Agenda and draft minutes

Decision: The minutes were approved as a correct record.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda.

If you have a pecuniary interest you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you just not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter

There were no declarations.

Suzanne Ravenscroft – South Ribble’s Housing Options Team Leader. Councillor Nweeda Khan - Preston City Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Social Justice, and John Cameron Preston City Council’s Senior Housing Advisory Officer to attend.

The Chair welcomed Suzanne Ravenscroft – South Ribble’s Housing Options Team Leader. Councillor Nweeda Khan - Preston City Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Social Justice, and John Cameron Preston City Council’s Senior Housing Advisory Officer to the Task Group.

It was confirmed that no council in the partnership held a ‘difficult to let’ list, however, registered partners themselves were able to track and monitor performance.

It was uncertain as to which demographic used Select Move the most, although as each property listed on Select Move revealed the number of expressed interests. With the properties most popular were the two- and three-bedroom properties which had triple digits of expressed interest, whereas 1-bedroom flats were below 20. It was noted that as new properties are added daily, it reflected when the site was assessed.

Select Move featured new build homes, although they were heavily regulated, and required applicants to have a local connection and tied into Section 106’s which on occasion caused the property to need to be advertised multiple times, and when failed to be allocated would and consequently be listed outside the Partnership.

Preston acknowledged that they have assisted some providers to list properties on Select Move due to the limited administrative capacity.

Members discussed the definition of the Local Connection and raised examples that required clarification. It was felt that there was a misconception and belief that properties had been rented without a local connection to the borough.

It was said that migration out of Chorley as a percentage was higher than migration into the surrounding boroughs. The local connection criteria ranged from having immediate family or employment in the borough. Consideration and support was given for homeless referrals, armed forces members, and those fleeing domestic abuse and violence,

Properties were listed on Select Move for 5 days, there was no set day and time properties were added, and users were frequently advised to check frequently throughout the week for newly listed properties.

Members raised concerns that a significant amount of properties on Select Move did not have pictures and questioned if users were bidding blind on properties. It was clarified that stock photos would be used where possible, but there was a small amount of time between one tenant leaving and the next moving in, it would be difficult to have accurate pictures. There were also privacy and safety concerns with the exact location of the property known. It was acknowledged that efforts would be made to encourage Registered providers to use photos where possible. No user of Select Move was expected to blindly bid, every property was available to view before signing, and the user was able to refuse the property as Select Move was a choice-based service. However, three rejections would reduce their place on the list. Users that were inactive for six months would be notified that they risk being moved down the list, it was acknowledged that sometimes contact had been made retroactively. 

It was highlighted that as of the 15 February, there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

It had been arranged for a digital and telephone survey to be taken for the users of Select Move.

Members discussed the themes and topics to be asked which included

n  The process of Select Move

n  Use and ease of the website, from first contact to success.

n  What available assistance was in place, and awareness of the support offered by Councilors.

n  The average length of time a user had been on Select Move before successfully bidding on a property.

The Chair gave the Task Group Members an additional week to submit topics or themes to the Policy Team in charge of the survey.  

Tuesday, 15 March 2022, at 6:30pm

Tuesday, 15 March 202 at 6:30.