COMHAIRLE NAN EILEAN SIAR

HOUSING STOCK TRANSFER SUB-COMMITTEE

Minute of Meeting held in the Council Offices, Stornoway, on Thursday 24 March 2005 at 1.30pm

PRESENT	Mr Angus Campbell (Chairman)
	Mr Norman L Macdonald
	Mr Norman A Macdonald
	Mr Donald Manford
APOLOGIES	Mr Alex A Macdonald

		MINUTES
Minute of Meeting of 3 March 2005		The Minute of Meeting of 3 March 2005 was approved. Arising out of consideration of the Minute, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services submitted a copy of correspondence between the Comhairle and HHP regarding the HHP Draft Business Plan, as a result of matters raised by Members at the last meeting of the Sub-Committee on 3 March 2005. It was noted that the correspondence would form the basis of a Report which would be submitted to the next meeting of the Sub-Committee regarding this matter.
		STOCK TRANSFER
Housing Functions Post Transfer	2	The Chief Executive submitted a Report concerning delegated authority for officers to develop proposals for the future integrated delivery of the Comhairle’s housing functions post transfer.  It was indicated in the Report that in the event of stock transfer taking place, the Comhairle would still be the strategic housing authority for the Western Isles and would continue to have responsibility for a range of private sector and social sector housing issues. It was agreed to recommend that: (1)        the Director for Sustainable Communities, in consultation with the Head of Housing Services, be requested to develop a proposal for the future integrated delivery of the Comhairle’s social and private sector housing functions; and (2)        the draft proposals would be submitted to a future meeting of the Housing Stock Transfer Sub-Committee and then to the Human Resources Sub-Committee.
New Housing Partnership Funding	3	It was agreed to defer consideration of this matter to the next meeting of the Sub-Committee.
Business Plan Appraisal by DTZ Pieda Consulting	4	Mr Robert McDowall, Director, DTZ Pieda Consulting, gave a presentation regarding progress to date in relation to the business plan.  The following issues were covered by Mr McDowall as part of his presentation:                 current timetable;                 legal process update;                 the key components of the transfer agreement;                 the key issues of the independent valuation;                 details of the Scottish Executive offer;                 key principles of business planning; financial and non-financial aspects of the HHP Business Plan;                 the financial position in relation to Communities Scotland; and                 the next steps for the Comhairle. An opportunity was afforded to Members to ask Mr McDowall any questions both during and following his presentation. The Chairman, on behalf of the Sub-Committee, thanked Mr McDowall for his presentation. It was agreed to note the presentation. Arising out of consideration of this matter, it was agreed that: (1)        the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, in consultation with Mr Donald Manford, would seek to resolve the outstanding legal issues regarding the council house scheme at Vatersay; and (2)        in relation to the financial aspects of the business plan, the Head of Housing Services would look at ways of ensuring that the schedule of rates for the Commercial Operations Unit was ‘on the system’ as soon as possible.
Date of Next Meeting		It was agreed that the next meeting of the Sub-Committee be held on Monday 11 April 2005 at 2.00pm. It was further agreed that the Corporate Team would be invited to attend the meeting of the Sub-Committee.