Agenda item

The Strategic Director of My Place and the Cabinet Member for Community Leadership & Engagement presented the Compliance Progress & Update Report.

Good progress had been made in all six areas of Statutory Compliance since last year. The Council was still engaging with the regulators with the expectation of having a regulatory notice removed within the coming months. There were two outstanding areas outstanding which were the completion of a five-year portfolio wide electrical inspection program, and the completion of remedial actions following Fire Risk Assessment (FRA). 

The five-year portfolio electrical inspection program was ongoing. High-rise, high-risk properties and communal HRA properties across the borough had been successfully tested. The low-rise, low-risk domestic testing program were still outstanding with the expectation that it would be completed ahead of schedule by in December 2024.

The Council employed Savills to inspect property blocks throughout the Borough. Savills would provide a list of remedial actions that would need to be completed for the property blocks to be deemed safe in terms of FRA. Some actions were costly such as the replacement of fire doors and bin stores. The Council had mitigated wherever it could, with an agreement with Savills, create a planned program once all inspections across the borough were completed. It was estimated that the fitting of fire doors would be completed within the next three years.

There were two intensive action plans signed off including training and awareness guidance that were given to members. A new enhanced compliance structure within the Council would provide a focus on resident’s safety activities as well as a robust response to residence. The new service structure was aimed to provide physical and psychological reassurance to residents around safety.

In response to a question asked by the Committee regarding the certificates for Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER), the Strategic Director of MyPlace confirmed that all certificates were now in place. The Water Hygiene assessments were also completed and were compliant.

Concerns were raised by the Committee regarding the hygiene of water in some property blocks as well as potential gaps in repairs. The Strategic Director reassured the Committee that certificates would not be issued if water hygiene was not physically tested. Non-operational lifts would not be tested for safety and therefore would not receive a certificate. Any repairs of broken doors and windows would most likely be included on the list of remedial actions created by Savills and would be incorporated in the planned program. There were some re-occurring access issues across property blocks that had prevented inspections from taking place.

A question was asked around the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in verifying certificates. The Strategic Director of My Place explained that the Council was using a true compliance system. The system had been tested and found to be around 95% accurate.

In response to a question regarding the Underground Refuse System (URS), the Director of MyPlace informed the committee that the Council managed the URS bins, however the London Borough of Tower of Hamlets were responsible for the waste collection.