Agenda item

(Report of the Director of Planning, Regeneration and Development. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration) The Cabinet will be asked to agree for the Director of Regeneration, Planning and Development (after  consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration and the Chief Financial Officer) to be  granted delegated authority to purchase land and properties within the Borough subject to specific criteria being satisfied as outlined in the report.

Cabinet considered a report introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration which would provide the Director of Planning, Regeneration and Development extended delegated authority, in certain defined circumstances, to acquire land or properties to facilitate delivery of the Council’s regeneration programmes. 

Cllr Strickland further explained that as the regeneration areas in the borough become attractive, it will be necessary for the Council to be a position to compete with potential property and land acquirers and be able to act swiftly in the market place to purchase land or properties for regeneration purposes. The purchases will be taken with due diligence and will be subject to consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration and the Assistant Director for Finance.

Cllr Elliott sought assurance about the quality of the governance process around the  decision making of these future delegated decisions given the extended delegated  authority being agreed for the Director of Planning, Regeneration, and Development It was noted that  there will be no fettering of the procedure required for decision making .The AD for Governance clarified  that ,before any decision is taken, a full report will need to be compiled, in the same way as for Committee meetings, allowing  legal, finance and procurement input . The decisions will also be recorded and published online.

In agreeing the recommendations, the Cabinet noted that the extended delegated authority was limited to the lifespan of the Corporate Plan.

RESOLVED

1. That the Director of Regeneration, Planning and Development after  consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration and the Chief Financial Officer be granted delegated authority to purchase land and  properties within the Borough subject to the following criteria being satisfied:

• The land or property acquired must be for a purpose which is aimed at facilitating the delivery of projects within the approved Tottenham Strategic Regeneration Framework and Delivery Plan and be in accordance with the Council’s statutory powers to acquire such property and geographically located in the 8 designated Tottenham wards, Northumberland Park, White Hart Lane, Bruce Grove, Tottenham Green, Tottenham Hale, Seven Sisters, West Green and St Ann’s; or.

• The land or property acquired  must be demonstrably consistent with the Council’s regeneration objectives for the Wood Green Investment Framework area, within the area defined in map shown at Appendix 1, meet at least one of the criteria set out in 5.6  and be in accordance with the Council’s statutory powers to acquire such property; and,

• The maximum value of any one purchase shall not exceed the sum of £2.5m (including all applicable fees and associated costs).

• The delegation to the Director of Regeneration Planning and Development is limited to the lifespan of the Corporate Plan for 2015/18; namely until 31 March 2018 and will be reviewed at the end of that period.

Alternative options considered
Reliance upon the urgency procedures under Part Three Section E paragraph 5.01 and Part Four Section D paragraphs 16 and 17 of the Council’s Constitution alone to authorise site purchases at short notice using this fund could prohibit the Council’s ability to react to the short timescales for site acquisition. As the report sets out, the proposal to agree for Officers to make decisions under Delegated Powers (in defined circumstances) would allow for the most efficient use of the agreed funding.

Reasons for decision

This report will allow properties to be purchased in support of the Tottenham and Wood Green Regeneration schemes in a more timely and effective way than is currently possible and in doing so enable the objectives of the Tottenham Strategic Regeneration Framework and Wood Green Investment Framework to be met. In doing so the Council’s and Communities aspirations for the areas can be achieved with the delivery of Regeneration schemes which maximise the number of jobs, homes and benefits for local people.