Agenda item

Report of the Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Safety and Communications and the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Housing

The Board considered the report of the Portfolio Holder for Planning and Housing seeking approval to begin the process of the residential development of the Padstow and Ridgeway sites. The report sets out the Council’s desire to procure a developer to deliver a mixture of market sale and affordable housing across both sites.

The Portfolio Holder advised the Board that these developments would work towards achieving the Councils target of buying or building 1000 new council homes and would retain open and green space within the developments.

RESOLVED to:

(1)   To appropriate the land under S122 of the Local Government Act 1972 for Planning  (Development) purposes in advance of the proposed sale and/or development of the sites for housing development;

(2)  To declare the former Henry Whipple annex surplus, and to include it within the Padstow development site, and for the holding department to remain responsible for all the revenue costs of holding the building until the property is sold including, but not limited to, security costs, utilities, business rates and maintenance costs;

(3)  To commence the procurement process to select a developer partner to acquire a proportion of the Padstow and Ridgeway sites for private residential development, and to build new Council housing under licence on the remainder;

(4)  To approve the current estimated project costs as set in the Exempt appendix;

(5)  To transfer the land for the new private housing to the successful

Developer at a price to be determined through the procurement process;

(6)  To engage external legal support to assist with preparation of the development agreement, transfer deeds and ancillary contract documentation, and to support the procurement process and the subsequent conveyancing work;

(7)  To approve the provision of a budget to cover the cost of external legal support through the General Fund, which will be reimbursed through the capital receipt for the land, in line with the projected costs set out in the exempt appendix;

(8)  To amend the Housing Revenue Account capital programme to cover the development of 93 new affordable housing units, to be built by the developer, owned by Nottingham City Council (NCC), and managed by Nottingham City Homes (NCH), in line with the projected costs set out in the exempt appendix;

(9)  To delegate authority to the Corporate Director for Development and Growth, in consultation with the Leader of the Council/Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Safety and Communications, to approve the final terms and conditions of the development agreement and the disposal for both sites, and to award the contract following completion of the procurement process;

(10)  To delegate authority to the Director of Strategic Assets and Property to approve any additional actions and expenditure which will maximise the value of the sites;

(11)  To transfer the land on which the Housing Revenue Account properties will be built from the General Fund to the HRA, on terms to be agreed by the Director of Strategic Assets and Property.

Reasons for Decision

The proposals support the City Council’s Quality Homes for All (2018-2021) housing strategy by ensuring good quality housing with diverse tenure is available to citizens.

The development of these sites for predominantly family housing is supported by the existing and the emerging Local Plan. By procuring a developer the Council retains a degree of control; over the programme of the new build. The Council will also retain a degree of control over the quality, quantity ownership and delivery of affordable new housing.

It is necessary to appropriate the land under Section 122 of the Local Government Act 197 to change the land from Education use to a site for future development. This process removes the third party remedy of seeking an injunction, such as stopping up of public rights of way, which would delay development.

The competitive tender process will allow the Council a greater degree of control over the agreed project however will take a considerable amount of officer time, for this reason external resources need to be appointed to ensure necessary support is in place.

The new Council housing element of the development will contribute to the spending of the Right to Buy replacement fund which are time limited. Failure to spend them within this time limit will mean that the Council would have return them to Central Government with interest.

Other options considered

There were a number of other options considered, the first was to do nothing. This option was rejected as the sites have been identified for residential development  within the Local Plan and the development will contribute to meeting the Council’s housing targets.

The next option considered was to sell the land to a developer. This was rejected as it does not allow the Council the degree of control over quality and delivery  of the new housing and would result in fewer affordable housing options for citizens.

The last option was to put 100% council housing on both sites. This option was rejected as the surrounding area has a relatively high level of Council housing and this mixed development gives the opportunity in increase the mix of tenures in the area.