Issue - meetings

Question 1 – submitted on behalf of West Coleridge Neighbours Group.

With regard to the Final Survey Report published on 8^th August 2024 which sought the views of residents at Davy Road about Cambridge City Council’s proposal to redevelop their homes, it seems that the Council were satisfied when they received 15 responses from the 42 households. According to the Council’s Assistant Director of Development at the most recent Housing Scrutiny meeting, held in September, 36% (just over a third of residents) is “a reasonable response rate”. This is significantly less than half of the Davy Road residents. In our view this falls well short of being a reasonable response rate. We feel that to accurately represent the views of residents, given that these findings are used to inform the Council’s decision as to whether to develop a site or not, the majority of views should be gathered at the very least.

This was a postal survey posted through the letterboxes at Davy Road and given out at in-person consultations,Due to work commitments some residents could not attend these consultations. We feel a face-to-face survey would have been more worthwhile and would have ensured a better response rate. 

The council survey chose to focus more on the problems with living at Davy Road. For example, it found that 12 responses indicated experience of anti-social behaviour (ASB) issues. At the Housing Scrutiny meeting in question, when councillors were called upon to vote on the proposed redevelopment, the Executive Councillor took this finding to mean that 100% of respondents think Davy Road has an ASB problem. This is a profoundly misleading inference. Looking at the council survey, only 12 households at Davy Road (out of a possible 42) responded to this question and indicated that there was an ASB issue at Davy Road. By contrast, our survey, conducted face-to-face with 25 households from October 2024 to January 2025, found that only 7 out of these 25 households reported anti-social behaviour at Davy Road. We would conclude from this that just over a quarter of residents think that there is an anti-social behaviour problem at Davy Road.

Could the Executive Councillor for Housing please describe how:

1. the Council could conduct better surveys so as to ensure that each and every household is encouraged and supported to give their views about the possible demolition of their homes?

2. the Council could report more accurately on what residents have said by indicating how many were surveyed, so that the Housing Scrutiny Committee can be reliably informed before voting to approve a development?

Executive Councillor response:

i.    In February 2024, Council Officers knocked on every door to discuss implications of the estate being added to the Council’s development programme. Individual meetings were arranged to discuss this further.

ii.  In June 2024 invitations to consultation events were sent. This was followed up by further door knocking and reminders were left at doors where no one was home.

iii. On 11 and 13 July 2024, two consultation events were held at Coleridge School. Information was also made available on the consultation website.

iv.The survey was sent to all addresses and included a broad range of questions to ensure that residents could feedback on issues that were important to them. 

v.  All surveys were reviewed prior to them being issued to ensure that they were both accessible and inclusive for residents.  Paper copies of the survey and consultation documents were made available at the in-person consultation events and council officers were on-hand to answer any questions. 

vi.To offer flexibility, the consultation events were held on a weekday afternoon / evening and on a weekend. Follow up calls were made to residents to encourage responses. 

vii.   To ensure the Committee were able to make an informed decision, the final survey report was included with the Housing Scrutiny Committee papers as Appendix 2 (dated 8th August 2024).

viii. The Council was grateful for the further feedback which had been collected from residents.

ix.    After the decision to proceed with development in September 2024, all households were sent a letter to confirm the decision and to provide guidance on the next steps. A surgery session was held at Coleridge School for residents to come and speak directly to officers on 3 October 2024.

x.      Dedicated Council support had been available, and individual meetings had been held with residents since the decision.

xi.    To date, 5 households had moved to properties they chose and a further 5 households were in the process of moving.  21 households had registered on the Homelink system and were now able to place bids on properties. 

xii.   The Council had not received any formal or informal complaints regarding the regeneration process but welcomed feedback to help with continuous improvement.

Supplementary question:

i.               The question was asking how the council could improve on their surveying rather than asking about what had been done.

ii.             Referred to their own residents’ survey, which had responses from 23 households, which stated that they were happy living at Davy Road. This was because: it was quiet, close to work and school, flats were spacious, well-built and close to green open spaces.

iii.            Now that their homes had been selected for redevelopment residents had to look to the future. A few households had already moved, one resident felt pressured to move next to neighbours they had previously moved away from. Others had moved within the city boundary but were now paying twice as much rent. Others had been actively bidding with no success particularly those looking for 3 bed flats / houses.

iv.           One leaseholder had looked at 47 alternative properties, they had put two offers in, but both had fallen through. They wanted to move so they did not have to pay for repair work to their property. 

v.             Asked how the Council would support Davy Road residents (tenants and leaseholders) to find somewhere affordable to live in the city.

The Assistant Director (Delivery) responded:

        i.    Regeneration isn’t easy when people needed to move out from their homes. The Development Team had helped move approximately 300 people (leaseholders / freeholders and tenants) into a home of their choice. Referred to the redevelopment scheme at Fanshawe Road as a successful example of this.

      ii.    Noted that the decision to proceed with the redevelopment of Davy Road was a relatively recent decision. The process of moving took time and took into consideration the particular requirements of the tenant / leaseholder such as schools and healthcare.

    iii.    Officers would meet with people face to face, by telephone or online to discuss any queries that they had.

The Executive Councillor commented that there may be additional benefits which people could claim if their rent increased when they moved.  Encouraged anyone who was worried by the redevelopment scheme to get in contact with her. 

Question 2 – Submitted on behalf of the Save Ekin Road Community Group

We are the Save Ekin Road community group, and we are writing to you regarding Cambridge City Council's plans for Ekin Road. We are a group of council tenants and freehold residents living on Ekin Road. We seek an update from you regarding the Ekin Road project, and the status of the estate.

Question 1:

How many current, unresolved cases of damp and mould are there in occupied Council-owned dwellings on the Ekin estate, including Ekin Road, Ekin Walk, and Ekin Close. If there are any such cases, how long does the Council envisage it might take to either resolve these, or rehouse the residents?

Question 2:

How many Council-owned dwellings on the Ekin estate are currently unoccupied, and how is the Council planning to secure these dwellings and manage the estate as it becomes progressively more vacant over time?

Question 3:

We note that in Agenda Item 10 of this meeting, on page 50, it states that there are 19 dwellings due for retrofitting on Ekin Road. Given there are only 7 Council-owned dwellings on Ekin Road being retained in the project, this presumably implies that the Council will be retrofitting dwellings due for demolition. Which dwelling types are these (flat, bungalow, house), what sort of retrofitting will be occurring between now and the demolition of those dwellings, and when will it occur?

Question 4:

When will residents be shown the final design plans for the Ekin Road redevelopment, and will those final plans be brought back to the Housing Scrutiny Committee for approval before being submitted for planning permission?

Question 5:

Can the Council confirm whether the 6 houses in the north-east corner of the estate (odd numbers 13-23 inclusive) will definitely be part of the redevelopment ? If so, we wish to express our continued opposition to the demolition of those 6 houses, due to extreme upheaval it will cause to the longstanding Council tenants living there.

Executive Councillor response:

i.    There were currently three reported cases of damp condensation and mould (DCM) on the Ekin Road estate.  Direct contact would be made with the tenants and a visit carried out to assess the extent of the DCM and advice would be provided regarding the most appropriate treatment. In line with the Council’s Regeneration Policy, all households with reported DCM were given additional priority when placing bids on Homelink. 

ii.  There were currently 47 unoccupied properties on the Ekin estate. As discussed at the Liaison Group meeting in December 2024, the Council would be placing hoardings on these properties to protect against any vandalism and unauthorised access. 

iii. The numbers provided within brackets next to each location referred to the number of DCM reports and not the number of dwellings.

iv.The planning application was anticipated to be submitted in May 2025, at which point local residents would be notified by the Greater Cambridge Planning Service. All details of the application including the final design and plans would be available to view on the planning portal. It was not intended for the details of this redevelopment scheme to be presented to Housing Scrutiny Committee again.

v.  A consultation update letter was sent to all residents on 18 September 2024. This confirmed that, as design work evolved, the inclusion of the eastern properties was considered to be essential to the design of the scheme from a delivery, design and financial viewpoint. This meant that the planning application for the redevelopment of 108 homes at Ekin Road would include the six houses to the north-east.