To receive a presentation from the Partnerships Director NW for L&Q.

The Chair began by noting the importance of L&Q in Trafford due to the volume of stock they held. The Chair noted the previous relationship with Trafford Housing Trust (THT) and stated his hope that the Council would see a similar partnership going forward.

The Partnerships Director NW at L&Q introduced herself and stated that her role was focused upon Trafford and the Northwest and that this role had been made as a conscious decision when the THT merged with L&Q. She stated that she currently did a lot of work with key Greater Manchester (GM) housing association stakeholders, as well as other providers.

The Partnerships Director NW at L&Q informed the Committee about a new joint strategic forum established earlier in the year between the Council’s corporate leadership team and similar senior leadership at L&Q. This forum had looked at a wide range of strategic and consistency areas which included increased member communication and engagement.  The Chief Executive of L&Q had met with the Chief Executive of the Council and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been put in place which also asked how the Scrutiny Committee felt that they could fit into that. This was to be explored moving forward.

As part of this partnership, several changes and engagement had already begun. Firstly, a session for new elected members had been held earlier in the year, and this would continue to be an offer in the future, that provides training for new members so that they knew who they could contact regards to housing issues within their wards. There had also been a commitment to a joint fund of community hubs for the next two years. Plans were also being made to look at working in partnership to deal with the poverty within the borough, which also fed into the work around engaging with the unheard voices.

The Committee were made aware that the Trafford Housing Trust Board had the Leader of the Council on it until the merge. With regard to the L&Q Board, Partnerships Director NW told the Committee that appointments to this Board followed a standardised process, based upon the skills held and required on the Board, and encourage Councillors to apply for a position when these became available.

The Chair stated that there should still be Councillor representation on the Board. The Partnerships Director NW responded that due to L&Q covering over 100 Council areas they were unable to offer coverage to all, so instead operate through applications.

Councillor Coggins asked whether any of the membership of the Board was also a local councillor at another Council, asked if Trafford was one of the largest Council’s that L&Q operate in, and if so, would Trafford have more of a case to be on the Board. The Partnerships Director NW at L&Q responded that as far as she was aware, there was no one on the L&Q Board who was on it due to them being an elected member. However, she did inform the Committee that Trafford did have one of the largest resident populations living in L&Q stock, within the areas L&Q operate.

Councillor Frass asked about the statement when the partnership was announced that which said that Trafford would retain its own Board and asked why that had not happened. The Partnerships Director NW at L&Q responded that she was not in her position when the statement was made in 2019, however, she would look back at the minutes from the Board meetings to see why this did not happen.

Councillor Axford asked about the community funding mentioned and how that would continue going forward. The Partnerships Director NW at L&Q replied that was being looked at across the whole of the organisation, with the hope of bringing in new teams that will engage directly with the Council.

Councillor Walsh asked whether the strategic forum established between Trafford and L&Q could have an elected member on. The Partnerships Director NW at L&Q said she would take this back to the forum.

The Executive Member for Housing and Advice stated that there had been a great improvement over the last year within the partnership, especially since the Partnerships Director NW assumed her role. He referenced the improvement in communications around housing management and spoke about the difficulties that had arisen over the past year and had been dealt with more efficiently than in the past. For example, with the results of the Ombudsman report with the Executive Member was set to meet with the Chief Executive to discuss this further. The Executive Member for Housing and Advice concluded that time would tell on how the relationship between L&Q and Trafford Council would work, but from his perspective, the relationship was currently operating at a good level.

Councillor Coggins asked whether there would be any leadership from L&Q in the area around decarbonisation due to them being the second biggest housing association in the country. The Head of Special Projects and Sustainability responded that L&Q had a strategy in place, and that they had received one of the highest levels of funding for decarbonisation, with plans to use this to be a leader in the area moving forward.

Councillor Ennis asked about the future use of Sale Point and their customer facing responsibilities moving forward. The Partnerships Director NW at L&Q responded that she could provide the Committee with a report on the changes at Sale Point. She stated that there was no longer any customer facing staff in place at Sale Point, but they do have the ability to make appointments for residents to come in an make specific queries.

Councillor Ennis asked whether this would be rolled out to other areas in the community. The Partnerships Director NW stated that there had been some work done in community venues such as Limelight.

Councillor Jarman spoke about recent issues that had arisen and that L&Q had been excellent in their response and hoped that would continue going forward.

Chair summarised the points raised and highlighted the importance of the partnership.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the presentation be noted

2)    That the Partnerships Director NW at L&Q look back at minutes from L&Q Board meetings to see why Trafford did not retain its own Board following the merger with THT.

3)    That the Partnerships Director NW at L&Q provide the Committee with information on the service changes at Sale Point.