Agenda item

Report from the Executive 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 55 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 delivery and purchase of homes from any of the schemes identified in Exempt Appendices 1 and 2b, subject to affordability and alignment with current and future programme objectives and the Council’s capital approval processes.

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 Table 3, paragraph 2.4.

4.    Approves the appropriation of 18 St Edmunds Avenue (see Appendix 4) into the Housing Revenue Account (subject to Secretary of State approval if required), and work to convert the property into four 1-bedroom flats for use as Council homes via the Market Acquisitions workstream (see paragraphs 2.11 and 2.12).

5.    Approves the appropriation of land at Canklow (see plan attached at Appendix 5) into the Housing Revenue Account to enable the delivery of two Council homes as part of the housing delivery programme (see paragraph 2.7).

6.    Agrees the intention to undertake initial feasibility work and technical due diligence on up to 18 Council-owned sites (Appendix 6) to assess their development potential for the future delivery of new social and affordable homes, and to inform any subsequent decision to develop or dispose of the land (see paragraph 2.16).

7.    Agrees to delegate authority to the Service Director of Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to make any necessary substitutions or changes to the agreed site list (Recommendation 6) to ensure that the programme of feasibility work and technical due diligence remains deliverable and aligned with strategic priorities.

8.    Agrees to delegate authority to the Service Director of Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to appoint appropriate consultants to carry out this work following the Council’s procurement process.

9.    Agrees to delegate authority to the Service Director of Housing, in consultation with the Section 151 Officer and Service Director of Legal Services, to enter into a Grant Funding Agreement with the Homes and Communities Agency (trading as ‘Homes England’) in relation to the Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026 – 2036 (see paragraph 2.37).

10.Agrees to continue to receive an update on the Housing Development Programme every six months.

Consideration was given to the report which provided the six-monthly update to Cabinet on the latest developments and plans for the Council’s Housing Delivery Programme. The report also sought Cabinet approval to ensure the continued delivery of the programme which, in mid-December 2025, reached the major milestone of 750 new Council homes since 2018 (having reached 742 at the data point of 30 November used throughout the report). This significant achievement had been reached through a mixed programme of delivery across four workstreams, an approach that was vital to managing risk, securing delivery certainty and achieving a balanced and affordable programme.

The four workstreams were:

·       New build homes on council-owned sites.

·       Delivery by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) developers through the Council’s innovative Small Sites Homebuilding Initiative.

·       Section 106 acquisitions from developers as part of their planning obligations.

·       The acquisition of homes from the open market (‘market

·       acquisitions’).

Specifically, in the period from 1 June 2025 to 30 November 2025, the programme had delivered a total of 55 new homes. This had been achieved through 10 new build homes on Council owned sites, 27 Section 106 Acquisitions and 18 Market Acquisitions. In the same period work had continued to bring forward future schemes in the Council’s new-build programme. Construction had started on 45 new Council homes across three sites in Maltby, planning permission was granted for 4 homes on one site in Wath and a planning application was submitted for 20 homes at Tenter Street, Thornhill.

The report contained 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. Also contained was information on risks to delivery and timescales, and the mitigations in place to manage those risks.

Whilst the current Programme was focused on the delivery of 1,000 new Council homes, work on building a future pipeline of sites and schemes was ongoing and information would be included in the next 6-monthly Housing Delivery Programme Cabinet Report. The Council had successfully secured £240k from the Government’s Council Housebuilding Support Fund (CHSF) to support this work, with £80k of match funding from the HRA. The funding would be used to undertake initial feasibility work and technical due diligence on up to 18 Council-owned sites (as detailed in Appendix 6) to confirm the development potential for the future delivery of new social and affordable homes.

The proposed programme retained sufficient flexibility to consider options within the budget allocations for both the current and future programme (from mid-2027). The retained contingency in the current programme had reduced to circa £4.4m, primarily resulting from the addition of 25 Market Acquisitions. In other areas, anticipated costs had reduced as cost certainty improved due to factors including construction cost estimates on Council build schemes reducing through the design stage. The contingency provided cover for any cost increases and mitigation for risk areas in the delivery of the 1000 new homes target.

In line with the Council’s Social Value policy, the programme included social value as a contractual commitment which was delivered as an integral part of the procured contracts which formed part of the programme. Social value delivery from these contracts included:

·       £353k of equivalent social value delivered across Council build projects at East Herringthorpe, West Melton and Swinton (each project exceeded the contractual commitments).

·       £37k of equivalent social value commitments delivered to date on 3 Council build schemes at design stage. Further social value commitments will be delivered as part of the subsequent construction phase contracts.

·       £1.3m of equivalent social value delivered to date on the joint Adult Social Care/Housing development at Canklow.

·       £1.46m of equivalent social value committed on the construction contract to deliver Council build homes at Maltby.

The need for the 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 scheme, which had seen 1,245 council homes sold between the beginning of January 2018 and the end of November 2025. Changes to Government policy resulted in a spike of applications in November 2024 which could have contributed to larger numbers of properties lost to Right to Buy by the end of 2025/26. While expected further changes to Right to Buy legislation were likely to see a reduction in sold properties in the longer term, it was anticipated that the loss of Council housing stock to Right to Buy would continue.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1.    Notes the continued progress made in delivering the Council’s Housing Delivery Programme, including the delivery of 55 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 delivery and purchase of homes from any of the schemes identified in Exempt Appendices 1 and 2b, subject to affordability and alignment with current and future programme objectives and the Council’s capital approval processes.

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 Table 3, paragraph 2.4.

4.    Approves the appropriation of 18 St Edmunds Avenue (see Appendix 4) into the Housing Revenue Account (subject to Secretary of State approval if required), and work to convert the property into four 1-bedroom flats for use as Council homes via the Market Acquisitions workstream (see paragraphs 2.11 and 2.12).

5.    Approves the appropriation of land at Canklow (see plan attached at Appendix 5) into the Housing Revenue Account to enable the delivery of two Council homes as part of the housing delivery programme (see paragraph 2.7).

6.    Agrees the intention to undertake initial feasibility work and technical due diligence on up to 18 Council-owned sites (Appendix 6) to assess their development potential for the future delivery of new social and affordable homes, and to inform any subsequent decision to develop or dispose of the land (see paragraph 2.16).

7.    Agrees to delegate authority to the Service Director of Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to make any necessary substitutions or changes to the agreed site list (Recommendation 6) to ensure that the programme of feasibility work and technical due diligence remains deliverable and aligned with strategic priorities.

8.    Agrees to delegate authority to the Service Director of Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to appoint appropriate consultants to carry out this work following the Council’s procurement process.

9.    Agrees to delegate authority to the Service Director of Housing, in consultation with the Section 151 Officer and Service Director of Legal Services, to enter into a Grant Funding Agreement with the Homes and Communities Agency (trading as ‘Homes England’) in relation to the Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026 – 2036 (see paragraph 2.37).

10. Agrees to continue to receive an update on the Housing Development Programme every six months.