Federation Meeting 7.00pm
Tuesday 12th December 2006 at
Bull Green House, Halifax

AGENDA

1. Apologies
2. Minutes of previous meetings      (Sept' Management & Full Fed, Oct SGM)	7.00pm
3. Matters Arising	7.05pm
4. Correspondence	7.10pm
5. Treasurers Report	7.15pm
6. Pennine Housing Issues      Year 7-10 Improvement Programme & Synergy Update      Amanda Garrard, Executive Director	7.20pm
7. Update from Management Team Away Day	7.50pm
8. Feedback from Working Groups      Big Picture      Training      TARA Liaison	8.05pm
9. Newsletter	8.20pm
10. New Year Party -        Saturday 13th January '07	8.25pm
11. Venues for Future Meetings	8.30pm
12. Any Other Business	8.35pm
13. Date of Next Meeting -        Wednesday 28th February 2007	8.45pm

Minutes of the Full Federation Meeting held on

12^th December 2006 at Bull Green House

Attendance
Leslie Godfrey	Beechwood TARA
Sue Hodgson	Dodge Holme TARA	Grace Paradise	Fall Spring Gardens TARA
Alan Randall	Dodge Holme TARA	Eric Sutcliffe	Haley Court TA
Iris O'Donnell	Haley Court TA	Bert Swaine	Haley Court TA
Mary Battye	Headlands House TA	Rita McWhirter	Heptonstall TARA
Margaret Coupe	Heptonstall TARA	Vera Benney	Heptonstall TARA
Bill Stafford	Kershaw TARA	Sheila Whiteley	McBurney Close TA
Irene Mulhall	Mozley Drive Flats	Anne Lees	Mozley Drive Flats
Chris Lates	Pollit Fields TA	Anne Durkin	Pollit Fields TA
Esther Richardson	Pollit Fields TA	George Cameron	Shaw Lodge RA
Richard Guillot	St James Court TA	June Wilson	St James Court TA
Heather Stacey	Thornhill TA	Mick Stacey	Thornhill TA
Ruth Rider	Twin Towers	Sue Molineux	Whinney Hill Park TARA
Val Morris	Pennine Housing
Apologies
Barbara Gunshon	St James Court TA	Doris Maden	McBurney Close TA
Brian Battye	Headlands House TA	Val Bennet	Pollit Fields TA
Val Barker	Middle Mixenden TARA	Betty Moore	Roomfield House
Maureen Scrimshaw	Twin Towers

At the start of the meeting a one minute's silence was held in memory of Ken Smith.

2. Minutes of previous meetings

Proposed as a true record by Rita McWhirter, seconded by Ruth Rider

3. Matters arising

Val Morris mentioned that the Special General Meeting had not appointed a Convenor for the TARA Liaison Working Group but, since the meeting, Eric Sutcliffe had volunteered to take on this role.

4. Correspondence

Only correspondence has been the booking form from Maurice Jagger Centre for New Year Party - Richard Guillot to complete

5. Treasurer's Report

Agreed

6. Pennine Housing Issues - Amanda Garrard, Executive Director, Pennine Housing

Amanda explained that her presentation would cover three important areas; Investment, Synergy and Growth

Amanda informed the meeting that within the Pennine Housing Business Plan was £6 - 7 million per year for improving homes and contributing towards the cost of any new build schemes - Pennine also gets a subsidy from the Housing Corporation towards the cost of providing new homes. Pennine has a stock condition database, which has been developed using information from the stock condition survey that was carried out by Savill's before the transfer. As the stock condition survey didn't check every single property, additional reality checking surveys are also carried out by staff to double check the accuracy of the data. Additionally, there are always some improvements which have to be done sooner than the stock condition information indicates e.g. Dodge Holme kitchens which were poor quality when they were originally installed and need to be replaced sooner than the stock condition information indicates. Using the information from the database a programme of improvement work has been put together for years 7 - 10, this programme will be published in Homing In in the New Year.

Rita McWhirter asked if Valley View was included as a new build development? Amanda replied that Pennine had renegotiated its borrowing facility earlier this year in order to ensure that there was sufficient funding to cover the cost of any new build schemes.

Amanda explained that Housing Associations wanting to build new properties need to be part of a larger group in order to get Housing Corporation funding. Lots of Housing Associations have formed partnerships/consortiums with other Registered Social Landlords to ensure they are able to get Housing Corporation funding - the consortium that Pennine is part of is called Synergy and our partners include Wakefield & District Housing and the Chevin Housing Group.

Synergy is not just about getting subsidy from the Housing Corporation for providing new homes, it is also about buying power; by being part of a larger group we can negotiate a better price from manufacturers for supplying kitchens, bathrooms, doors, etc.

Pennine has recently been reviewing the standards for the products they are fitting into homes - they don't want to reduce the standard but they do want to ensure they are getting value for money. An example of value for money would be Manse doors; Pennine are currently paying £700 per door but by taking out the stained door colour choice and change the specification slightly they can reduce the cost by nearly 50%. - and still get a higher specification door.

Amanda stated that a new quality standards team has been set up and asked for tenant volunteers from the Federation to be part of this group - Sheila Whiteley (McBurney Close) and Anne Lees (Mozley Drive) volunteered.

Why Grow?

This was the last part of Amanda's presentation and she explained why it was important for Pennine Housing to grow. At the point of transfer there were 12,759 properties but now, nearly 6 years later, there are less than 11,000 properties and Pennine needs to deal with this substantial drop in income.

Senior Management, anticipating the increase in 'Right to Buys', have planned for this drop in income by reducing staff numbers and also by selling housing services to other similar organisations. This strategy helps but there is a need to do something more substantial; by growing Pennine can share its overheads and spread costs amongst its partners, e.g. sharing costs with Green Vale Homes immediately saved Pennine £200,000

Questions were also asked about the following:

Housing Officer patch changes

Amanda explained that Pennine considered it to be good practice to move staff from time to time; someone new to an area will see that patch in a different way and a fresh approach can often lead to performance improvements. However, change needs to be properly planned rather than knee-jerk and tenants associations can expect to be notified of any housing officer changes.

Estate Walkabouts

Housing Officers should now be doing monthly estate inspections; tenants associations representatives are welcome to take part in these walkabouts.

Decoration Grant

Amanda explained that the decoration allowance should be paid at the discretion of the Housing Officer. They have to decide what needs doing to let that property, in areas where there is a high demand for property you might only award a small decorations allowance but in a low demand area you might expect to spend a lot more in order to make the property attractive to a potential new tenant.

The meeting thanked Amanda for attending.

7. Update from Management Away Day

Val Morris went through the notes from the Away Day which had been circulated with the agenda papers, she drew attention to the Code of Conduct for management members and the proposal for future funding.

Val also informed the meeting that there was a new website address: www.penninefederation,org.uk and that the website was now up to date with information about activities, minutes, etc.

8. Feedback from the Working Groups

Big Picture Working Group - Ruth Rider

Ruth explained that the Big Picture Working Group had identified two major issues which they wanted to focus their attention on. These were:

• The supply of affordable rented housing in Calderdale, including young people's homelessness

• The Government's 'Respect' Agenda, a new initiative to tackle the root causes of anti-social behaviour which will have a big impact on Pennine as a social landlord

There are other issues which the group want to look at in the future such as fuel poverty.

Members of the group recognise the importance of connecting with other organisations and will make every effort to attend both regional and national meetings both to learn more and to have an influence beyond Pennine. Two meetings have already been identified as being useful:

• The launch of the Council's Housing Strategy

• West Yorkshire Sounding Board

Ruth will provide feedback from these meetings to the next meeting.

TARA (Tenant Associations) Liaison Working Group - Eric Sutcliffe

The Working Group has already completed their first task, which was to produce an information leaflet outlining the role of the Federation to be used to promote the Federation - Eric circulated a copy of the leaflet and asked members to feedback any comments as soon as possible.

The group are now familiarising themselves with the information provided by Pennine to all new Tenant Associations and they also intend to contact any new group to ask if they can be invited to a meeting to explain the role of the Federation.

Training Working Group - Chris Lates

Chris informed the meeting that the Training Working Group has had its first meeting and has identified the priorities for their work over the coming months, these are:

• Finding out about the range of training opportunities which are currently being provided for organisations like the Federation. This work will include visiting Trafford Hall and TPAS to find out how they can contribute to the Federation's development

• Developing a criteria for who the Federation should be providing training to

• Surveying groups to find out what training Tenants & Residents Groups actually want

• Calculating the Federation's training budget for the forthcoming year

9. Newsletter

The newsletter was circulated to all TA's after the last meeting and had been well received by member associations. It was agreed to produce a newsletter after each meeting to keep TA committee members up to date with information about Federation activities.

10. New Year Party

New Year party will take place at 7.30pm Saturday 13^th January 2007 at Maurice Jagger Centre, Windings Road, Halifax (opposite bus station). Tickets cost £3.00 each inc. buffet, raffle, Sue's punch (!) and entertainment. Everybody's welcome, contact Richard Guillot, Sue Molineux or Mary Battye for information about tickets.

11. Venues for Future Meetings

Richard has identified that the Salvation Army premises on St James Rd, Halifax are available for hire on the last Wednesday of the month. A discussion took place about the suitability of the premises and the convenience of the location.

It was agreed to have the next meeting be held at Bull Green House but to try the Salvation Army meeting facilities for a future meeting - possibly when the nights are lighter.

12. Date of Next Meeting

It was agreed to meet at 7.00pm Wednesday 28^th February 2007 at Bull Green House, Halifax