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 66 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 programme changes outlined in this report to facilitate the delivery of 1,000 new Council homes by Summer 2027, within the financial resources allocated to the programme from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).

3. Approves the appropriation of 2a The Parade (see Appendix 6) into the HRA, and work to refurbish the property to the standards required for letting as general needs accommodation.

4. Agrees to delegate authority to the Service Director of Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to remove the service charge at Hurley Croft once work to convert to residential accommodation is ready to start.

5. Approves the proposed changes to the Housing Acquisitions Policy referenced at Paragraph 2.12. The draft policy is attached at Appendix 7.

6. Approves the removal of the Grayson Road Council Build site from the delivery pipeline.

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

Consideration was given to the report which provided the usual six-monthly Housing Delivery Programme update to Cabinet. The report covered the period between the 1 December 2025 and 31 May 2026, during which time 66 homes were delivered. The report also sought approval for changes to the overall programme position, including specific additions to the programme. These changes were designed to maintain delivery of the 1,000 new Council homes target, while providing the flexibility to mitigate risks to this delivery.

By the end of May 2026, 808 new Council homes had been delivered, including 114 homes in the 2025/26 financial year. The 808 new homes comprised 670 Council Rent homes (83%) and 138 Shared Ownership homes (17%).  A further 125 Market Sale homes were delivered between August 2020 and April 2023 (as per Appendix 3). As these were not Council homes, these did not contribute towards the 1,000 new Council homes target. A map showing the location of the new Council homes delivered to the end of May 2026 was attached at Appendix 4.

Between 1 December 2025 and 31 May 2026 (the ‘reporting period’ covered by this report), the programme delivered a total of 66 new homes. This comprised 21 Council build homes, 26 Section 106 acquisitions and 19 market acquisitions. Appendix 5 provided a photographic overview of this delivery, together with a selection of tenant feedback. Over the same period, work progressed to bring forward upcoming projects from the Council’s new-build pipeline. A planning application was submitted for the conversion of Hurley Croft Neighbourhood Centre to residential accommodation, and planning consent was granted for 38 homes across sites in Wath, and at Tenter Street in Thornhill. Construction commenced on 28 homes across three sites in Wath, with construction ready to start in June on 31 homes across 2 sites at Eastwood. The construction of 43 homes across 2 sites at Maltby continued with good progress made in line with the project programme.

A further SME project with the potential to deliver 8 homes at Maltby had been added to the programme, with more information detailed in exempt Appendix 2. The developer would provide a full proposal for evaluation against programme requirements and a strategic needs assessment.

On 19 January 2026, Cabinet approved programme changes to facilitate the delivery of 1,000 new homes by Summer 2027, and within the financial resources allocated to the Programme from the HRA. The approved programme position was summarised in Table 1 of the report. The inclusion of 10 additional homes beyond the 1,000 new Council Homes target provided a degree of mitigation against slippage in delivery, or homes not coming forward as expected. However, this did not provide sufficient programme level mitigation against risks to the delivery of 1,000 new Council homes. Accordingly, further mitigations were outlined in the previous report. These mitigations had been utilised to bring forward further changes to the overall programme position, providing additional flexibility to support the delivery of 1,000 new Council homes by summer 2027. The proposed programme position was summarised in Table 2 with further detail provided in exempt Appendix 1.

The proposed programme position now included 61 homes above the 1,000 new Council homes target. This surplus provided the flexibility to support delivery of the 1,000 homes on time, while simultaneously providing an initial

pipeline to begin delivery of the estimated 500 additional new homes to be added to the Council stock through to 2037/38. There would be some movement between the current and future elements of the programme which would be determined by progress at an individual project level.

The Council owned a residential property, 2a The Parade, Rawmarsh (Appendix 6), which previously formed part of a commercial lease alongside the retail unit below. The lease had now expired, and the residential property was surplus to commercial requirements. This provided the opportunity to add a 2-bedroom flat to the Council housing stock as part of the Housing Delivery Programme. There were a further 7 flats above commercial units at this location, all of which were already Council Homes managed via the HRA. Significant demand existed for 2-bedroom flats in Rawmarsh, with an average of 111 bids for this property type in 2025. The property had been surveyed and was suitable for refurbishment, within the financial parameters of the Market Acquisition workstream, and letting, as part of the Council stock. It was therefore recommended that the property should be appropriated to the Housing Service and brought into use as General Needs accommodation.

The Housing Acquisitions Policy, attached at Appendix 7, was approved by Cabinet on 16 October 2023. In line with the Policy a review had taken place. As a result some changes were proposed and included in recommendation 5.

The programme changes outlined in the January 2026 report included moving the Grayson Road Council Build project from the current programme to post Summer 2027 delivery. Subsequent work on this project had determined that it was not financially viable for the Council to deliver homes on this site, and it was therefore recommended that it be removed from the future programme and the site be reviewed as part of the proposed Housing Growth Framework.

Councillor Allen asked if there was an opportunity to look at removing the service charge for some of those other neighbourhood centres that had equally high levels of un-use as Hurley Croft. She asked if service could look at the principle of removing the service charge where the facilities were not being used. The Cabinet Member agreed to look into the matter and provide a written response.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1.    Notes the continued progress made in delivering the Council’s Housing Delivery Programme, including the delivery of 66 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 programme changes outlined in this report to facilitate the delivery of 1,000 new Council homes by Summer 2027, within the financial resources allocated to the programme from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).

3.    Approves the appropriation of 2a The Parade (see Appendix 6) into the HRA, and work to refurbish the property to the standards required for letting as general needs accommodation.

4.    Agrees to delegate authority to the Service Director of Housing, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to remove the service charge at Hurley Croft once work to convert to residential accommodation is ready to start.

5.    Approves the proposed changes to the Housing Acquisitions Policy referenced at Paragraph 2.12. The draft policy is attached at Appendix 7.

6.    Approves the removal of the Grayson Road Council Build site from the delivery pipeline.

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