The
Tenants’, Leaseholders’ and Residents’
Consultative Forum has the following duties and
responsibilities:
1.
To be the overarching Residents Consultation
mechanism for the Council on all policy, strategy and financial
decisions affecting the management and ownership of the
Council’s housing stock and it’s estates.
2.
To discuss items of major significance to all, or a
number of, tenant and resident associations and forums concerning
the management and ownership of the Council’s housing
stock.
3.
To provide a forum to critically challenge the
performance of the Housing Department in all aspects of service
delivery and to make recommendations to Cabinet or the relevant
Portfolio Holder regarding improvements.
4.
To receive reports and updates from other Resident
Involvement activities, particularly in relation to the setting and
monitoring of service standards, resident scrutiny and inspection
activities, but for all other areas of work as required. Any
tenant, leaseholder or resident of a Council managed housing estate
may request an item relevant to the work of the TLCF to be placed
on the agenda, but the final agenda will be at the discretion of
the Chair of the Forum. Reports may be
presented by either officers or residents, or in partnership as
appropriate. Requested items must be
received in writing to Democratic Services.
5.
To request reports on specific areas of work in
particular where they are perceived as not meeting agreed service
standards/timescales etc. Requests for future reports or
information on specific areas may be made at TLCF meetings by any
residents in attendance. Requested items will only be considered
with the agreement of the Chair.
Meetings and Membership
6.
The Forum shall meet at least six times in the
Municipal Year, more often if the workload requires it. One meeting
each year shall include discussion of the revenue budget
proposals.
7.
Recognised
Tenants and Residents Associations, HFTRA and the
Leaseholder Support Group shall be entitled to send two
representatives each to the meetings. With the exception of the
Leaseholder Support Group, where two representatives attend every
effort should be made to send at least one Council
tenant. In the event that a vote is
taken in order to gauge residents’ opinions on a particular
issue, recognised groups shall be
entitled to one vote each.
8.
Residents who are recognised by HFTRA as representing an estate where
there is currently no Tenant and Resident Association are eligible
to attend TLCF and have one vote each. Only one individual can
represent each estate in this way. The
Chair of the Forum has the final decision on which resident is
entitled to vote.
9.
Voting rights may be restricted in certain areas of
the work. For example where an item only directly affects tenants
voting may be restricted to tenants that are present only, and a similar restriction where the item only
directly affects leaseholders. The
final decision on entitlement to vote lies with the Chair of the
Forum.
Consultation and recommendations
10.
All resident members of TLCF have a responsibility
to feed back to the group they represent the discussions that take
place and decisions made at TLCF in a timely way. Resident
Participation Officers can support representatives in providing
feedback and may from time to time ask to see meeting minutes and
undertake surveys of TRA members to review the effectiveness of the
feedback process.
11.
The Chair of the Forum shall be appointed annually
by the Cabinet.
12.
Wherever possible all reports to Cabinet, on any
proposed new policies or changes to policies that directly impact
on tenants and leaseholders will first be considered by TLCF so
that resident views can be incorporated into the Cabinet report.
However where an issue is either too urgent to wait for a TLCF
meeting, or is confidential the reasons why residents’ views
have not been incorporated must be clearly stated in the Cabinet
report.
13.
TLCF was established as a forum to consult with
residents and this is its primary purpose. Elected members and
officers must bear in mind that residents should always have
priority in contributing to discussion and debates.
Note:
1.
Except where the views of the Consultative Forum
have been requested by the Executive / another Committee, no
recommendation or reference to the Executive or another Committee
can be made unless it is agreed by a majority of the elected
Councillors.
2.
A proposal to establish any subsidiary body of the
Forum shall be subject to the prior referral to and approval by
Cabinet.
The
Forum changed its name from Tenants’ and Leaseholders’
Consultative Forum following agreement at Council on
3 November 2012.
Information on how to submit a
petition,
deputation or
public question is available on the council website.
