Story:Ahmir Hussain
A meeting was held at Pakistan Advice and Community Association on the 15th May to voice concerns about proposals for ‘Selective Licensing’, a landlord licensing scheme in Fir Vale.
It was attended by over 60 members of the local community, many of them landlords, and by local Councillors Ibrar Hussain, Talib Hussain, Jackie Drayton and Cabinet Member for Homes and Regeneration, Harry Harpham.
The purpose of the meeting was to provide the Councillors with feedback on what the local community felt about the new proposals to introduce Selective Licensing in the area. It was clearly evident the majority, if not all, in attendance opposed this scheme, saying the community felt they were being stigmatised and penalised by the Council for its own failings.
Councillor Harry Harpham discussed the reasoning behind the Council’s decision to impose Selective Licensing and stated that it was due to anti-social behaviour, littering and overcrowding of properties believed to be caused by landlords. Many members of the community argued that, even though Fir Vale has a problem with anti-social behaviour, numbers of reported incidents are relatively low when compared to neighbouring areas and the issue with litter was a result of the change to fortnightly bin collections.
In relation to the overcrowding issue, one landlord spoke about the lack of support he received from the Council when he wished to evict some tenants from his property. He had let his home to one family and later discovered that they had allowed other families to move in and share the property. The landlord spoke about how the Council supported the tenant and how he felt that the Council should be doing more to support private landlords.
A new action group consisting of landlords, residents and tenants has been set up to campaign against Selective Licensing and promote better strategies to resolve issues in the area without punishing the majority for the bad actions of a few individuals. To find out more about the action group, contact Ahsan Ashraf at ahsan.ashraf2012@gmail.com
The Council informed the Messenger that they expected consultation to begin in the summer months, Councillor Harpham told us:
“Over the coming weeks the Council will be undertaking a full consultation process with all the community around Fir Vale regarding Selective Licensing and the possibility of its use, along with other measures we have at our disposal, as a means of tackling anti-social behaviour. Once that consultation process is completed, Council officers will draw up a report outlining the options available to us.”
Consultation must run for a minimum of 10 weeks.