Agenda item

Report from the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health.

Recommendations

That Cabinet:

1. Notes the continued progress made in delivering the Council’s Housing Delivery Programme, including the delivery of 57new homes in the period covered by this report, and the ongoing work to deliver 1,000 new Council homes by Summer 2027.

2. Approves the purchase of homes from any of the schemes identified in Exempt Appendix 2.

3. Approves the programme changes outlined in this report to facilitate the delivery of 1,000 new homes ‘on time’ (by Summer 2027) and ‘on budget’ (within the financial resources allocated to the Programme from the Housing Revenue Account). This includes the removal and addition of specific schemes as outlined in Section 2, paragraphs 2.10 to 2.20 of the report.

4. Approves the disposal of the four sites listed in Table 4, subject to Cabinet approval of Recommendation 3 (above), and following the usual Council disposal process. The receipts to be ringfenced to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Housing Delivery Programme.

5. Approves the appropriation of 19 Cranworth Road into the Housing Revenue Account, and its refurbishment for use as a Council home via the Market Acquisitions workstream (see Section 2, paragraph 2.19 and Section 6, paragraph 6.7 of the report).

6. Agrees to continue to receive an update on the housing development programme every six months.

Consideration was given to the report which provided the regular six-monthly update to Cabinet, setting out the latest developments and plans for the Council’s Housing Delivery Programme (‘the Programme’). The report also sought Cabinet approval to ensure the continued delivery of this Programme which recently reached the milestone of the 680th new Council home delivered since 2018. Contained within the report were proposed changes to the programme, which were designed to manage overall costs and secure the delivery of 1,000 new Council homes by Summer 2027.

The report covered the period from 1 December 2024 to 31 May 2025 and in that time a total of 57 new homes had been delivered. In the same period work had continued to progress on the Council’s own new-build programme with construction starting on 14 new Council homes across three sites in West Melton and Swinton, and an application for planning permission submitted for 28 new homes in Wath.  A photographic summary of delivery was attached at Appendix 3. Paragraphs 2.5 to 2.8 provided an overview of the number of homes delivered to the end of May 2025 and the proposed future delivery for each workstream of the programme to achieve 1,005 new Council homes by mid-2027.

The need for this continued delivery programme was evidenced by the more than 7,000 households on the Council's housing register. The Council's ability to meet this demand continued to be eroded by the Right to Buy, which had seen 1,095 council homes sold between January 2018 and the end of May 2025.

The delivery of new build homes on council-owned sites remained the area of the programme with the greatest risk and therefore had been subject to the greatest amount of overprogramming. The current programme included a total of circa 218 homes yet to be delivered for this workstream. As part of the Council’s ongoing approach to programme and risk management, all projects in this workstream not already in build had been re-assessed in terms of technical deliverability, affordability and ability to contribute to the 1,000 homes target. This had led to the identification of 6 schemes (55 homes) for removal from the programme. There were numerous contributing factors, including escalating costs and unforeseen abnormal costs linked to topography, ground conditions and infrastructure, which made project delivery unviable and unaffordable for the Council. Regulatory changes, such as Building Regulations and the implementation of Bio-Diversity Net Gain, had

added further to the cost of development.

An additional 20 Council Build homes were now programmed to deliver post

Summer 2027. These had therefore been removed from the 1000 new homes target and forecast as part of the future, post 1000 new homes programme. Work to bring forward these homes would continue and a start on site for the construction would be achieved in the current programme period. The final change to the Council Build workstream was the addition of five homes to be delivered via the conversion of an unused Neighbourhood Centre at Hurley Croft.

At the meeting the Cabinet Member advised of a correction required to the report. Table 3 at paragraph 2.20 and Table 4 at paragraph 2.21 of the report stated that Symonds Avenue was in Rotherham West ward when it was in Rawmarsh West ward.

The Cabinet Member referenced awards that had been won by the housing service and noted that quality of housing that was being provided.

Resolved

That Cabinet:

1.    Notes the continued progress made in delivering the Council’s Housing Delivery Programme, including the delivery of 57 new homes in the period covered by this report, and the ongoing work to deliver 1,000 new Council homes by Summer 2027.

2.    Approves the purchase of homes from any of the schemes identified in Exempt Appendix 2.

3.    Approves the programme changes outlined in this report to facilitate the delivery of 1,000 new homes ‘on time’ (by Summer 2027) and ‘on budget’ (within the financial resources allocated to the Programme from the Housing Revenue Account). This includes the removal and addition of specific schemes as outlined in Section 2, paragraphs 2.10 to 2.20 of the report.

4.    Approves the disposal of the four sites listed in Table 4, subject to Cabinet approval of Recommendation 3 (above), and following the usual Council disposal process. The receipts to be ringfenced to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Housing Delivery Programme.

5.    Approves the appropriation of 19 Cranworth Road into the Housing Revenue Account, and its refurbishment for use as a Council home via the Market Acquisitions workstream (see Section 2, paragraph 2.19 and Section 6, paragraph 6.7 of the report).

6.    Agrees to continue to receive an update on the housing development programme every six months.