The Cabinet - Shareholder Group of Wiltshire Council met on Tuesday 3 December 2024. The meeting was scheduled to include a verbal update from Stone Circle Development, a company owned by the council, and a number of written reports on the activities of Stone Circle Housing, another company owned by the council.

Stone Circle Companies

The meeting was scheduled to receive a verbal update on Stone Circle Development and two reports on Stone Circle Housing, including one that was requested by a Scrutiny Task Group of Wiltshire Council.

The report on the Scrutiny Task Group recommendations sets out the council's draft responses to the Scrutiny Task Group recommendations, which it says were agreed to by the Cabinet.

Stone Circle Housing Purpose

The purpose of Stone Circle Housing is to purchase residential properties with funding from the Council, as sole shareholder, to let at Local Housing Allowances (LHA) rent levels + 10%. The Council will receive a return on this investment through interest on borrowing and rent.

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is a housing benefit payment made by local councils in England and Wales to people who are renting from a private landlord. The amount of LHA that a person can receive is based on the cost of renting a property in their local area and their personal circumstances.

The report says that Stone Circle Housing “has a target to purchase 100 units a year” and that it will provide “detailed performance information on a monthly basis to the Corporate Leadership Team and quarterly to the Cabinet Shareholder Group”.

The report also addresses the performance of Stone Circle Development, noting that:

Stone Circle Development will provide similar information in the same time frames to cover the progress made on live and prospective development sites. This will include the individual financial viability of specific sites. Some information will be commercially sensitive.

Another report, titled The wider responsibilities of the Shareholder Group ¹ was also scheduled for discussion. This report notes that:

The terms of reference of the Cabinet Shareholder Group include oversight of other companies where the Council has corporate responsibility as well as the Stone Circle companies.

The report goes on to propose a review of other commercial entities in which the council has an interest, noting that:

Commercial activity brings with it risk and opportunity and it is right that the Shareholder Group on behalf of the Cabinet has oversight and are able to influence that activity.