Issue - meetings

[Report of the Director for Housing and Growth. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing and Estate Renewal.]

Acquisition of s106 units at Gate of Eden scheme, Plevna Crescent

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Estate  Renewal, introduced this report to Cabinet which sought its approval to acquire 14 affordable homes as part of the ‘Gate of Eden’ development to the rear of Plevna Crescent, N15.

The Cabinet Member highlighted the acquisition was a small but significant step towards the administration’s ambitious target to deliver 1,000 new Council homes, and illustrated the variety of opportunities it could take to meet that target. Although this scheme achieved planning permission several months ago, the Council had now ensured that these new homes were more in line with the Council’s vision and better met the needs of residents by negotiating a different mix of tenures. 10 of the properties would be social rent homes at Council rent levels and 4 would be shared ownership. This was important as it meant the Council had more homes available to permanently house households with the most serious need. This decision and the other acquisitions that will follow in due course ensured that new housing developments in the borough offered housing to those who needed it most.

Following questions from Cllr das Neves, the following was noted:

·         The aforementioned 10 social rent homes would be comprised of – 1 x 1 bedroom 1 person, 1 x 1 bedroom 2 person, 5 x 2 bedroom 3 person, 2 x 3 bedroom 5 person (1 is a duplex home), and 1 x 4 bedroom 6 person.

·         The Cabinet Member recognised comments that there were too many 1 bedroom properties in Haringey but noted they were necessary, particularly for young people leaving care who fell into Band A and required priority housing. In addition, with the impending demolishment of Northolt, this would reduce the number of 1 bedroom properties available.

·         The Cabinet Member informed the Council had worked with the developer to change the status of some of the properties, decreasing the number of shared ownership homes and increasing the number of social rented homes.

Further to considering exempt information at item 21,

RESOLVED

              i.        To agree the acquisition, for housing purposes and therefore held in the Housing Revenue Account, of the 14 affordable homes as part of the ‘Gate of Eden’ development to the rear of Plevna Crescent, N15 [the rest of this sentence is exempt] and as part of the acquisition to grant two rights of way over the part of Council land shown in red on the plan attached at Appendix 1. The acquisition will be based on the draft Heads of Terms attached at Appendix 2 [exempt] of this report.

            ii.        To give delegated authority to the Director of Housing, Regeneration and Planning and the S151 Officer, after consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Estate Renewal, to agree the final contract in line with the draft Heads of Terms in Appendix 2 of this report.

Reasons for decision

The emerging Borough Plan pledges that the Council will deliver 1,000 new Council homes at Council rents by 2022. One of the methods of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39