Agenda item

Report E/18/35 presents detailed business cases for the small sites element of Phase 2 of the Housing Development Programme.

Appendix C to the report is exempt from publication by virtue of paragraph 3 in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended). If councillors wish to discuss information contained within the appendix it will be necessary to pass the following resolution to exclude the press and public:

In accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, the meeting be not open to the Press and public during discussion of the following item as there will be disclosure of exempt information as defined in Section 100(1) of the Act as described in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12(A) of the Act.

Following his earlier declaration, Councillor Mackman left the room for the consideration of this item.

The Lead Executive Member for Housing, Health and Culture presented the report which detailed business cases for the small element of phase 2 of the Housing Development Programme. It was noted that the cost estimates were in an exempt appendix therefore if the Executive wished to discuss this, they would have to move into private session.

The Executive were informed that the programme was a £22 million programme to deliver 207 homes. It was noted that the Council and the Selby and District Housing Trust (SDHT) had brought 50 additional affordable housing units to the district in phase one of the programme and had acquired 12 section 106 units. Additionally, it was noted that the phase two sites outlined in the report would be for additional units to be built as Council houses or by SDHT as affordable rented homes.

The Lead Executive Member for Housing, Health and Culture explained that the costs estimates were based on the procurement framework and were above the estimates used in setting the programme budget. The Executive were informed that officers had looked at the reasons for the increase in the estimates and whether these still represented value for money with the findings set out in the report.

The Executive raised concern at the increase in the section 106 subsidy from £20k per unit to £50k per unit and felt that the cost estimates in the report should be lowered through negotiations. The Solicitor to the Council explained that the decision in the report was linked to the procurement process and approval would enable the Council to work with the contractors to value engineer the costs down. Additionally, it was explained that if the final costs were lower than the approved estimated, delegation was provided to proceed however if the costs were higher than the ones outlined in the report then the decision would be brought back to Executive. It was agreed to insert the words ‘subject to contract’ in resolution two to reflect this.

The Executive also felt that resolution two should include consultation with an Executive member to ensure there was member involvement in the decision. It was agreed that the member would be the Leader of the Council and it was agreed to amend the resolution to reflect this.

With regard to the section 106 subsidy, the Chief Finance Officer explained that the new figure of £50k per unit should be considered against the transfer value per unit included in the section 106 agreement and therefore even if the Council was using the maximum figure, it would still be maximising the delivery of homes.

RESOLVED:

i)             To approve the detailed business cases for the seven sites subject to Council’s agreement to drawdown additional funding for the programme from the s106 reserve in the 2019/20 budget proposals;

ii)            To authorise the Director of Economic Regeneration and Place in consultation with the Leader of the Council to offer the sites most suitable for housing to the Selby and District Housing Trust at nil value along with a loan and s106 grant subject to contract to fund the development of affordable housing on the usual terms and conditions;

iii)           To authorise officers to proceed to award contracts and seek planning consent for the sites in partnership with Selby and District Housing Trust; and

iv)          To delegate final approval of the transfers and loan documents to the Chief Finance Officer in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Finance and Resources and the Solicitor to the Council.

REASON FOR DECISION:

To deliver the Housing Development Programme.

Councillor Mackman returned to the meeting.