Minutes:
General Question 1 from Councillor Douglas:
"Please tell me if any housing development, now or in the future, will incorporate any dwellings for disabled people, and tenants with wheelchairs?
Please let me know how many dwellings, if you can, and/or the proportion of housing to meet these needs in any housing development?"
Response from Councillor P Waker, Cabinet Member for Housing:
"Our Housing and Planning policies are very clear on this. All new homes in the borough are required to be built to lifetime standards. That means that the home has sufficient space standards, doorway widths and good accessibility so that if over time the mobility needs of the family change the home will remain suitable. In addition to this we require that 10% of all new homes are built to a standard to meet the mobility needs of people with physical disabilities.
It’s also worth me saying that in addition to the 146 new Council homes we have completed we are on site with the 477 homes through our LEP (Barking and Dagenham Reside) and we have firm plans for another 400 Council new houses and flats with proposals to come forward for around another 1,000 over 10 years. All of these Council managed and let homes will be built to space standards that will at least meet lifetime homes or exceed that with 10% or more designed for people with disabilities.
We have recently learned that we are building more homes for affordable rent than in any other part of London. In fact, many Housing Associations are not building affordable homes. We are also providing a number of homes at slightly higher rents for working people.
The Cabinet is looking at ways to help disabled people in the borough, especially following the closure of the Remploy factory in this borough. We are doing our best to provide a real future for the disabled residents of this borough."
General Question 2 from Councillor Carpenter:
"Councillors receive daily updates on crime in Barking and Dagenham and it is worrying to see the high levels of domestic violence incidents compared to other types of crime.
For example, a recent daily bulletin (dated 4 October 2012) showed 18 incidents of domestic violence of which 11 were crimes. On the same report, there were 2 burglaries, 2 thefts from motor vehicles, and 2 thefts of motor vehicles. I know that we are not comparing like with like here, but this is a regular pattern in the daily crime incident reports that councillors receive.
Is there any evidence that the high levels of domestic violence in our Borough are decreasing, and if so, by how much?
Although it is encouraging that victims are seeking help, has the Council in place strategies to decrease the incidence of domestic violence? What are the most effective measures in place to do this and is there any evidence of this success?
Have the views of domestic violence victims been sought about the services they find most helpful and, if so, what are the three services most valued by them?"
Response from Councillor Alexander, Cabinet Member for Crime, Justice and Communities:
"Thank you Chair – this raises more questions than I can give answers to. I will arrange a meeting with the Domestic Violence Team and Councillor Carpenter."
At the invitation of the Chair to speak, Councillor Carpenter said that she was disappointed that some of the questions could not be adequately answered.
Councillor Channer requested that the briefing by the Domestic Violence Team be opened up to all Members.