Agenda Reports Pack (Public) 15/10/2012, 19.00 - Meetings ...

occur but positive and negative impacts will be evidenced througheffective monitoring and evaluation. Section 7 of the Equalities ImpactAssessment sets out an Action Plan designed to monitor and evaluateequality impacts as and when they arise and take mitigating actionwhere both possible and necessary. This section of the EqIA describesfurther scoping and evaluation work to be undertaken on equalitiesimpacts with a specific focus on the needs of the disabled, vulnerableand the elderly and is to be completed by March 2013 in line withSections 5.6 – 5.8 of this Cabinet Report.9. COMMENTS OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE ANDCORPORATE GOVERNANCE9.1 The project costs have been estimated to be £100k and consist ofmainly IT costs. There are sufficient funds within the reservementioned in paragraph 6.4 to fund this expenditure which will bemonitored as part of usual budget monitoring activities.10. COMMENTS OF THE DIRECTOR OF LAW10.1 As set out in the report officers have carried out a statutory consultationprocess on the housing strategy documents. In making their decisionMembers must conscientiously take into account the issues raised bythe consultees. Failure to do so could give rise to a challenge by way ofJudicial Review. In addition Members will have to weigh the potentialadverse impacts on the protected groups as identified in the EqIA,together with proposed mitigation measures; and will have to considerthese and any countervailing factors before reaching their finaldecision.10.2 Housing Allocation SchemeThe Localism Act 2011 has introduced changes to the way the Councilcan allocate social housing. In particular the Council has power todetermine which applicants do or do not qualify for an allocation ofsocial housing in the borough.10.3 The Council must give “reasonable preference” to the categories ofpeople set out in the Housing Act 1996 (the Act) and this includes thehomeless and those who need to move on medical or welfare grounds.The term “reasonable preference” is not defined in the Act but case lawdefines this as a ‘reasonable head start’ it is accepted that this does notguarantee a person an allocation. Additional preference must be givento particular descriptions of people with urgent housing need within thereasonable preference categories. The proposed scheme has takenthis into account by providing high priority in band 1.10.4 It is proposed that only persons with reasonable preference will qualifyfor social housing but the scheme is framed to also take into factorsPage 358