Powys County Council is rising to the challenge of delivering quality homes for Welsh residents.

In July 2001 the Welsh Assembly approved the National Housing Strategy for Wales ‘Better Homes for People in Wales’. This is the Welsh Assembly’s long-term vision for housing in Wales with the expectation that all households will have good quality homes.

In 2002 the Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) was introduced to ensure that the physical standard and condition of existing housing was improved. The standard set out the terms that all properties must meet and maintain, in order to achieve the National Housing Strategy’s initiative.

Powys County Council is one of only four local authorities in Wales that is currently able to meet and sustain the Welsh Housing Quality Standard, which states that properties should be in a good state of repair; be safe and secure; feature modern kitchens and bathrooms; be adequately heated, fuel efficient and well insulated; be well managed; located in an attractive and safe environment; and as far as possible suit the specific requirements of the household i.e. for specific disabilities.

This is a major challenge for the social housing sector and there are several issues and constraints to combat such as resources and the capacity to carry out the works; technical and contract resources; planning conservation procedures; local authority planning restrictions; the changing of agreed procedures, priorities and programmes by the housing client.

They also include housing requirements or instructions that have not been received by agreed deadlines; consistent and adequate funding from the Welsh Assembly; availability of internal local authority funding; changes to statutory requirements i.e. building regulations and other environmental standards; changing government policy; unforeseen major repairs, resulting from fire or water damage; and changing housing needs and community sustainability.

It has since been recognised that ‘stock transfer’ in Wales is the only way that most local authorities will be able to meet the WHQ standard - tenants can vote to transfer to another landlord, such as a new housing association, who would be able to invest more in the housing stock.

Compared to other local authorities Powys County Council is in a slightly different position in that, so far, they can meet the WHQ standard and remain as a landlord. However, this assessment is based on calculations of future income and investment and the council cannot give long term guarantees to its tenants that the current budget for major improvements can be maintained.

For 2008/09, the capital improvement grant from the Welsh Assembly was not increased as in previous years and due to council properties’ sales falling, capital receipt funding was not used in this year’s budget. This means that the option of stock transfer
has not been completely discounted by the council.

Ian Fraser, Housing Services Manager at Powys County Council, said: “We keep a watchful eye on our options, and review the assumptions behind our original business plan every twelve months. As we are reliant on funding from the Welsh Assembly with the Major Repairs Allowance, We know that our position is very sensitive to change, and are mindful of the need to keep tenants elected members informed and involved.”

The council uses one of Wales’ leading stock option consultants to test their ‘assumptions’ and is currently hopeful of being able to provide sufficient investment in the housing sector.

Powys has recently started new contracting arrangements through Framework Agreements. While normal tendering processes take place every year and account for around 25 per cent of a contracts officer’s time, the frameworks will operate over a longer period using preferred contractors. This is a much more flexible arrangement which should hopefully result in efficiency savings for the council.

One of the advantages that Powys County Council has over many other local authorities in looking to meet WHQS is that it is perhaps starting from a more fortunate position.

Fraser said: “It is a tribute both to the council and its predecessors that they continued to invest heavily in the housing stock throughout the lean years of the 80s and 90s. This has made it easier to work towards achieving the standard, as the WHQS is in many respects a continuation of what we have already been doing, albeit with a raised bar. What’s more, most of our properties are of a traditional construction and are also low rise, so we don’t have some of the headaches of other local authorities.”

The terms set out by the Welsh Assembly state that all local authorities should be meeting the Standard by 2012, but it is the longterm obligation that is most important. This obligation is to meet and maintain the WHQ standard over the next 30 years.

Fraser said: “It is not clear whether anyone will completely meet the Standard by 2012. However we are clearly committed towards achieving as much as we can by then and into the longer term. We can’t tell what the future holds and we’re not in a position to say with any certainty that ëyes we can do everything that is required of us by then’, but we are working towards it.”