Agenda item

Agenda item

Selective Licensing - Results of Public Consultation (2022)

Report of the Strategic Director – Growth and Development.

 

This report provides the committee with an evaluation of the recent public consultation undertaken in areas within Moss Side, Levenshulme, Longsight, Cheetham and Rusholme to establish whether the designation of a Selective Licensing scheme is required in these areas.

Minutes:

The committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) which provided an evaluation of the recent public consultation undertaken in areas within Moss Side, Levenshulme, Longsight, Cheetham and Rusholme to establish whether the designation of a Selective Licensing scheme was required in these areas.

 

A presentation on the findings of the consultation was also provided at the meeting. 

 

Key points and themes within the report included:

 

·         Providing an introduction and background to Selective Licensing; 

·         The rolling programme and previous schemes in Crumpsall, Moss Side, Moston and Old Moat; 

·         The evidence base for the introduction of Selective Licensing;

·         The process and method of the public consultation; 

·         The survey response rate including ward and respondent breakdown;

·         An analysis of survey responses;

·         Formal representations from landlord trade bodies; landlord representations; two petitions; and resident groups;

·         The number of internal and external inspections carried out on properties within the proposed Selective Licensing area, and the actions taken arising from these; and

·         Next steps, including undertaking an additional round of consultation in Cheetham.

 

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussions included:

 

·         Expressing concern that there may have been a campaign to pressure Cheetham residents to respond to the consultation in a particular way, and querying whether there was any evidence of this;

·         How many responses were received in other languages, and how the Council engaged with non-English speakers; and

·         Noting the number of category 1 hazards of excess cold in inspected properties, and placing on record hope that the government would impose higher standards for landlords which could be built into Selective Licensing. 

 

The Executive Member for Housing and Development stated that the extension of Selective Licensing was a key manifesto pledge for the administration and a motion had been passed at Full Council in February 2022 to deliver further landlord licensing schemes to tackle rogue landlords and improve housing conditions. He commented that there were a number of successful schemes in place across the city and consultation had been undertaken in 8 proposed new scheme areas, of which 5 were proposed to be implemented. He stated that the three schemes in Cheetham which had been paused were still intended to be implemented in the future, but more work needed to be undertaken to fully understand the results of the consultation in that area. 

 

The Housing Strategy Project Manager explained that there were several different ways of engaging with those residents for whom English was not their first language, including having bilingual staff at drop-in sessions and during the door-knocking stage of the consultation. He acknowledged that there were more ways that this could be achieved and a ‘lessons learnt’ exercise would be undertaken which would address some of the points raised by the committee. 

 

The Executive Member for Housing and Development conceded with a member’s concern around the number of category 1 hazards in inspected properties and stated that this was also reflected through the consultation responses. He commented that enforcement could currently only be taken against landlords where a property either did not have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) or was rated below E for energy efficiency and stated that he would like to see the government revise this to properties rated below C or higher to match changes to social housing regulations by 2030. 

 

The committee was also informed that an ongoing devolution trailblazer discussion between Greater Manchester and the government included devolving decision-making over Selective Licensing. 

 

The Executive Member for Housing and Development thanked officers for their work on the schemes and consultation. 

 

Decision:

 

That the Committee

 

1.    notes the report, and 

2.    endorses the proposal to implement a Selective Licensing scheme in the 5 areas detailed in Maps 1 to 4 (Appendix 1).

Supporting documents: