Agenda item

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

Recommendations:-

1.           That Cabinet approves the release of the Council owned sites listed in Appendix 3a for early residential development, subject to development being undertaken directly for council stock with the Council retaining ownership of the land and homes, or by a registered social landlord with the Council retaining tenancy nomination rights where this is deemed to offer better value, and subject to written confirmation of agreement by the relevant Ward Members.

2.           That Cabinet note that proposals to deliver more than ten homes on any individual site, will continue to require a separate Cabinet report.

3.           That Cabinet gives delegated authority to the Assistant Director for Housing, with agreement from the Section 151 Officer, Cabinet Member for Housing and local Ward Members, to substitute or accelerate sites from the list included as Appendix 3b (strategic pipeline), if any of the primary sites in Appendix 3a prove to be unviable or if additional resources are identified to bring forward more housing.

4.           That Cabinet approve the programme of strategic acquisition opportunities listed in exempt Appendix 4, and that authority is delegated up to a maximum value of £1.118m, to the Assistant Director for Planning, Regeneration and Transport to purchase homes from private developers or the open market to add to the Council’s stock, upon confirmation of support by the Assistant Director for Housing with agreement from the Section 151 Officer and Cabinet Member for Housing, and subject to the governance processes set out in section 5.  This delegation is sought for a period of 12 months and subject to an annual review.

5.           That Cabinet agrees to receive a quarterly report to update on progress of delivery and any changes made as a result of these delegations.

Consideration was given to the report which set out how the delivery of new housing played a critical role in both Rotherham’s overall economic growth, and the health and wellbeing of Rotherham’s residents. 

The Council had an ambitious Housing Revenue Account (HRA) funded housing growth programme, including the Site Clusters Programme which had delivered 217 new homes across the Borough, Bellows Road which had delivered 58 homes in Rawmarsh, Rothwell Grange which would add a further 44 homes in Broom before the end of the financial year and most recently a commitment to build 171 new homes in Rotherham Town Centre. 

This major investment would be transformational to the town, alongside the Forge Island and other key Town Centre masterplan projects. The 2020/21 HRA Business Plan, approved by Council in February 2020, included an additional £65m for housing growth over the next five years using existing reserves and HRA borrowing, bringing the total forecast HRA investment in the development of new homes to around £130m. 

Each year, a report would be presented to Cabinet that set out the programme for the year ahead, and this was the first. Each report would identify the Council-owned sites proposed for inclusion in the annual programme, to be delivered through a combination of direct delivery by the Council, transfer of land to Registered Provider (Housing Association) partners, and sale of land on the open market.  While the majority of these sites were small garage and infill sites within existing neighbourhoods and capable of delivering small numbers of homes, they were an important part of the programme.  These are often located in more deprived areas and where there was a strong need for affordable housing, and due to viability issues the market would not deliver without Council intervention. 

Alongside Council delivery, the strategic acquisition of Section 106 properties from private developers also formed an important part of the programme, as a key route to replacing Council stock sold through the Right to Buy.

As well as setting out the sites proposed as priorities for 2020/21, this report also sought some new delegated authorities with strict parameters.  This was to ensure key opportunities were not missed when they arose, including for example, where unforeseen opportunities may arise to acquire homes from the private sector (which were often time limited due to competition from other social housing providers), or where there was an opportunity to complement other key corporate projects such as the Towns Deal where the agility was needed to either utilise or levy HRA resources.

Robust governance arrangements were in place, to ensure each individual scheme complied with strategic, legal, procurement and financial requirements.  Consultation with Ward Members was key to ensuring the right housing interventions were made in the right areas and this was built into the process and an update would be provided every quarter.

The strategic pipeline/annual programme approach set out in this report was primarily intended to facilitate the agility and flexibility needed to deliver against the Council’s challenging housing delivery ambitions and to meet local strategic housing need.  However, separate individual Cabinet reports would be required where, for example, there were specific local challenges, more than ten homes would be delivered on a site, and/or where a completely new approach to delivery was being proposed as transparency and scrutiny was essential to ensuring the wider housing development programme is right for Rotherham’s residents.

Since the publication of the agenda it had emerged that an error had been made within Appendix 3b and that the last two sites were, inadvertently, wrongly added.  These were to be removed and Appendix 3b would be updated.

This report had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as part of the pre-scrutiny process who were in support of the recommendations.

Resolved:- 

(1)  That the release of the Council-owned sites listed in Appendix 3a for early residential development, subject to development being undertaken directly for Council stock with the Council retaining ownership of the land and homes, or by a registered social landlord with the Council retaining tenancy nomination rights where this is deemed to offer better value, and subject to written confirmation of agreement by the relevant Ward Members, be approved.

(2)  That proposals be noted to deliver more than ten homes on any individual site, will continue to require a separate Cabinet report.

(3)  That delegated authority to the Assistant Director for Housing, with agreement from the Section 151 Officer, Cabinet Member for Housing and local Ward Members, to substitute or accelerate sites from the list included as Appendix 3b (strategic pipeline), if any of the primary sites in Appendix 3a prove to be unviable or if additional resources are identified to bring forward more housing.

(4)  That the programme of strategic acquisition opportunities listed in exempt Appendix 4 be approved and that authority be delegated up to a maximum value of £1.118m, to the Assistant Director for Planning, Regeneration and Transport to purchase homes from private developers or the open market to add to the Council’s stock, upon confirmation of support by the Assistant Director for Housing with agreement from the Section 151 Officer and Cabinet Member for Housing, and subject to the governance processes set out in Section 5.  This delegation is sought for a period of twelve months and subject to an annual review.

(5)  That a quarterly report to update on progress of delivery and any changes made as a result of these delegations be agreed.