The Place and Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee was scheduled to meet to discuss budget monitoring, regeneration and asset management, and a scrutiny review of Section 106 agreements¹ and the Community Infrastructure Levy² (CIL). The committee was also expected to receive updates on waste collection and cleansing, and to review its work programme.

Housing Delivery

The committee was scheduled to receive a report on regeneration and asset management, with a focus on the council's housing delivery pipeline. The report provided an update on council housing delivery, the national and local policy context, recent delivery figures, and current housing need.

The report stated that the development of new council housing had previously been the responsibility of Northamptonshire Partnership Homes (NPH), but that in November 2024, responsibility for new build affordable housing development was moved to the council's Major Projects & Regeneration service. According to the report, this decision followed issues with NPH's large housing delivery projects, including at Roof Gardens, Avenue Campus and Belgrave House, which combined represented a total of 418 homes. The report stated that these projects faced challenges such as construction cost inflation and technical errors. As a result, Avenue Campus was to become a disposal project, Belgrave House was to form part of the wider Greyfriars regeneration project, and Roof Gardens was to be progressed as a scaled back scheme.

The report noted that the council launched the Affordable Homes Delivery Plan in November 2025, setting a target of delivering 650 affordable homes per year by 2029/30, with a stretch target of 750 per year.

The report stated that between 2021/22 and 2023/24, an average of 598 new affordable homes were built per year across West Northamptonshire. Most of these were for shared ownership and affordable rent, with a relatively small number of social rent homes. The council delivered an average of 89 affordable homes each year.

The report also provided an overview of current direct delivery projects, including:

• Completion of NPH Schemes: 24 units at Castle Street and 28 units at New Southbridge Road.
• Lot 2 Garage Sites: 18 units for affordable rent across four sites, including Montague Crescent, Stanley Road, and Ringway.
• Broadmead Court: An acquisition and retrofit of an existing property to create 20 units of single homelessness accommodation.
• Buckton Fields: Acquisition of 36 apartments, providing 29 units of social rent accommodation and 7 units of temporary accommodation.
• Harlestone Road: 82 homes for a mixture of social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership.
• Ecton Brook: 18 units, consisting of 12 social rent and 6 shared ownership units.

Section 106 Agreements and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Scrutiny Review

The committee was scheduled to consider and approve terms of reference for the Section 106 Agreements and CIL Scrutiny Review, set up a Task and Finish Group, and confirm the meeting schedule.

According to the Scrutiny Review Proposal Form A, the intention of the review was to take a forward look at how the processes for identifying suitable mitigation for development could be improved, including learning from previous agreements. The review was expected to consider:

1. What is included in Section 106 agreements.
2. How West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) would ensure that Section 106 delivers what is required.
3. The political and community role in influencing the mitigation of development.
4. How to ensure continued two-way communication during any future changes and future delivery phases.
5. The transparency of funds available and the mechanism for delivering funding to recipient organisations.
6. The ongoing monitoring and action plan to deliver these actions.

The review was also expected to consider the consultation process for members and parish councils to set out what mitigation they consider is necessary to address the impacts of development, and the measures that officers can take to assist members and parish councils to ensure they are well equipped to identify suitable mitigation.

Budget Monitoring and Setting

The committee was scheduled to receive a verbal update on Budget Monitoring 2025-26 and Budget Setting 2026-27.

Waste Collections and Cleansing Review

The committee was scheduled to receive a verbal update from meetings of the Member Working Group on waste collections and cleansing.

Review of Committee Work Programme

The committee was scheduled to review and note the Work Programme.