Agenda item

Anthony Oloyede – Building Control Manager, introduced a report detailing Building Control within Hillingdon. Anthony was supported by James Rodger – Head of Planning and Enforcement.

Members were shown a slide presentation, which set out the Building Control regulations and process within Hillingdon. It was confirmed that Hillingdon was a part of several groups, including the London District Surveyor’s Association (LDSA), who regularly met to discuss issues.

Hillingdon provided a quality service to residents, which included site visits, review of site plans, provision of approved documentation, and advice, for which it had won several awards.

Building regulations were currently being reviewed post-Grenfell, and Dame Judith Hackett had been commissioned to undertake a review of these regulations, which was ongoing now.

Members asked a number of questions, including:

What was the criteria for site visits? Was it only large developments?

Hillingdon’s market share was 60%, with the remaining 40% being dealt with by private inspectors. Of that 60%, most enquiries related to housing extensions. Larger scale developments were more likely to be covered within the private sector.

Was there any link between the Building Control teams and the Planning teams for enforcement action, in an instance when construction deviated from approved plans?

Building Control had limited powers to take enforcement action, in most cases only when there was a dangerous structures issue. Building Control did not do compliance checks of plans approved by Planning to check there were no planning breaches. Nonetheless, serious breaches of planning control did get notified to the Planning Enforcement team.

What was the Council doing to help keep the public safe from poor quality private inspectors?

Some residents were choosing to use private inspectors to avoid alerting the Council to any breaches. However, when things went wrong, the Council often had to intervene. As confirmed, a review of current building regulations was underway, and the Council was marketing itself as an alternative to the private inspectors in an effort to increase use of the service. It was worth highlighting that all new school building projects were being conducted through Hillingdon Building Control.

What were the advantages to using Hillingdon’s service over private inspectors?

The advantages were many. For example, private inspectors did not carry out site visits, so there was no oversight of the project. Hillingdon provided a text service, which had proved very popular with residents. In addition, Hillingdon checked plans and issued comments and advice where required.

Were there any plans to increase market share?

Hillingdon was always looking to increase market share. However, this was challenging as fees were often undercut by private inspectors. Residents were being sign-posted to use Hillingdon’s service via the Communications team and the Hillingdon website, while all decision notices included a ‘pitch’ for further services. The use of social media could be increased moving forward.

Were all LBH commissioned building work undertaken by Hillingdon’s Building Control?

As far as was known. Further information on this could be requested outside of the meeting.

How did Hillingdon Building Control compare to neighbouring boroughs?

Hillingdon compared favourably to neighbouring boroughs, with a similar market share to other West London authorities. Market share was greater than within inner London, where many projects were dealt with by private inspectors.

 RESOLVED: 

1.    That the report be noted;

2.    That the presentation be forwarded to all Members;

3.    That further information on building projects commissioned by Hillingdon be forwarded to the Committee via the clerk.