Living in Hackney scrutiny commission

View agenda papers for scrutiny commissions.

The commission’s remit covers the areas of housing, leisure and culture, planning, sustainability, waste and street cleanliness. It also performs the statutory crime and disorder committee function through its scrutiny of the community safety partnership. This partnership is made up of a wide range of members including the police, probation, the Council’s Chief Executive and health professionals. It has a range of duties related to community safety, including the implementation of a community safety plan for the reduction of crime and disorder in the area.

Investigations in 2019/20

Water main burst and flooding in N4 – meeting hearing from Thames Water on causes, response and management of the network

Thames Water is responsible for managing and maintaining the water main network across London and the Thames Valley. Homes in the N4 area of the borough were flooded on 8th October 2019, following a mains burst. The burst also affected water supply for a wider area.

The commission has called a meeting to question Thames Water on the causes of the burst, its management of the aftermath, and its performance generally.

This is the third time the commission will have called Thames Water to account, following previous floods caused by burst mains in Stoke Newington in 2017 and Leabridge in 2018.

Ofwat is the regulator for the water sector in England. Given the number of times mains bursts have impacted on our residents, businesses and public spaces in recent years, Ofwat have been invited to speak on the performance of Thames Water and its work to seek improvement.

Council officers will also be in attendance to talk about the response to the latest incident by the Council and its partners.

All members of the public are welcome. Depending on the numbers in attendance, the commission hopes to give time to questions from residents, in particular those residents affected by the most recent flood.

The meeting will take place at 7pm on Tuesday 14 January at Parkwood Primary School (School Hall), Queens Drive, N4 2HQ.

Review for 2019/20

Housing associations in England are independent societies, bodies of trustees or companies established for the purpose of providing low-cost social housing for people in housing need on a non-profit-making basis. They play a major role in Hackney, managing around 24,000 homes.

All social housing units in the borough are managed either by housing associations or the Council. The size and reach of housing associations vary; they range from charities with handfuls of units on a single site to providers managing hundreds of thousands of homes, across the country.

The commission is conducting a review exploring the practices and approaches of different housing associations operating in the borough, and the relationship and partnership arrangements between housing associations and the Council.

Among other aspects, it will explore the work of providers to keep homes in good condition, to contribute to the Council best meet housing need locally, and to support vulnerable residents.

The review will also gauge the scale and nature of development activity in the borough by housing associations, how providers are fulfilling their social purpose roles, and the strength of the arrangements through which the partnership between the Council and housing associations is achieved.

The review will hear from housing associations and relevant council services. It will also seek input from housing association residents and their representatives, around their views and experiences.

Details on this are being further developed and will be made available here shortly.