Issue - meetings

To approve the allocation of sites for the Council New Build programme for the provision of new Council affordable rent housing accommodation in order to meet the external funding requirements for Homes England grant and Right to Buy 1-4-1 replacement generated from the sale of HRA dwellings under Right to Buy.

Resolved:-

(1) That Cabinet approve the allocation of sites contained within Appendix 1 for the Council New Build programme for the provision of new Council affordable rent housing accommodation in order to meet the external funding requirements for Homes England grant and Right to Buy 1-4-1 replacement generated from the sale of HRA dwellings under Right to Buy.

(2) That Cabinet approve the proposed or amended funding sources and delivery sequence of the remaining development opportunities within the council’s new build programme for the schemes funded utilising Homes England grant and Right to Buy 1-4-1 replacement. Future reports will be presented to Cabinet for those individual schemes where the detailed costs are yet to be established.

(3) That the Director Regeneration and Growth in consultation with the Director of Housing and Director of Finance be authorised to amend funding sources available from the balance of 1-4-1 replacement receipts or Homes England to ensure the most appropriate use of funding for the schemes to ensure expenditure of Homes England funded within the contracted timescales and ensure the use the time limited receipts generated from the sale of properties.

(4) That the Director Regeneration and Growth in consultation with the Director of Housing and Director of Finance be authorised to substitute alternative sites to achieve the required housing/funding outcomes should the schemes contained within Appendix 1 prove not to be viable in terms of value for money or deliverable within the prescribed funding timescales.

(5) That the Director Regeneration and Growth in consultation with the Director of Housing and Director of Finance be authorised to continue to develop a future Council house build pipeline and ascertain feasibility of available sites to ensure availability of sites for future Right to Buy 1-4-1 receipts and other funding opportunities.

                  Approval was sought to approve the allocation of sites for the Council New Build programme for the provision of new Council affordable rent housing accommodation in order to meet the external funding requirements for Homes England grant and Right to Buy 1-4-1 replacement generated from the sale of HRA dwellings under Right to Buy.

                  The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Growth highlighted that the report was one of five reports on the agenda on social housing and commended officers for moving forward with this issue.

                  Reasons for Recommendations

The proposals would realign the Council’s short term new build programme in order to meet the council’s contractual requirements with Homes England and also contribute to ensuring Right to Buy 1-4-1 receipts are utilised within the required time periods. The Council would continue to complete feasibility works on any future new build opportunities as part of a pipeline programme to ensure availability of sites for future Right to Buy 1-4-1 receipts and other funding opportunities. If any sites encountered issues that would prevent delivery within the designated timescale other sites will be substituted, if available. This would be monitored to ensure the most appropriate use of funding for each scheme.

Alternative options considered

                  Option A – Dispose of the sites on the open market or to Registered Provider

                  Option B – Develop the sites utilising other funding sources

                  Both Option A and Option B had the potential of having a long term detrimental effect on the Council being able to access Homes England Grant funding as a Developer Partner should the contracted timescales of the Strategic Partnerships 1 programme not be met. For this reason, both of these options have been discounted.