Issue - meetings

[Report of the Interim Director for Housing, Regeneration and Planning. To be introduced by the Leader of the Council.]

Cabinet will  be asked to agree the acquisition of 131 homes and to agree that the ground floor non-residential space  be constructed at the Welbourne Site and to  further  note  a future key decision  on  final purchase price and the final heads of terms of the acquisition and the final contract.

The Leader introduced the report which was to seeking a Cabinet resolution to acquire 131 homes and a commercial unit, to be constructed on the Welbourne Site as part of its redevelopment being carried out by Argent Related under the Development Agreement dated 21^st March 2017, between the Council and TH Ferry Island Limited. This transaction would provide Council homes on Council land, within the context of the existing Strategic Development Partnership (SDP) Development Agreement.

The proposed delivery of 131 council homes on the Welbourne Site represented 13% of the overall Council homes target and, subject to planning, would be delivered in the lifetime of this administration.

In response to questions from Cllr Gordon, the following information was noted:

·         The Council homes at the Welbourne site would be managed by Homes for Haringey and the specifications applied to the homes would not be lower quality. The expectation for the fit out of the new homes had been set out and there were specific suppliers in place to deliver the specifications. There would be different suppliers used for different aspects of the new homes. For example, a different supplier would be used for bathroom fit out and a dissimilar contract supplier used to fit out door entry system, meaning that there would be different costs according to the fittings purchased.

·         In relation to the fit out of the bathrooms and flooring, it was noted that there would be consideration of the lifecycle costs and the durability when purchasing materials. Therefore, there was a value difference but not a quality difference.

·         In relation to the standards and cost of the fittings in the council homes at Welbourne being lower than that of other Council homes, it was clarified that this was not the case and this was about the Council and homes for Haringey specifying what was in place for housing stock. The Council would factor in the repair and maintenance, further considering how easy it would be to source replacements when considering the fit out costs.

·         A written answer in response to the question on the Tottenham Hale strategic Development plan would be provided to Cllr Gordon in seven days.

Further to considering exempt information at item 19,

RESOLVED

1. To agree (subject to the council’s budget setting meeting in February 2019) to the in-principle acquisition by the council for housing purposes of 131 homes and a ground floor non-residential space to be constructed at the Welbourne site for a maximum total sum as set out in the exempt part of the report and based on the draft Heads of Terms attached in the exempt part of the report.

2. To agree to note that a further Key Decision will be taken at a later date to agree the final purchase price and the final contract for the acquisition.

3. To agree that (subject to the council’s budget setting meeting in February 2019) the unallocated General Fund capital receipts, as set out in the exempt part of the report, are retained corporately.

Reasons  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35