Agenda item

The Local Councils would like to invite the Chairman of the Qualis Group to attend the meeting and provide an update on the Qualis organisation, how it supports the functions of EFDC, his role and responsibilities, and how he will improve openness and transparency for the council tax paying residents in the district.

Chairman of Qualis, Brian Johnson, introduced the Qualis team;

Ben Johnson Manager of operations at Qualis Property Solutions, Simon Rutter Manager of Development of Qualis, Kath Worth Manager of Corporate Services and Jen Fry from Communications at Qualis Group.

Brian Johnson then made a brief introduction about the Qualis group objectives –

1)    Generating income &

2)    provide and grow services for Epping Forest District Council.

3)    Support Epping Forest District Councils regeneration.

Brian Johnson went on to explain the governance of Qualis Group.

Brian Johnson handed over to Ben Johnson, Operations Manager, who gave the Committee a presentation regarding the Year End Performance and Business Update (attached).

The presentation on Qualis Property Solutions, covered four main points of            interest;

1)    Achievements

2)    Challenges

3)    End of Year Performance 2022/23 and

4)    Business Plan & Next 12 Months.

Ben Johnson handed over to Simon Rutter who gave the Committee a short presentation on Qualis Commercial current building projects (attached).

Simon Rutter handed over to Kath Worth, Manager of Corporate Services, and Jen Fry, Communication, who spoke about Communications and the Qualis website being improved.

Following the presentations, the Committee asked the following questions:

·         Has Qualis got any plans of applying for ISO9001 Quality Assurance? Ben Johnson said yes as Qualis develop this is something they will be consider.

·         The budget quilter is out of sync with Parish Councils, could this be addressed?

·         The grant system mentioned in presentation – the forms ask for some information not available to Parish Councils, so how can Parish Councils specify target audiences? What is the total amount of money available?

Ben Johnson replied - beneficiaries needs to be specified as this money is from HRA and therefore needs to benefit those tenants. Fund itself is             £35 000, and each application can apply for up to £5000.

·         Is the cinema and retail units planned for the Cottis Lane site still coming?

Simon Rutter replied – the cinema market is low at the moment, and the proposals are being marketed but are financially challenging. Be in position by summer to discuss next phase.

·         Job opportunities – why is local employment not higher than 40%? How many apprentices? How many staff totally? Operatives outside versus internal staff?

How many of the developments are truly affordable housing?

Ben Johnson replied - 45 % of employees are from the district. There are 150 employees across the whole Qualis group: 120 in maintenance and 75 to 80 internal operatives.  Local employees are preferred; however some staff were tupe’ed from EFDC.  There are currently 5 apprentices, but Qualis is hoping to grow that to 7 within 12 months. Affordable homes – out of the 342 homes with planning consent/or planning consent applied for, 52 are affordable.

·         Can the funding information be sent to Parish Councillors.

Ben Johnson said yes that can be done. Jen Fry explained it has gone out as a press release to EFDC and is also available on Qualis’ website.

·         Can the Community fund be used for grounds maintenance, as a maintenance contract for Qualis? Ben Johnson replied – there must be a link to benefit HRA tenants. Decision making panel decides the applications.

·         Some previous Council Tenants who still have council neighbours have problems with their fencing being broken from the Council Tenants side – can they claim for repairs anywhere? Ben Johnson replied that that sounds like a Housing Management issue, and queries should be looked at individually by Housing Management. Qualis does not get involved with Housing Management.

·         When will work start on the Roundhills estate? With Qualis now being on Facebook, can this be used to pre-empt issues? Simon Rutter replied to the Roundhills question, saying that tenders have been returned for Roundhills and within 2 to 3 months announcements will be made. Brian Johnson replied to the communications question, saying Qualis have had supply chain issues and being up front and open about that would be good.

·         The Community benefit fund, is has to benefit Council Tenants, but some applications might benefit whole community. Please clarify the scope. Ben Johnson replied, if there are HRA tenants within that community, then that is within scope – it does not need to be 100% HRA tenants.

·         When homes are built, people are concerned about infrastructure that needs to be around them. What Section 106 money are coming your way, and what work is done with that money to make sure infrastructure is in place? Chairman replied that will be answered in Agenda item 5. Simon Rutter said – Qualis’ Section 106 contributions for the three sites in Epping amounts to £2.4 mill, will be across a broad range of facilities such as education, library, healthcare, open space and play areas. Part of the remit is to ensure that facilities provided by County is provided sooner.

·         Will Qualis contribute to Section 106? Simon Rutter confirmed Qualis contribute to Section 106.