Agenda item

The Council considered a report, presented by the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Glyn Jones, Cabinet Member for Housing and Equalities, which detailed the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget proposals for the 2021/21 financial year, and the medium term financial forecast for the following three years, which had a budget to break even.

The Deputy Mayor stated that the Council was proud of its low rents in Doncaster which made good quality homes affordable for over 20,000 households across the Borough, but rents had to be increased this year and in future years, to enable the Council to continue to deliver excellent day to day services for tenants, to continue to collect more rent as the changes to Universal Credit continued to be rolled out, and to invest in properties to maintain them at the Doncaster Decency Standard.

Members were informed that Government consultation would commence during 2021 on a revised decency standard, Decent Homes 2, and all stakeholders including tenants, would be asked to contribute to this consultation.

The Deputy Mayor pointed out that the Council wanted to invest over and above all of this, as following the publication of the draft Building Safety Bill, there was an increased focus on health, safety and compliance, and the Council needed to invest to ensure that its properties continued to be safe for its tenants.   The Council was not waiting for this Bill to become an Act to address some issues, for example, the Capital Budget had almost £5m included therein to improve the fire safety in properties.  In addition to this, the Council also wanted to ensure that all its properties were as energy efficient as possible, to reduce fuel bills for tenants and also the carbon footprint of its homes.  Subsequently, a report had been commissioned which would outline the work required on all the Council owned properties to achieve the zero carbon standard.

It was reported that the HRA would continue to fund in excess of £30m of investment per year into the Council housing stock over the next four years.  In addition, the Council had approved funding to deliver the Council House New Build Programme; the details of which were outlined at Cabinet on 12th January, 2021.  When this programme was approved by Council last year, it was anticipated that the Council would deliver the programme over 10 years, but the Council had condensed that to 5 years to bring the much needed new homes into the Borough sooner.

Following the presentation of the HRA, Members were afforded the opportunity to comment on the report.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 21.4, a recorded vote was taken on the recommendations contained within the report, which was declared as follows:-

For - 49

The Chair of Council, Councillor Paul Wray, the Vice-Chair of Council, Councillor Andrea Robinson, the Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones, the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Glyn Jones, and Councillors Nick Allen, Duncan Anderson, Lani-Mae Ball, Nigel Ball, Iris Beech, Joe Blackham, Nigel Cannings, Bev Chapman, Phil Cole, Mick Cooper, Jane Cox, Steve Cox, Linda Curran, George Derx, Susan Durant, Sean Gibbons, John Gilliver, Martin Greenhalgh, Pat Haith, John Healy, Rachel Hodson, Charlie Hogarth, Mark Houlbrook, David Hughes, Eva Hughes, Richard A Jones, Majid Khan, Jane Kidd, Nikki McDonald, Tosh McDonald, Chris McGuinness, Sue McGuinness, Bill Mordue, David Nevett, Jane Nightingale, Ian Pearson, Andy Pickering, Cynthia Ransome, Tina Reid, Kevin Rodgers, Dave Shaw, Frank Tyas, Austen White, Sue Wilkinson and Jonathan Wood.

Against - 0

Abstain - 0

On being put to the meeting, the recommendations contained within the report were declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED that the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Budget proposals, as detailed within the report, be approved including:-

(1)      rents be increased from 5th April 2021, by 1.5%, as detailed within paragraphs 7 to 10 of the report, in line with Government policy; this will increase average weekly rent by £1.08, resulting in an average rent of approximately £72.89 per week.  Rents will be charged every week of the year;

(2)      the budget proposals for the HRA for 2021/22, as detailed within Appendix A of the report; these proposals set a balanced budget for the HRA and maintain a reserve of £4m; and

(3)      fees and charges, as detailed in paragraph 14 of the report.