Purpose

Request approval for the proposed strategic development programme, including relevant budget requirements.

Decision

Exempt Paragraph 3

Information relating to financial and business affairs of any particular person (including the Authority holding that information)

RESOLVED

That the Cabinet:

a) approves the Council’s revised approach to funding the development programme through seeking funding through the Home’s England Continuous Market Engagement funding stream on a project-by-project basis.

b) delegates authority to the Head of Strategic Housing, the Head of Corporate Finance, and the Head of Legal and Governance, in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Housing, to enter into the necessary agreements, and to complete all relevant legal documentation to achieve the recommendations above. (Generic Delegation 2 and 3 will be used to enact this recommendation).

Requests Full Council to approve:

a)         the updated budget requests for the development schemes as outlined in section 5.5 of report SHAP/102.

b) an additional budget requirement of the HRA Working Budget as detailed in section 5.7 of report SHAP/102.

c) £2,578,000 budget allocation from the HRA to fulfil the obligations of the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) allocation as detailed in section 5.11 of report SHAP/102, following receipt of the £7.9m in LAHF funding award.

Reasons for the Recommendations

a. The Strategic Partnership status would have provided the Council with assured access to grant-funding over the 10-year investment period, allowing resources to be managed across a wider programme, rather than on a scheme-by-scheme basis.

b. The Council has a proposed 965-home 10-year development programme which has been included and costed as part of the refreshed HRA 30-year business plan. The already identified schemes are currently being progressed through the development pipeline, with each scheme being at various stages of approval, bringing a high degree of certainty that the 10-year delivery plan can be achieved.

c. Each respective scheme requires access to a working budget through the inception stage, to allow for more detailed design and more accurate costings in preparation of requesting the budget to deliver each respective scheme, whereby a working budget is being requested, and each scheme will then pick up these costs. Any schemes not taken forward will be a cost to the HRA.

d. For those schemes that have already had an approved budget agreed for delivery, the recommendations outline the latest budget position and requirements for approval as these schemes progress.

e. The Council has successfully delivered Round 3 of the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) programme, and has more recently been awarded grant-funding for Round 4 of the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF) programme, where the HRA has an obligation to provide a quota of the properties to be secured through this programme, where a top-up budget is required from the HRA to satisfy the overall obligations of the LAHF programme.