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

No interests were declared.

The Task Group welcomed Andy Gale to the Task Group, he provided a brief synopsis of his work across the country working on allocation policieis and highlighted potential changes to the upcoming allocations policy, updated from 2018.

It was explained that every Council was legally required to have an allocations policy regardless if the Council maintained housing stock or not. The allocations policy ruiled who was able to join the register and who got housed.

The allocation policy was previously updated in 2018.

More people were on the Select Move register than available lettings. With 2189 households on the register in Chorley. It was reaffirmed that it was 2189 households and not individuals, the figure included families in addition to singles. In the 2021/22 financial year, Select Move housed 1072 households. It was deemed to be a good figure, some Councils were unable to house a sixth or eighth of households on the list.

The changes that were proposed would have to be approved by all three councils in addition to the Housing Associations that are a part of Select Move.

Banding

Select Move categoried its list into five bands from A to E. This was unusual as most councils have three or four.

It was explained that there was a common misconception with the housing list, as it there had not been a traditional housing waiting list since 1935, however, it was a  register of need. This was a potential point of frustration for those that have been on the list for a period of time banded below A or B.

There were rules that the Council had to adhere to, and there were rules that the Council could change, such as the extent of local conction, income limits, rules around unacceptable behaciour, barriers around rent arrears.

A 5 band system was unusual, most councils operate three or four, with some on a two band system.

Members raised about the grounds of medical obility was baneded as B, and felt that it should be Band A. Andy agreed that the medical issues were unclear and open to interpretation.

In terms of overcrowding as a Band B, the measure was from the bedroom standard, while looking at the ages, genders and number of children in each room.

It was understood that from an outside perception, the view of the banding and waiting list was unfair, but it was a register of need, and not a waiting list, people did not queue for a house, but allocation was based on need not time.

Members agreed that a three band system would appear simpler. And more user friendly, which was a significant goal of the task group to ensure that the rocess was as simple, and easy to understand as possible.

Quotas

There were quotas in place for bands A to D, every applicant in every band was able to apply for any property, but the band that was quotaed had priority. It was potentially possible for a band C  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Wednesday, 17 August 2022 at 6:30pm

Wednesday, 17 August 2022 at 7pm.