Agenda item

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

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1.    Approves the newly identified Council-owned site listed in Appendix 1 being brought forward to deliver new Council homes.

2.    Approves the removal of Mill Lane, South Anston from the Housing Delivery Programme as listed in Appendix 1.

3.    Approves the disposal of Mill Lane, South Anston via open market sale or auction.

4.    Approves the Capital receipts received from the disposal of Mill Lane, South Anston being ringfenced for sites within the Housing Delivery Programme.

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

6.    Notes that authority to purchase up to 100 homes from the market has been delegated to the Assistant Director for Housing following approval of the Housing Acquisitions Policy Cabinet report on 16 October 2023. The 100 homes provision is now reflected in Exempt Appendix 2. 

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

Consideration was given to the report which provided an update on the Housing Delivery Programme, summarising progress since the previous programme report was approved by Cabinet in January 2024. There were several changes required to the programme which required renewed approvals from Cabinet.

Overall, from 1 January 2018 to 31 May 2024, the Council had successfully

delivered 565 new Council homes consisting of 430 homes for rent and 135

homes for shared ownership. Of these new homes:

• 395 of these homes have been delivered through Council-led construction.
• 16 homes have resulted from conversion of existing Council assets into new homes, and
• 154 are from the strategic acquisition of homes from private developers and the open market.

The Council had also built 125 new homes for market sale. An updated

photographic summary of delivery was provided at Appendix 3. Paragraphs 1.6 to 1.9 of the report detailed the progress made since December 2023.

As of 31 May 2024, the Council was in contract to deliver a further 85 homes

with an estimated 60 homes for rent and 3 for shared ownership expected to be completed by March 2026. This means a cumulative total of 621 Council

homes were already complete or contracted for completion by March 2026.

This excluded homes built for market sale and homes which were due to be

delivered after March 2026. The latest programme position was summarised is paragraph 1.11 of the report with further detail provided in Appendix 1 and Exempt Appendix 2.

The changes to the programme were outlined in paragraph 1.13 of the report. These included the addition of a Council-owned site, The Lanes at East Dene (estimated 2 homes); the removal of a Council-owned site, Mill Lane at South Anston (estimated 3 homes); the addition of nine schemes through strategic acquisitions (estimated 139 homes) and the removal of two strategic acquisition schemes (estimated 34 homes.)

Following site investigations and internal conversations, the decision had been made to propose the removal of Mill Lane from the Programme due to

the known site constraints and high indicative costs for build. The Council would look to dispose of the site through either open market sale or auction (to be determined following valuations). The estimated site value was just under the monetary threshold for Cabinet approval however as it was close to the threshold, it could exceed the limit that would require Cabinet approval. As this site had incurred costs allocated for the Programme, it was proposed that the Capital receipt from the disposal of the site be ringfenced and repurposed on other sites within the Programme.

Councillor Allen highlighted the consultation details as set out in section 4 of the report. The risks and mitigations were summarised at paragraph 13.2.

Resolved:

That Cabinet:

1. Approve the newly identified Council-owned site listed in Appendix 1 being brought forward to deliver new Council homes.
   
   
2. Approve the removal of Mill Lane, South Anston from the Housing Delivery Programme as listed in Appendix 1.
   
   
3. Approve the disposal of Mill Lane, South Anston via open market sale or auction.
   
   
4. Approve the Capital receipts received from the disposal of Mill Lane, South Anston being ringfenced for sites within the Housing Delivery Programme.
   
   
5. Approve the purchase of homes from any of the schemes identified in Exempt Appendix 2.
   
   
6. Note that authority to purchase up to 100 homes from the market has been delegated to the Assistant Director for Housing following approval of the Housing Acquisitions Policy Cabinet report on 16 October 2023. The 100 homes provision was now reflected in Exempt Appendix 2.
   
   
7. Agree to continue to receive an update on the housing development programme every six months.