Agenda item

Report of the Director for Placemaking and Housing. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Housing, Planning (Deputy Leader).

For approval to enter into a grant funding agreement with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to receive Brownfield Land Release Grant.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning introduced the report, emphasising the importance of affordable housing in building a fairer and greener Borough and noting that the Council was on track to build more than 3,000 new high quality Council homes by 2031. The Cabinet Member noted that building new homes in a built-up area would almost always involve reclaiming Greenfield or brownfield sites and so the Council worked with partners to make strong bids for government brownfield funding to restore and bring sites into social use. The report further set out:

-          That this tranche of brownfield funding would bring another £3m into the borough and help to build 223 new Council homes for local residents.

-          More than 77% of these 223 new homes would be two-bedrooms or more.

-          Across the Council’s housebuilding programme, nearly 40% of the homes were three-bedrooms or more. The target was to reach at least 50% but additional external funding would be required to make this possible.

-          High standards were aimed for with new Council homes including on energy efficiency, size and design in addition to attention to landscaping and facilities around new buildings.

In response to questions from Cllr Cawley-Harrison, the following was noted.

-          Regarding the changing financial outlook, including the Council’s capital programme and HRA, the Cabinet Member confirmed that all schemes in the report remained financially viable.

-          Regarding the possibility of grant funding being recalled in the event that the funding was spent but the scheme later became unviable, the Cabinet Member confirmed that this would not occur. Jack Goulde, Acting Head of Housing Development, explained that a number of governance processes were required before work could begin on a scheme. The most important of these was to run a competitive and compliant tendering process to ensure that the correct contractor was tended on the basis of a completed scheme. This would come back to Cabinet for approval before the tendering process went live.

RESOLVED

1.          To retrospectively approve the acceptance by the Director of Finance of the receipt from the MHCLG of £2,747,057 in capital funding via the Brownfield Land Release Fund to pay for infrastructure works, including demolition, substructure and drainage works, preparatory ground works, utilities works and associated infrastructure provision, at 505-511 Archway Road, Dawlish Road, Grasmere Court and Selby Urban Village, as permitted under Contracted Standing Order (CSO) 17.1

2.          To retrospectively approves that the grant sum is added to the HRA Budget.

3.          To note the reasons for the retrospective approval as outlined in 6.2.

Reasons for decision

The decision to accept the grant would support the delivery of four significant housing development schemes: - 505-511 Archway Road is expected to deliver sixteen homes in the Highgate ward, completing in 2026. Dawlish Road is expected to deliver two homes in the Tottenham Hale ward, completing in 2026. Grasmere Court is expected to deliver three homes in the Woodside ward, completing in 2026 and Selby Urban Village is currently expected to deliver two-hundred and two new homes in the Bruce Castle Ward, completing in 2029.

Alternative options considered

The Council could decline the grant allocation. This option was rejected because the Council would have to fund the gap of £2,747,057 to be able to deliver these schemes, making them unviable when measured against the expected financial hurdles.

The Council could decide not to build homes on these sites. This option was rejected because the Council is committed to delivering a new era of Council house building.