 5 are starting point which are being progressed and others may take longer.

Jane suggested that template could still be used and the list of issues added to it so that outcomes could be recorded - Mary and Scott agreed.

Action: Jane to remind Martin about putting his responses in writing.

Stefan noted that good walkabouts are taking place and could be highlighted in Housing News.

Forward Plan update (John Kerr)

Queens Quay – Agreed handover date is in August, 29 properties. Clydebank HA handing over in the next few weeks, then Wheatley group. Site C, nearer to Town Hall hoping to develop over time, looking to complement existing properties, maybe family homes, approximately 20 homes in current plans, also complicated as require to provide road (approx. £.5m cost), maybe looking at buying next door land to build 70/80 homes which would help to cover costs.

Clydebank East redevelopment. – hope to be onsite by end of calendar year. Planning permission still required and hoping to get approval Summer 2022.

Pappert, Bonhill – hopefully get onsite this calendar year

Willox Park – site start before end of calendar year –plans will be discussed with residents there. Construction phase is about 14 months.

Future development sites – Mount Pleasant and Clydebank old health centre – discussions ongoing.

Brunswick, Montreal and Quebec (related info circulated ahead of meeting) – John spoke through figures and are on track.

Buy back scheme – Good news as WDC secured match funding from Scottish Government (SG). Could potentially do 30 over the next year with SG funding. House market is buoyant and can’t go over 10% of home report value so may miss out on some purchases.

Capital Programme being refreshed and looking at making sure programme delivers on tenant priorities and ensure that we able to meet sustainability targets. Will be looking for tenant involvement with this.

LHS – recently approved, 11 regeneration areas, governance group set up (meets for the first time next week). 3 town centre areas as future regeneration areas.

SHIP – positive feedback from Scot Gov. and good partnership with Health and Social Care. Have over programmed and provides opportunity to draw additional money into WD and increase supply of affordable housing.

Homelessness – presentations have increased by14% in WDC - not a surprise as poverty and domestic abuse are main drivers and both have been on the increase. Tenant Hardship fund from Scottish Government, £250k been fully utilised - was used to help people becoming homeless, 239 households helped.

Mary asked about phase 2 of Willox Park, drying areas put in but no level area or paving slabs so not accessible. John acknowledged Mary’s email and is waiting on feedback from various officers and will reply directly to Mary.

Ruth said that had looked in to this and had read that it’s not allowed to use communal space for drying greens -  John said that no reason why it couldn’t be used though less common that it in front of properties. Ruth felt it also creates hazard for cars when washing flapping on line and thought telescopic dryers would be better. John confirmed he would look into it and report back to them both.

Tenant Participation update (Jane Mack)

TRA activities continue to increase as restrictions are lifted and Hanne providing support where needed. New TRA been set up in Haldane – well attended meeting and will meet on first Monday of the month. New group at Whitecrook getting themselves established and looking to join WDTRO when meetings are in person. Tullichewan TRA celebrating their 50^th anniversary which is a fantastic achievement and will be featured in an article in the Housing news. They are also organising a number of social events to help celebrate this milestone.

Tenant Priority Budget – public meeting arranged for the Wed 11 May at 10am via zoom.

Full JRG meeting took place on 24/3 with focus on void budget and the tenants met on 21/4 to discuss further. At next full JRG on 26 May, still looking at void budget in relation to the Revenue Budget matrix that had been created and hopefully updates on outstanding actions will be available.

The Scrutiny Panel have reconvened and have been looking over current housing performance data and particularly in areas they have scrutinised before. As part of their review of previous scrutiny areas they intend doing a short survey of new tenants to assess if the good practices in relation to new tenant visits are still in place and how effective they are.

Work on the Summer Housing News has started and the deadline for articles is 11/5. Any staff or groups can submit an article - useful communication tool and want to ensure that tenants have access to the right information as well as interesting news.

AOCB

Nothing raised

Date of meeting

• 1:30pm, Thursday 23 June 2022, maybe via Zoom or hybrid

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.76 Thursday 24^th February 2022, 1:30pm Via Zoom

 List of those present at meeting:

• Councillor Diane Docherty - Housing Convener (chaired meeting)
• Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRA
• June Todd - WDTRO
• Ruth Dickinson - Willox Park TRA
• Mary Paton - Willox Park TRA
• Alan Young - Housing Asset & Investment Manager
• John Kerr - Housing Development & Homelessness Manager
• Jane Mack - Senior Housing Development Officer ( Tenant Participation ) -minute taker
• David Lynch - Area co-ordinator
• Martin Feeney - Building Services Manger
• Suzanne Marshall - Area co-ordinator
• Scott McLelland - Area co-ordinator
• Stefan Kristmanns - Housing Development Co-ordinator
• Chris Young - Project Development Officer

Agenda item

Welcome, introductions and apologies

Diane welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Jane introduced Chris Young who has joined the Communities team and attending meeting just to observe. 

Apologies been received from Harry McCormack, Georgia McCambley, Nicola Pettigrew, Hanne Thijs, Tracy Crichton, Ruth Dickinson , Janette Donlin and Jacqui Peacock. 

Diane acknowledged the loss of Polly Wheelans who had passed away the previous month and the contribution she and all volunteers who give their time to meetings and improving their communities make. She will be sadly missed from the WDTRO for her contributions and for being such a lovely person.

Issues arising from update on actions from previous minutes – copy of updated actions issued ahead of meeting

Better Homes Group pursuing potential for additional sockets being included in a Capital programme and update to be given to Liaison as well as JRG. Martin Feeney, later in meeting when he was able to reconnect, was able to confirm that staff have now been made aware of the USB sockets and have them in stock so can be fitted when requested. Relocating sockets can also be done where the existing wiring will allow and should be requested via repairs. 

Training for the dedicated repairs team for MSF s arranged for end of Feb/ first week in March so is progressing.

Lessons learnt from lift off at Littleholm include new text alert procedure being developed and has been successfully tested. Maintaining current phones numbers will be critical as is a separate system from housing system so staff will keep it up to date with any changes. Scott also confirmed that there will also be posters put up either by caretakers or the out of hours ASB team.

Repairs call handling update – copy of data for Dec/Jan distributed ahead of meeting

Everyone happy with the continued improvement in call handling times though waiting times still not at pre-pandemic times. Monitoring to continue.

Repairs performance monitoring – update on quarter 3(Oct-Dec)- copy distributed ahead of meeting

Stefan talked through the performance information shared on screen. Average non- emergency repair target not met but mainly due to older repairs getting completed which increases the average time. Right First Time target also missed due to older repairs being out of target. All gas safety checks been done within year anniversary as required. Satisfaction levels also been gradually increasing and this is also with an increase in surveys being completed so the response rate is higher and can be considered more accurate.

Level of backlog repairs down to 116 and these due to needing scaffolding which is in scarce supply. Councillor Docherty asked about contact as most of the complaints she deals with were in relation to tenants not being kept up dated. Martin advised that they have created a new post to help planners so they are in a better position to re-organise jobs if staff are off sick or any other changes needed and be able to contact the tenant. 

Stefan asked about potential for sending text before jobs get cancelled as discussed at Joint Rent Group and Martin confirmed it is being trialled with emergency repairs and will keep meeting updated on progress.

What is the current procedure over handing back keys after end of tenancy? – Concern over practice of some outgoing tenants being told to just put keys through the letterbox and door then gets forced by housing. How many forced entries have been done and at what cost? – termination information distributed ahead of meeting.

Suzanne Marshall advised that had had to pull back from officers meeting people to collect keys and this was the best way to do it. Within the figures for forced entries will include properties that had been abandoned and have found an increase in them as offices are closed. As offices re-open should see a reduction in forced entries. 

June asked where in Clydebank tenants can hand in keys and it was confirmed that the One Stop Shop in the shopping centre was re-opening from 7/3 and tenants can make an appointment to see staff or hand in keys. Scott confirmed too that the Church Street office re-opens 7/3 by appointment so Dumbarton tenants can see staff or hand in keys there. Arrangements also in place for Alexandria tenants at Mitchell Way.

When will Housing Officers return to being area-based following temporary changes to help tackle current backlog?- update provided ahead of meeting.

In addition to the update provided ahead of the meeting, Suzanne summarised that have made some inroads but want to retain specialist functions to bring performance back to where they want it so pilot being extended for further 6 months ( until Sept ).

Forward Plan update (John Kerr)

Local Housing Strategy (LHS) been agreed by Council and now also endorsed by the HSCP so progressing and will now implement a delivery group.

Dumbarton Harbour now complete and all tenants have moved in – 195 properties there including the Housing Association ones.

As previously advised Queens Quay completion being delayed due to delays in materials for the main access road. The properties are progressing well but can’t be relet until the road is completed so will need to lie for a period with security in place.

Clydebank East redevelopment hoping to be onsite by August but plans still needs to be agreed at Planning committee meeting on 30 March.

Pappert contract being put together and looking at a August/September start date. Willox Park consultation is ongoing and the demolition of the old care home planned for the end of February/ beginning of March.

Also have a few sites where are engaging with landlords for future development sites e.g a private landlord in Bonhill and the NHS re the old Clydebank Health Centre.

At Brunswick, Montreal and Quebec a number of tenants have already been rehoused so are ahead of target but timescales can vary. Housing Officer closely involved and ongoing community information sharing important.

 Question asked about the demolition at Willox Park and if fencing will be put up around the site and John confirmed there would be. Further question asked about whether a one way system would be introduced as tenants worried about increase in traffic and it is a combined road and pavement there. John advised that there will be a traffic management system put in place to ensure safety and he will share it with the WDTRO. Another question asked about Willox Park in relation to the existing sheltered properties as one was meant to be used as a sample and is there any progress on that? John confirmed that progress had been delayed by tendering as no contractor had responded but going back out to tender and hoping more contractors will take it on.

Ruth raised issue of traffic calming for Willox Park as had raised it with Roads but they had said it wasn’t an adopted road so Housing responsibility. Scott confirmed that if not an adopted road then would be Housing’s responsibility and can be looked at during walkabout arranged for the following week.

Action: John to share traffic management for Willox Park.

Action: Scott to look at traffic calming possibilities at Willox Park walkabout.

Tenant Participation update (Jane Mack)

Spring HN due to be delivered 11 March and will only be a 4 page edition to get it distributed ahead of the 8 week purdah period that happens before any election.

Apologies given to anyone whose article didn’t make it into smaller version and some stories will be kept for the next edition or included in next TP update.

The Scrutiny Panel been having a break since they presented their last report to the HIB in October but are meeting again on 4/3 to get updates on previous action plans and begin to assess Housing’s current performance data to decide what they want to scrutinise next.

TPAS and TIS have a few virtual events being promoted -TIS event on Housing, Engagement, and Net Zero Ambitions on 24 March 1:00 – 4:00pm on zoom. TPAS are also now having their conference at the Golden Jubilee Hotel in Clydebank Friday 10 June – Sunday 12 June so might make it easier for more to go for specific days once the programme is announced and will share the programme as soon as it’s released.

TRA activity continues to increase as restrictions are easing and Risk st and Willox Park are even planning their AGMs.Hanne been chasing up progress on Tenant Priority Budget proposals agreed and has a meeting next week with Repairs as well as visits arranged for some more bigger proposals and once they costed up will arrange another public meeting.

AOCB

Frances raised concerns about caretaking at Dalmuir re lifts not getting done, them only working till 2pm, and caretakers at Littleholm saying they been told to focus on outside area around the flats not the lifts. David confirmed that they were back to their core hours so finish at 4pm and are specifically told to focus on the lifts and common touch areas and then can inspect outside areas. Scott explained that the early finish was to reduce exposure during covid pandemic and they didn’t take breaks so they finished early.

Jane raised an issue about Kilbowie Court on behalf of Georgia as they still don’t have a dedicated caretaker and the lifts weren’t getting done twice daily or the back stairs being inspected as lights had been out for weeks and when Georgia eventually phoned repairs they hadn’t been reported. David acknowledged that there was an issue at Kilbowie Court and the caretaker had been having problems with school kids hanging around and being abusive. The basic duties should still have been getting done by mobile team and David will make sure that they inspect the stairs and report communal repairs. David also confirmed that have got approval for 4 additional caretakers and one of them will be for Kilbowie Court.

Action: David to ensure that stairs are checked and communal repairs reported at Kilbowie Court until permanent caretaker in post.

Date of meeting – 1:30pm, Thursday 28 April 2022, maybe via Zoom or hybrid

WDTRO 17 December 2020 actions

WDTRO 25 February 2021 actions

WDTRO 24 February 2022 actions

WDTRO 28 April 2022 actions

WDTRO 23 June 2022 actions

WDTRO 25 August 2022 actions

WDTRO 17 December 2020 actions

WDTRO 25 February 2021 actions

WDTRO 24 February 2022 actions

WDTRO 28 April 2022 actions

WDTRO 17 December 2020 actions

WDTRO 25 February 2021 actions

WDTRO 24 February 2022 actions

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.75

Thursday 16th Dec 2021, 2pm Via Zoom

List of those present at meeting: 

Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRA (chaired meeting) Councillor Diane Docherty - Housing Convener, Harry McCormack - Tullichewan TRA, Mary Paton - Willox Park TRA, Georgia McCambley - Central Radnor Park TRA, June Todd - WDTRO, Alan Young - Housing Asset and Investment Manager, John Kerr - Housing Development & Homelessness Manager, Jane Mack - Snr Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation), David Lynch - Area co-ordinator, Suzanne Bannister - Client Services Officer (Repairs & Maintenance), Tom Black - Technical Officer (Repairs & Maintenance), Councillor Ian Dickinson - Vice Housing Convener.

Welcome, introductions and apologies

Frances welcomed everyone to the meeting. Diane introduced Councillor Dickson who is vice Housing Convener and interested in the meetings but going to stay in background.

Apologies been received from Martin Feeney, Nicola Pettigrew, Hanne Thijs, Stefan Kristmanns , Tracy Crichton, Ruth Dickinson and Suzanne Marshall hoping to join later.

Issues arising from update on actions from previous minutes – copy of updated actions issued ahead of meeting

Update in relation to pilot of dedicated repairs staff for MSF communal repairs ( including fire doors) – no update provided but Alan able to advise that Martec engineering been delaying the training due to resource issues and Martin been trying to get organised and will be progressed as soon as possible. Suzanne also able to advice that Martec have been inspecting all fire doors and Suzanne been chasing up outstanding repairs.

Outstanding action re additional sockets and limitations of electrical boards and wiring being looked at as potential capital programme by Better Homes group – last update , 15/6 states that will be included as part of review of relet standard due to go to February HACC – Jane asked for any update on that as been no consultation so assume not going to Feb committee– no update available so will remain as outstanding.

Issues with protocol and communication when lifts break down in multi-storey blocks including recent incident in Littleholm.

Frances advised that at Littleholm both lifts were off for a day and odd lift off for over a week and protocol not followed and communication was not good enough. Tom Black advised that notices were put up on the ground floor and on each landing but this was just to advise that ‘Lift out of order’.

David Lynch’s laptop microphone was not working so he was not able to be heard – he did put some information in the meeting chat and he felt that the protocol had been adhered to but are looking at QL being able to send text messages to improve for future. John highlighted that the purpose of the protocol was to ensure vulnerable tenants got the assistance they needed and Housing Operations would ensure that that happens in the future and that included ensuring that staff know about the protocol and what they need to do.

Diane also stated importance of keeping people informed.

Agreed that a written update on why the protocol wasn’t followed at Littleholm, lessons learned and making it clear who responsible for notices, what information should be on them and assurance that all relevant staff know about their role needed.

WDTRO concerns about communication in general with the temporary change to Housing Operations – is there a duty number to contact for Clydebank area?

Jane advised from an update given by Nicola Pettigrew when submitting her apologies that a duty number for Clydebank wasn’t available yet but was something Nicola was prioritising. She also appreciated that difficult for tenants to understand the different  function split and who tenants should contact and she’s reminded housing officers that when  a tenant contacts about something not in their function to makes sure they always  let the tenant know who and a number to contact.

An article was included in the recent Housing News so hopefully more tenants will now be aware of the change.

Concern was still about how difficult it was to get through on phones but understand the difficulties of remote working.

No one available to give any update on how well the duty system was working in Dumbarton.

Was confirmed that the Clydebank team no longer based at Aurora House and were still awaiting new accommodation to be identified. Perception by many tenants is that Clydebank are getting a different service to Dumbarton.

Charter action plan – WDTRO queries and responses – copy of updates issued ahead of meeting

In Stefan’s absence, John summarised the report issued and only one outcome overdue which Alan confirmed has been worked on and just needs updated.

In relation to the WDTRO queries, one in relation to developing and implementing an awareness campaign relating to cyclical maintenance programmes hadn’t been updated but Suzanne was able to advise that she was working on that and cyclical programmes were going to be included in QL system. Frances advised that it was the promotion of the programmes that was needed as that is what tenants want to know – what getting done, when.

Tenants happy with the other updates in the report.

Repairs call handling update –copy of Oct/Nov issued ahead of meeting

Suzanne advised that she was involved in customer service feedback meetings and do monitor call handling – new staff been taken on but still being trained so benefit of them not seen yet.

Percentage of abandoned calls still high and average queue times up to 14-16 minutes. Agreed to keep monitoring until improvements can be seen.

Forward Plan update (John Kerr)

Latest development at Dumbarton Harbour just been completed this week which brings total of over 300 new homes created this year.

One development still ongoing is Queens Quay in Clydebank which will be due to be handed over June/July due to delay with access road.

Future programme includes Clydebank East which goes back to Planning Committee in early February and then hopefully onsite after that. Pappert plans also going to a special Housing Committee meeting on 5/1/22 so progressing too.

The SHIP (Social Housing Investment Plan) was approved in November and sets out development programme for next 5 years. Looking at future sites and have plans for old care home sites at Willox Park and Mount Pleasant. Also looking to develop a gap site strategy to help develop small sites and feasibility study being carried out.

Clydebank Health Centre acquisition still ongoing and hopefully completed by end of March. Centre is currently being used in COVID response so may need to let that continue as part of transaction and delay redevelopment.

Looking to review the Design Standard to assess zero carbon options and will get the Design Panel involved in those discussions.

Brunswick, Montreal and Quebec rehousing programme underway and all tenants been given advice on housing options. 3 year programme and timing very variable.

A High rise strategy also to be  developed and will want to discuss with tenants and the WDTRO – John asked the WDTRO to consider how they would want to be involved and he will be in touch to make arrangements.

Tenant Participation update (Jane Mack)

Rent setting consultation well underway - tenants are using the range of ways to vote and email and reminder text sent this week which prompted more people to vote. The voting is open until 20 January and would encourage tenants and staff to encourage people to vote so we have a clear idea about tenants’ preferences.

Tenant Priority Budget update - had a virtual public meeting on 7 December and 2 more proposals were approved and been passed to repairs to get done – to improve the drying area at the side of Kilbowie court and the other to create a path and patio area at the back of Willox Park .

Winter Housing News got delivered to all tenants last week and the deadline for the spring edition is 8/2 if staff or tenant groups want anything included as is a good way to communicate with all tenants.

TRA activity is increasing and some who haven’t met up to now are beginning to arrange meetings and we’ll keep an eye on the public health advice about doing that safely and give advice to groups. The new TRA at Whitecrook are moving forward to get their constitution agreed and are keen to link in with the WDTRO which we’ll encourage.

Reminder given of Nicola Pettigrew’s invite to be involved in local walkabouts and hopefully that will be something groups will take up in the New Year.

Jane thanked all the WDTRO members for embracing digital meetings and ensuring that tenant participation continued throughout the last 2 years and the time and effort they commit. Tenants often let down and that’s why it’s so important that we have partnerships with organisations like the WDTRO as with their feedback we have the best chance of improving. 

AOCB

Nothing raised.

Date of meeting 

2pm, Thursday 24 February 2022, via Zoom.

Meeting dates for 2022 been scheduled around WDTRO committee meetings and calendar invites will be sent to officers.

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.74

Thursday 21st Oct 2021, 2pm Via Zoom

List of those present at meeting:  Councillor Diane Docherty - Housing Convener (chair), Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRA, Ruth Dickinson - Willox Park TA, Mary Paton - Willox Park TRA, Georgia McCambley - Central Radnor Park TRA, June Todd - WDTRO, Alan Young - Housing Asset and Investment Manager, John Kerr - Housing Development & Homelessness Manager, Jane Mack - Snr Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation), David Lynch - Area co-ordinator, Hanne Thijs -Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation) (minute taker), Nicola Pettigrew - Housing Operations Manager, Suzanne Marshall - Area Coordinator, Stephen Daly - Manager – Citizens and Digital Team, Stefan Kristmanns - Housing Development Co-ordinator, Jamie Dockery - Snr Housing Development Officer, Emily Dorrian - Housing Development Officer

Welcome, introductions and apologies

Diane welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies been received from Martin Feeney, Joanne Geddes, Harry McCormack.

Diane introduced Nicola Pettigrew, new Housing Operations Manager and Stephen Daly Citizen Services Manager.

Issues arising from update on actions from previous minutes – copy of updated actions issued ahead of meeting

Discussion about training for repairs staff for communal repairs. Martin Feeney provided update that training provider have let them down and still be rearranged.

Action: Diane requested that this is followed up. (Martin Feeney)

Suzanne Marshall noted that she and Scott met with Frances McGonagle and protocol now updated and to be circulated, can then be removed from list.

Action :Updated lift protocol to be circulated.(Suzanne Marshall/Scott McLelland)

Diane asked that well wishes be passed to Billy Neeson and Polly Whelans.

Repairs call handling – Fit For Future report (Stephen Daly) – Summary infographics distributed ahead of meeting

Review carried out with Organisational Development team. Spoke to stakeholders including tenants and looked at data and systems. 10 process maps created from this, these look at the individual steps taken to complete types of work i.e. repair, inspections. Looking at structure of repairs service including amount of staff, overtime etc. 150 actions created to improve housing repairs service, approx. 30 are related to how calls are handled. This work has now started in the council, but could take some time.

Diane asked if survey of tenants included those who’s repairs hadn’t been done, Stephen clarified that everyone has had their repair done but some people’s repairs are done out with target time. Diane raised that tenants have approached her and they are frustrated that there is a lack of communication. Stephen confirmed that survey covered a cross section of tenants who had repairs completed and this would be part of their feedback.

Stephen said that call handling improved in August, but not to extent they would like. 11 minutes for an emergency, 13 minutes for update, 12 minutes for a new repair.

Challenge over the summer has been new staff coming in and having to train them. Repairs backlog is impacting as it means that people are calling back to check when their repair is being done, these calls often take longer than just taking a first time repair call. 3 new members of staff are being recruited, interviews were on Wednesday, expected start date end Nov, beg Dec. Stephen is hopeful that this will reduce wait times.

Stephen apologised for call handling performance and agreed that it is unacceptable.

June raised that tenants are still waiting a long time for calls to be answered and she waited yesterday for a long time and ended up giving up. Stephen said the he is happy with his details being shared to help people resolve any issues.

Frances noted that as Stephen has admitted issues and ways they are moving forward, this is good and tenants are happy to wait and see if things improve. Frances said that Covid cannot be an excuse forever.

Jane suggested continuing to monitor figures over the next few months to see the improvement. Agreed to keep as an agenda item.

(Stephen Daly left the meeting)

Repair performance update for Q2 (July – Sept) – Copy of Q2 performance issued ahead of meeting

Stefan talked through the document in lieu of Martin Feeney. Diane requested that Martin Feeney should always nominate someone from repairs service to be present in his place so that there is always a repair presence and they can talk directly about their service.

Action: Jane to email Martin to request this.

Backlog will be having an impact on length of repairs. Once backlog is cleared these average figures should reduce. Majority of backlog will be cleared by end of October though some jobs involving scaffolding being delayed due to scaffold shortage.

Pilot of satisfaction surveys being done which asks for feedback via phone and text after repairs are done. Reports going to Housing Improvement Board (HIB) so satisfaction being closely monitored.

Recovery plans for estate management (Nicola Pettigrew) – copy of briefing note issued ahead of meeting

Nicola updated on what is happening and going forward how she wants to work with WDTRO. Request for full audit estate came from a Councillor motion.

Initial assessments have been carried out in estates along with Greenspace and discussions with waste management. This will help to identify any additional resources needed to complete this work and provides a starting point. Greenspace and waste management have agreed to work together on this going forward.

Next step is to link in with tenants for future walkabouts and decide on how often they take place (may differ by area), Nicola is working on a feedback template to ensure that works are carried out and have named people responsible.

Action: Nicola will share action plans created by staff so far

Frances said that she is interested to see what current issues have been identified.

Nicola also said that Housing Operations are looking to temporarily put staff/teams into specialised functions.

Action: Nicola to share details with WDTRO once more detail confirmed.

Ruth asked if staff had been to Willox Park, Nicola confirmed that they had. Ruth raised that three households have household goods outside their front door. Nicola noted and will ensure these are actioned.

Hanne asked if there were plans to speak to the wider tenant body about local walkabouts. Nicola said that they are looking at doing this and are hoping to work with the local community to do this effectively.

Update on Fire Safety Plans (John Kerr)

WDC would like to reintroduce housing ambition of an enhanced standard for multi-storey living and would be done in partnership with tenants and WDTRO. 

There is an under spend in the budget for multi-storey fire safety works and this has triggered discussion and a Councillor motion.

Full Council paper not available yet but John virtually shared an extract showing milestones of Fire Safety work in multi-storey flats. John will share the full Council paper and provide contact details if tenants wish to provide feedback.

Paper going to council next week giving a commitment that paper could go to Housing and Communities Committee in 2022 about enhancing standards within multi-story flats. Scottish Government been doing research into fire safety across Scotland and the spandrel panels found in some Dalmuir flats does meet this standard. WDC had been quick to do risk assessment after Grenfell and been keen national focus on fire safety.

No questions raised from tenants. Jane raised that fire safety concerns relates to the repair pilot within multi-storeys as these are often fire doors etc. which were a concern of tenants in the multi-storey blocks.

Action : John to forward on Council paper on fire safety update.

Local Housing Strategy (LHS) and Strategic Housing Investment Plan(SHIP) Update (Jamie Dockery/Emily Dorrian) – Briefing note issued ahead of meeting

Jamie and Emily virtually shared the briefing note and presentation.

Emily fed back about the consultation. 130 responses received through Survey Monkey with good, well thought out comments and been incorporated into the plans of the SHIP.

Jamie spoke about Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) and it’s 5 key themes. Draft going to November Housing Committee .LHS covers more than just new builds but table 1 sets out detail about what new builds are planned (both WDC and partner Housing Associations).

Likely to get increased grant levels from the government but this comes with more requirements on new build housing standards.

June asked about Dalquhurn site (being developed by Caledonia HA) and if the problems were due to contamination. Jamie said that this work was done previously but for whatever reason builders were quoting expensive for the work and this has meant it’s back of the queue. He also confirmed that Frank Downie House been sold to a private owner to redevelop.

Ruth asked a question about Willox Park and if there any further plans to consult with tenants. Emily said that care home site was first, with demolition for January and plans for speaking to tenants being put together. Ruth asked why the demolition has been pushed back and Emily explained that been delays in procurement and instead of starting before Christmas and then site being half done over holidays have decided to start in January.

Mary asked about “phase 1” in relation to Willox Park on briefing note and what “phase 2” might be. Emily explained that Phase 1 refers to the current discussion about redeveloping the old care home site and what the options there might be. Are also looking at the current properties and how to improve them so calling it phase 1 is partly for the Scottish Government as it shows them that there may be further funding being asked for.

Forward Plan update (John Kerr)

The new build update been covered by Jamie and Emily but he wanted to advise about a paper going to next Housing committee which will share outcome of Montreal, Quebec and Brunswick consultation on the future of those buildings.

Tenant Participation Update (Jane Mack)

Rent setting consultation is the main consultation due this year and date of public meeting still to be announced. Hope is staff and tenants groups will help encourage people to have their say. Tenants will be able to vote by free post voting card as well as voting online, by texting or email. Will also use the Housing system to send text reminders to tenants, get posters up in the flats and other public places to also encourage people.

Virtual public meeting on the Tenant Priority Budget held on 31 August to consider the proposals that had been costed up and all got agreed. Budget still open for new proposals and another public meeting will be arranged when we have costs for new proposals.

Scrutiny Panel will be presenting their report on complaints handling to the HIB on Monday. They also been shortlisted for a CIH Excellence Award for Tenant Scrutiny and they’ll find out on Nov 25 if they’ve won but it’s a great recognition of their work to be shortlisted.

Winter Housing News being put together so if staff or any tenant group want anything in it needs to be submitted before the 25/10. 

The Pre-HACC Forum where tenants can discuss papers going to the housing committee with Diane and officers who wrote the papers is on Mon 1 November so hope tenants can attend that and Diane will feed their comments into the committee discussions. Papers include the Charter action plan and Annual Assurance statement, new build update and Rapid rehousing update.

TRA activity is increasing and good to see new members. Central Radnor Park TRA have a new member joining the WDTRO, Joanne Geddes who will hopefully be at future meetings. Also interest in setting up a new TRA in Whitecrook and they have a meeting on 11/11 to get them started.

AOCB

Nothing noted.

Date of meeting 

2pm, Thursday 16th December, via Zoom

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.73

Thursday 26th August 2021, 2pm Via Zoom

List of those present at meeting:

• Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRO (Chaired Meeting), 
• Georgia McCambley - Central Radnor Park TRA
• Harry McCormack - Tullichewan TRA
• June Todd - WDTRO
• Mary Paton - Willox Park TA
• Alan Young - Housing Asset and Investment Manager
• John Kerr - Housing Development & Homelessness Manager
• Jane Mack - Snr Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation)
• Scott McLelland - Area Co-ordinator
• Hanne Thijs - Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation) (minute taker)
• Martin Feeney - Building Services Manager
• Tracy Crichton - Housing Operations Co-ordinator
• Stephen Daly - Manager - Citizens and Digital Team
• Stefan Kristmanns - Housing Development Co-ordinator

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.73

Thursday 24^th June 2021, 2pm Via Zoom

List of those present at meeting:

• Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRO (Chaired Meeting), 
• Councillor Diane Docherty - Housing Convenor
• Billy Neeson - Westbridgend TRA
• Ruth Dickinson - Willox Park TRA
• Georgia McCambley - Central Radnor Park TRA
• Harry McCormack - Tullichewan TRA
• Alan Young - Housing Asset and Investment Manager
• John Kerr - Housing Development & Homelessness Manager
• Jane Mack - Snr Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation)
• David Lynch - Area Co-ordinator
• Hanne Thijs - Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation) (minute taker)
• Martin Feeney - Building Services Manager
• Jennifer McMahon - Snr Housing Development Officer
• Edward Thomas - Housing Operations Manager
• Tracy Crichton - Housing Operations Co-ordinator
• Suzanne Marshall - Housing Operations Co-ordinator
• Stephen Daly - Manager - Citizens and Digital Team
• Stefan Kristmanns - Housing Development Co-ordinator
• Jamie Dockery - Snr Housing Development Officer
• Emily Dorrian - Housing Development Officer

• Repair Stats up to May 2021

• LHS Presentation to WDC WDTRO Liaison - June 2021

WDC & WDTRO Liaison Meeting No. 72 

Thursday  22 April 2021, 2PM via zoom

Agenda 

1. Welcome, introductions and apologies 
2. Issues arriving from update on actions from previous meeting – copy of updated actions distributed ahead of meeting 
3. Repairs call handling performance – Citizen Services unable to attend but in depth performance info provided giving longest waiting times for calls answered and calls abandoned. Specific issues and concerns can be discussed to raise with Citizen Services direct at June Liaison. 
4. Repairs performance information ( Martin Feeney) – copy of performance stats distributed ahead of meeting.
5. Charter Performance update (Stefan Kristmanns) – copy of Charter report with responses to WDTRO queries circulated ahead of meeting.
6. Forward plan update (John Kerr)
7. Tenant Participation update (Jane Mack)
8. AOCB
9. Date of next meeting - 24 June 2021, 2pm via zoom

West Dunbartonshire Council aims to ensure that tenants’ homes are well maintained, with repairs and improvements carried out when required and with a reasonable choice about when work is done

Our promise is that:

• we will aim to carry out repairs quickly
• we will aim to ensure that repairs are completed Right First Time
• we will aim to keep repairs appointments when these are made
• we will aim to carry out an annual gas safety check in all properties where this is required
• we will ask you how satisfied you are and demonstrate how we have used your feedback to improve our services

Spreadsheet below showing data relating to the answering of Emergency repair calls from April 2020 to March 2021. 

Repairs Call Handling Monthly Activity Dashboard

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.71

Thursday 25 February 2021, 2pm Via Zoom

List of those present at meeting:

• Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRA (chaired meeting)
• Councillor Diane Docherty - Housing Convener
• Billy Neeson Westbridgend - TRA
• Mary Paton Willox Park - TRA
• Georgia McCambley - Central Radnor Park TRA
• Harry McCormack - Tullichewan TRA
• Ruth Dickinson - Willox Park TRA
• June Todd - WDTRO
• Polly Wheelans- Littleholm TRA
• Alan Young - Housing Asset and Investment Manager
• Stefan Kristmanns - Housing Development Co-ordinator
• John Kerr Housing - Development & Homelessness Manager
• Edward Thomas - Housing Operations Manager
• Scott McLelland - Area Co-ordinator
• Tracy Crichton - Area Co-ordinator
• Suzanne Bannister - Client services Officer (Repairs)
• Jane Mack - Snr Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation) (minute taker)

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.70

Thursday 17th Dec 2020, 2pm Via Zoom

List of those present at meeting:

• Councillor Diane Docherty - Housing Convener (chaired meeting)
• Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRA
• Billy Neeson - Westbridgend TRA
• Mary Paton - Willox Park TRA
• Georgia McCambley - Central Radnor Park TRA
• Harry McCormack - Tullichewan TRA
• Ruth Dickinson - Willox Park TRA
• June Todd - WDTRO
• Lucy Dunbar - Community Development Officer
• Alan Young - Housing Asset and Investment Manager
• Stefan Kristmanns - Housing Development Co-ordinator
• John Kerr Housing - Development & Homelessness Manager
• Edward Thomas - Housing Operations Manager
• Martin Feeney - Building Services Manager
• Jane Mack - Snr Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation)
• Hanne Thijs - Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation) (minute taker)

To:  WDTRO liaison meeting
Person to: Stefan Kristmanns, Housing Development Co-ordinator

Date: 17 December 2020
Tel No:  07584 275749
Subject:  Charter Improvement Plan update

Background

Social landlords are required to assess performance against the Charter Outcomes and develop an improvement plan based on this assessment on an annual basis. Our assessment of 2019/20 performance was carried out and our Charter Improvement Plan was subsequently approved by the Housing Improvement Board (HIB) on 26 October 2020 with managers being responsible for ensuring it’s implementation.

Main Issues

The implementation of the improvement plan is monitored by the HIB and it has been agreed that regular updates would also be provided to the WDTRO. This is done by providing a summary of progress to the WDTRO liaison meetings and also discussing progress in more detail with WDTRO Committee members at meetings arranged specifically for this. Current progress in terms of implementing the plan is outlined on the summary table below:

Meeting with WDTRO Committee members 11 December 2020

Our Charter Improvement Plan was discussed in detail with WDTRO Committee members at a meeting on 11 December 2020. Of the 52 actions within the improvement plan, 6 have been completed, 38 are in progress and 8 are overdue (some of these required reviewed due dates to be agreed). Many questions were asked about the detail of individual actions and progress in terms of implementation. Comment was also made around the number of actions that have yet to show any progress.

These meetings allow the WDTRO to have a better understanding of the actions we are taking to deliver improvements and monitor the progress we are making. The feedback received is that the meetings are useful, increases transparency and accountability and helps the WDTRO raise any issues of concern.

Copy of draft Annex to the Housing Allocations Policy

To be discussed at WDC/WDTRO Liaison meeting 22/10/20

Introduction

This Annex to the Housing Allocations Policy outlines technical changes to the policy approved by the Housing and Communities Committee in November 2020 and outlines a timetable for a full review and update of the policy which will be carried out.

No Home for Domestic Abuse

“No Home for Domestic Abuse” is the Council’s zero tolerance policy approach to domestic abuse occurring within our properties. It provides victims/survivors of domestic abuse with access to practical help, legal assistance and support to allow them to remain if this is what they want.

The current Allocations Policy was approved prior to the our “No Home for Domestic Abuse” initiative being established.  To fully align the policy with this approach and to support victims to stay in their own homes and to make them feel safe, our Allocations Policy requires a flexibility to address the housing needs of perpetrators.

Council tenants who are victims of domestic abuse are offered a range of housing advice based on their circumstances to support them.

This includes:

• Supporting victims to remain in their own home – including transferring the tenancy into their own name where possible. Support includes making the victim feels safe and security measures such as lock changes;
• Supporting victims to gain legal information and advice;
• Supporting victims to access specialist domestic abuse support; and
• Providing suitable alternative safe and secure accommodation via the homeless service.

The Council:

• will use the full scope of Anti-Social Behaviour powers in conjunction with Housing and Matrimonial Homes Legislation to legally remove perpetrators if we need to;
• recognises that in order to support victims to stay in their own homes and to make them feel safer we must also address the housing needs of perpetrators. Those found guilty of committing domestic abuse will be offered short-term or permanent tenancies dependant on their circumstances and appropriately distanced from the victim.

This is in line with the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Bill, which if passed by Parliament will allow social landlords to end or transfer a tenancy of a perpetrator of domestic abuse to prevent a victim becoming homeless and enabling them to remain in the family home.

New Build for Specific Needs

The Council is committed to delivering new housing as part of our More Homes West Dunbartonshire approach   Where the complex specific needs of a household cannot be met via the existing housing stock and construction of a specialist property is agreed as part of the new-build programme, the property may be pre-allocated prior to completion at the discretion of a Senior Housing Manager to ensure that these specific identified needs are met.

Allocations Policy Review

The Housing and Communities Committee agreed the current Housing Allocations Policy in November 2017, following the implementation of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2014.

It was agreed that a full review of the policy would take place in 3 years, however the Covid-19 pandemic delayed this work and the following timetable for a full review and update of the policy was agreed in November 2020:

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.68

Thursday 22nd October 2020, 2pm Via Zoom

Present:

West Dunbartonshire Tenants & Residents Organisation (WDTRO)

Climate Change & Net Zero Housing

Summary Brief (Draft)

The global climate is changing at a considerable rate.  The Met Office detailed how since 1884, the 10 warmest years recorded have occurred since 2002, whereas the top 10 coldest years were recorded before 1970.

In Scotland, climate averages between 2009-2018 compared to averages for 1981-2010 show that:

• Temperatures have increased by 0.3°C; and
• Summers have been on average 11% wetter and winters 5% wetter.

Overall, in Scotland:

• Changes in our climate will accelerate, with winters becoming warmer and wetter; and hotter summers with changing patterns and intensities of rainfall;
• By the 2050’s Scotland could see summer temperatures increased by 4-5 degrees Celsius, with 40-60% more winter rainfall in places if no action is taken to reduce carbon emissions;
• Rates of sea-level rise are predicted to increase at an accelerated rate, with a global sea level increase of between 0.56 -1.12 metres by 2100 under a high emissions scenario; and
• Weather extremes will become increasingly the norm.
• Overall average temperatures will continue to increase (Figure 1.)

Legal and policy drivers

In a drive towards a low carbon economy, the Scottish Government set world leading Climate Change targets to reduce Scotland’s carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, with an interim reduction of 42% by 2020.  In 2014 this interim target was met and exceeded (45.8%), leading to a new target set for a reduction of 50% for 2020. These targets present Scotland with significant social and economic opportunities, as well as challenges, and required a range of actions across society and the economy.  The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, which details these targets, is unanimously regarded as the most ambitious Climate Change legislation anywhere in the world.

In Scotland’s latest climate plan - ‘Climate Change Plan: third report on proposals and policies 2018-2032 (RPP3)’, further expectations are placed on the public sector to increasingly demonstrate how its own operations are driving down emissions.  RPP3 sets out the path to a low carbon economy while helping to deliver sustainable economic growth and secure the wider benefits to a greener, fairer and healthier Scotland in 2032.  Since the publication of RPP3, a Climate Emergency has been announced by Scotland’s First Minister, followed by new national emissions reduction targets and the ‘Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019’ which details new emission reduction targets for Scotland.    These are:

• 56% reduction by 2020;
• 75% reduction by 2030;
• 90% reduction by 2040; and
• ‘Net Zero’ emissions by 2045.

To achieve this, the decarbonisation of the domestic housing and non-domestic building sectors will be key to achieving a net zero Scotland by 2045.  This ambition is matched by the following policy and strategy documents, providing guidance on what we should be doing with all Scotland’s building stock starting immediately:

• Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.
• Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies: Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Order 2015.
• Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019.
• Scottish Government’s RPP3 (Low Carbon Scotland – Meeting our Emissions Reduction Targets 2018-2032).
• Scotland’s Energy Strategy: The Future of Energy in Scotland (2017).
• Committee on Climate Change (CCC): Reducing UK Emissions – 2020 Progress Report to Parliament.
• Energy Efficient Scotland Programme

What is Net Zero?

‘Net zero’ refers to achieving an overall balance between emissions produced and emissions taken out of the atmosphere. Simply, this means that for all the emissions produced there must be mitigating actions in place to remove the same level of emissions from the atmosphere.  Net zero does not mean that there should be no emissions, just that they must be balanced through emission reduction interventions. This is illustrated in the diagram below.  The interventions range from land-use change methods, tree-planting, peatland restoration, investing in carbon-offsetting charities, technical solutions that draw carbon from the air, or Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). 

What this means for WDC and the wider domestic sector in Scotland?

Committee on Climate Change (CCC): Reducing UK Emissions – 2020 Progress Report to Parliament

• A switch to low-carbon heating. From 2025, all new build homes will need to be built with low-carbon heating. The UK's 29m existing residential dwellings, and all commercial and public buildings, will need to switch away from fossil fuelled boilers towards low-carbon heating sources.
• Furthermore, we must phase out the installation of all new gas boilers by 2035 at the latest. This means that any decision we make or any projects we are planning should already be including low-carbon heating as a replacement of gas or other fossil fuel heating types.

The ‘Energy Efficient Scotland Programme’

Energy Efficient Scotland is a 20 year programme containing a set of actions aimed at making Scotland’s existing buildings near zero carbon wherever feasible by 2050, and in a way that is socially and economically sustainable.  It has two main objectives:

• Removing poor energy efficiency as a driver for fuel poverty
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through more energy efficient buildings and decarbonising our heat supply.

It’s vision is, by 2040, Scotland’s homes and buildings are warmer, greener and more efficient.  To achieve this they have set the following targets:

• Domestic sector - By 2040, all Scottish homes are EPC C (where technically feasible and cost effective).
• Non-Domestic Sector – Our non-domestic buildings will be assessed and improved to the extent this is technically feasible and cost effective by 2040.

These overall targets can only be achieved if we are to quickly and radically change the way we approach energy efficiency in our homes and all other buildings.  It must be set at the core of what we do when carrying out retrofit and new builds.  The following table highlights the targets we must achieve.

EPC standards

Building standards

Strive towards a higher energy efficiency and sustainability standard for our homes and buildings. This will require moving towards the highest sustainability standard as set out by the Scottish Domestic Sustainability Building Handbook.

• Look to prioritise retrofit of existing dwellings and buildings over new build. Ensure that retrofit strives towards the highest sustainability standard set out in the Scottish Sustainability Building Handbook; or similar retrofit standard such as ‘EnerPHit’ ^*1.
• When new build is necessary, strive towards the highest sustainability standard set out in the Scottish Sustainability Building Handbook; a net zero building standard; or similar building standard such as ‘Passivhaus’ ^*2 (where technically feasible and cost effective).

^*1 A standard for an economically and ecologically optimal energy retrofit, for old buildings that cannot achieve Passive House Standard with reasonable effort. (PHI).

^*2 A voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, which reduces the building's ecological footprint.  It results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling.

Challenges

• Fuel poverty – if we are to convert our heating to electricity, costs of electricity must be reduced to prevent increased fuel poverty as a result of more expensive electricity bills. The cost of gas is still too low and this must be considered going forward.

• Nationwide shift towards alternative ‘greener’ fuels for heating – decisions still must be made at a national or international level on the feasibility of retrofitting and converting the gas network to include greener alternatives such as hydrogen and biogas. Both of which have their own challenges. 

• Holistic approach – Local Authorities and many other organisations must take a holistic approach to energy efficiency in the domestic and non-domestic sector. There is no ‘silver bullet’ that can help us with this, it most definitely will be a ‘mix’ of various technologies and interventions including building fabric improvements, renewables, District Heating, electricity and hydrogen.  This will vary depending on the project, area and/or approach we take as a Local Authority.

• Capital costs – Local Authorities will likely need to invest more money in higher energy efficiency standards, low/no carbon heating systems and more sustainable building materials and construction practices. More funding will become more available from UK and Scottish Governments to help, but it still requires more investment from councils .

• A better understanding of Whole-Life Costs (WLC) and avoidable environmental impacts of purchasing and construction. This will include (but not limited to):
  • Understanding where materials are sourced;
  • Measuring the environmental impacts of their extraction and development;
  • Avoiding carbon emissions from transport and supply chain;
  • Reducing the environmental impacts of Land Use Change (LUC) if the development is new-build;
  • Avoiding construction materials that may have additional pollutants and off-gases;
  • Measuring and avoiding the environmental impacts of disposing or recycling construction waste;
  • Reusing existing construction materials from other projects or demolitions; and
  • Measuring the ‘embodied’ carbon of existing buildings over new builds.

Tenant’s

Financial support for tenants

• HEEPS: Warmer Homes Scotland scheme – assistance from the Scottish Government to help private sector tenants and homeowners struggling to heat their home and who meet the qualifying criteria.
• Energy Company Obligation (ECO) - Low income and vulnerable households could be eligible for support with insulation and heating through the Energy Company Obligation.

Contact Home Energy Scotland

• If you would like help, please call 0808 808 2282to speak to their advisors at Home Energy Scotland. 
• Their trained advisors can carry out a Home Energy Check over the phone and give you practical advice on how to save energy and reduce your energy bills They can also let you know if there are benefits, credits or funding you may be eligible for but may not know about. And they could also advise you if you are eligible for discounted energy rates.  

Write to your landlord

• As a tenant you can also write to your landlord and ask them to consider helping make the property you are renting more energy efficient. Energy saving measures don’t have to be costly as there is funding and free impartial advice available to landlords

Quick fixes

• In the meantime, there are lots of ways you can improve the energy efficiency of your home which don’t involve major changes to the property. Learn more about our quick fixes for improving your homeand saving money on fuel bills.

Residents

Financial support for residents

• Contact Home Energy Scotland directly or go on the grants and loans section of their website to find out what financial support can be provided for you to improve energy efficiency at your home. As a resident or homeowner there are more grants or funding options available to you.
• HEEPS: Warmer Homes Scotland scheme – assistance from the Scottish Government to help private sector tenants and homeowners struggling to heat their home and who meet the qualifying criteria.
• Energy Company Obligation(ECO) - Low income and vulnerable households could be eligible for support with insulation and heating through the Energy Company Obligation.

Contact Home Energy Scotland

• If you would like help, please call 0808 808 2282 to speak to their advisors at Home Energy Scotland. 
• Their trained advisors can carry out a Home Energy Check over the phone and give you practical advice on how to save energy and reduce your energy bills They can also let you know if there are benefits, credits or funding you may be eligible for but may not know about. And they could also advise you if you are eligible for discounted energy rates.  

Quick fixes

• In the meantime, there are lots of ways you can improve the energy efficiency of your home which don’t involve major changes to the property. Learn more about our quick fixes for improving your homeand saving money on fuel bills

Queens Quay DHN;

The Queens Quay district heating system is nearing the completion of the fit out portion of the Energy Centre. The fit out in principally complete with the commissioning of the system and its individual components almost complete. The Water Source Heat Pumps are now operational and last week were run to full operating temperature and tested. The network and thermal store has since been charged with hot water and heat was supplied to the Clydebank Care home last Friday. This week we are aiming to get heat on to Titan Enterprise Centre and Aroura House with Clydebank Leisure Centre to follow shortly thereafter. We are currently investigating the comparison cost of doing a gas boiler replacement in the town hall and library against the installation for the district heating, but stress gas is not the future. We are in negotiation with Clydebank College and The Golden Jubilee Hospital regarding connecting both of them to the network.

We are currently developing a pilot Local Heat and Energy Efficiency strategy (LHEES)

The project will seek to identify local solutions to reduce emissions from buildings and tackle fuel poverty across all building types within the town of Clydebank. It is proposed that the project will identify opportunities for expansion of the Queens Quay District Heating network which is currently being developed centrally within this area. The project will also explore the feasibility and costs of other energy efficiency measures across this area and build on existing EWI programmes, explore alternative heating solutions and opportunities with a focus on solutions and technologies around energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation.

The 20 strategy will strive towards achieving net zero emissions from buildings by 2045 and removing poor energy efficiency as a driver for fuel poverty.

All analysis on fuel poverty will use the latest poverty definition as laid out in the Fuel Poverty (Scotland) Act 2019.

West Dunbartonshire Council aims to ensure that tenants’ homes are well maintained, with repairs and improvements carried out when required and with a reasonable choice about when work is done.

Our promise is that:

• we will aim to carry out repairs quickly
• we will aim to ensure that repairs are completed Right First Time
• we will aim to keep repairs appointments when these are made
• we will aim to carry out an annual gas safety check in all properties where this is required
• we will ask you how satisfied you are and demonstrate how we have used your feedback to improve our services

The Housing Repairs Contact Centre telephony performance for August 2020 is reported above. The figures reported show an increase of 29% in calls received in August 2020 when compared with July 2020.  The increase in the number of calls presented reflects a similar 29% increase to that reported in July 2020 and indicates a growing demand in requests both for repairs and information.

A new working group has been established with representatives from the IHMS Project Team, Citizen Services, CAS and Building Services.  The aim of the group is to look at the process for receiving, recording and appointing repairs.  This is welcomed by Citizen Services and will help identify system issues, training requirements and improve working relationships. 

As noted above the highest number of calls received is from tenants requesting an update on an outstanding or existing repair (36% of calls) or to report an emergency (35% of calls).  It is hoped the working group will help in understanding any issues and working to address this. 

Training is being completed for staff from our face-to-face team and they are already providing support to the Repairs Contact Centre.  The support provided has been invaluable especially with the continuing increase in call volumes noted above.  Our concern remains capacity to manage call volumes as services offered are increased.  As noted above the number of calls not answered increased in August 2020 when compared with July 2020 and this is despite having increased resourcing available. 

We continue to work on customer satisfaction and are seeking guidance on both numbers to be completed and details of tenants to follow up.  As highlighted previously the move to the new QL system means tenants now have the opportunity to complete a survey on the operatives device or opt for telephone follow up.  This has reduced the numbers which are coming to Citizen Services.  We are working with Building Services to ensure information is available to enable completion of the required number of surveys.   

Stephen Daly

September 2020

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.68
Thursday 27th August 2020, 2pm Via Zoom

Present:

• Councillor Diane Docherty - Housing Convener (chair)
• Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRA
• Georgia McCambley - Central Radnor Park TRA
• Harry McCormack - Tullichewan TRA
• Janette Donlin - Dalmuir TRA
• Scott McClelland - Area Co-ordinator – Ward 2 &3
• Stefan Kristmanns - Housing Development Co-ordinator
• Peter Barry - Strategic Lead
• Joanne Sutherland - Homelessness service co-ordinator
• David Lynch - Area Co-ordinator –Wards 4,5a and 5b
• John Kerr - Housing Development & Homelessness Manager
• Edward Thomas - Housing Operations Manager
• Alan Young - Housing Asset & Investment Manager
• Jane Mack - Snr Housing Development Officer ( Tenant Participation )
• Tracy Crichton - Housing Co-ordinator – wards 1 & 6
• Tom Black - Technical officer
• Hanne Thijs - Housing Development Officer (Tenant Participation) (minute taker)

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.
Thursday 25th June, 2020 via Zoom video conferencing

Present: Jane Mack, Hanne Thijs (minute taker), John Kerr ( chaired), Edward Thomas, Frances McGonagle, Harry McCormack, Joanne Sutherland, Jacqui Peacock, Martin Feeney and Alan Young

Briefing Note: WDTRO
Subject: Building Services Re-Start Plan COVID-19 Coronavirus Crisis
From: Martin Feeney, Building Services Manager
Date: 24 June 2020

Introduction

1. The recent and on-going pandemic has restricted the maintenance and repairs services the Council could deliver under the Scottish Government Lockdown in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis.
2. The pandemic and lockdown resulted in only essential services being provided and these included the Emergency Repair Service, Void House Repairs to build resilience within the Council’s Homeless Accommodation, were void houses were pre-allocated to Residents whose current accommodation doesn’t meet their needs and other Essential Incidental Urgent Repairs including Special Needs Adaptation.
3. During lockdown each week circa 70 – 80 Building Services team members have been delivering the services highlighted in 2 above. Technical and backroom team members have and continue to work from home, others have been released to other services and the remaining team member confined to their homes awaiting call back to work.
4. The Scottish Government have started to lift some lockdown restrictions under its 4 stage route map and Construction Scotland Re-start Model 6 stage plan.

   Table 1: Scottish Government Route Map

   Table 1: Scottish Government Route Map

   Lockdown	Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 3	Phase 4
   High transmission of the virus. Risk of overwhelming NHS capacity without significant restrictions in place.	High risk the virus is not yet contained. Continued risk of overwhelming NHS capacity without some restrictions in place.	Virus is controlled but risk of spreading remains. Focus is on containing outbreaks.	Virus has been suppressed. Continued focus on containing sporadic outbreaks.	Virus remains suppressed to very low levels and is no longer considered a significant threat to public health.

   Table 2: Construction Scotland Re-start Model

   Table 2: Construction Scotland Re-start Model

   Phase 0	Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 3	Phase 4	Phase 5
   Planning	Pre-start site preparation	"Soft start" to site works (where physical distancing can be maintained)	Steady state operation (where physical distancing can be maintained)	Steady state operation (with physical distancing or controlled close working with PPE)	increasing density / productivity

    

5. As we progress to the phases beyond lockdown, we will be able to return to delivering more services.

6. In the Scottish Government update on Thursday 18 June 2020 it was confirmed we were now in phase 2 of the route map and construction sector could implement remaining stages of phased return subject to all criteria being met

Building Services Re-start Plan

1. Building Services re-start and recovery plan will be in-line with the Scottish Government 4 stage route map and Construction Scotland Re-start Model subject to the Scottish Government criteria being met.
   
   Table 3: Building Services Re-start Plan
   

   Table 3: Building Services Re-start Plan

   Scottish Route Map	Re-start Model	Construction Scotland Re-start Model	Building Services Action	Status / Date
   Phase 1	Phase 1	Small team preparing site for re- commencement, including all revised welfare, cleaning, signage & security (team size: 10 to 12)	Preparation
   Phase 1	Phase 1	Small team preparing site for re- commencement, including all revised welfare, cleaning, signage & security (team size: 10 to 12)	Prepare Depot / Offices and Sites including signage, one way systems etc.	Complete
   Phase 1	Phase 1	Small team preparing site for re- commencement, including all revised welfare, cleaning, signage & security (team size: 10 to 12)	Introduce safe office and depot plans ensuring social distancing / welfare facilities	Complete
   Phase 1	Phase 1	Small team preparing site for re- commencement, including all revised welfare, cleaning, signage & security (team size: 10 to 12)	Review Risk Assessments (RAs) / Safe Systems of Works (SSoWs) / Method Statement (MS)	On-going
   Phase 1	Phase 1	Small team preparing site for re- commencement, including all revised welfare, cleaning, signage & security (team size: 10 to 12)	Agree staggered start and finish times with TU’s and Workforce	Agreed
   Phase 1	Phase 1	Small team preparing site for re- commencement, including all revised welfare, cleaning, signage & security (team size: 10 to 12)	Review supply chains and possible lags in material deliveries	On-going
   Phase 1	Phase 1	Small team preparing site for re- commencement, including all revised welfare, cleaning, signage & security (team size: 10 to 12)	Manage current shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE)	On-going
   Phase 2	Phase 2	Slow build-up of workforce to optimum capacity with physical distancing and no use of Covid-19 PPE - familiarisation with new arrangements	External works and essential internal works commence	Commencing 22/06/20
   Phase 2	Phase 3	Steady state operation with physical distancing and no use of Covid-19 PPE. Progression through Phase 3 will be subject to continuous monitoring by site management with feedback of data/evidence used to inform ongoing review of health and safety systems	As above increasing pre COVID-19 levels to 30% - 40%	10/07/20

WDC/WDTRO Liaison Meeting No.65
Thursday 27th February 2020, 2pm at Dalmuir Community Centre,
Clydebank.

Present:

• Frances McGonagle - Littleholm TRA ( chaired meeting )
• Councillor Diane Docherty - Housing Convener
• Polly Wheelans - Littleholm TRA
• Georgia McCambley - Central Radnor Park TRA
• Billy Neeson - Westbridgend TRA
• June Todd - WDTRO
• Douglas Clark - Littleholm TRA
• David Lynch - Area Co-ordinator – Clydebank
• John Kerr - Housing Development & Homelessness
  Manager
• Edward Thomas - Housing Operations Manager
• Alan Young - Housing Asset & Investment Manager
• Jane Mack - Snr Housing Development Officer ( Tenant
  Participation )
• Ryan Chalmers - Finance Section Head
• Jim Fraser Repairs – Technical Officer