Issue - meetings

The Council is required to produce a comprehensive Business Plan for its housing stock. The Business Plan is focused on improving the quality of the Council’s landlord services and sets out the investment priorities for its existing Council housing stock. The document also provides details of the Council’s new build and acquisition housing programme. In view of policy changes implemented by the Government in 2016, it was necessary to reduce the Council’s target to deliver up to 300 homes over the next 10 years, to up to 200 homes over the next 10 years. Further Government Policy Changes announced in late 2018 and the financial position within the HRA, mean that the Council is once again able to increase its delivery target for new builds and the updated Business Plan is based on delivering up to 300 homes. The report also provides an update on the number of homes delivered to date through the programme and also on the number of sites currently in the pipeline.

The Council is required to produce a comprehensive Business Plan for its housing stock. The Business Plan is focused on improving the quality of the Council’s landlord services and sets out the investment priorities for its existing Council housing stock. The document also provided details of the Council’s new build and acquisition housing programme. In view of policy changes implemented by the Government in 2016, it was necessary to reduce the Council’s target to deliver up to 300 homes over the next 10 years, to up to 200 homes over the next 10 years. Further Government Policy Changes announced in late 2018 and the financial position within the HRA, mean that the Council is once again able to increase its delivery target for new builds and the updated Business Plan is based on delivering up to 300 homes. The report also provided an update on the number of homes delivered to date through the programme and also on the number of sites currently in the pipeline.

The report was also considered at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 12 March 2019. Their comments had been circulated to the Cabinet Members at the meeting.

Proposed by Councillor Ewart-James,

Seconded by Councillor Mrs Hollingsbee; and

RESOLVED:

1.        That report C/18/77 be received and noted.

2.        That the Council increase the number of homes delivered through its HRA new build and acquisition programme to up to 300 homes over the period to 2025/26 based on the updated Business Plan.

3.        That the Cabinet Member for Housing should approve any necessary changes to the text of the HRA Business Plan as necessary due to this change in the new build and acquisition programme.

(Voting figures: 10 for, 0 against, 0 abstentions).

REASONS FOR DECISION:

Cabinet was asked to agree the recommendations because:

a)    The Council is required by Government to have a comprehensive Business Plan in place for its Housing Stock and other assets within the HRA.

b)    The Council is required to properly plan the repayment of its debt within the HRA. It is essential that it has an effective Business Plan to properly resource its HRA activity.

c)    The Government has announced a number of policy changes in relation to the HRA accounts held by local authorities.  It is vital that the Council keeps its HRA Business Plan under ongoing review to ensure that it remains fit for purpose. These changes have significantly impacted on the scale of the Council’s new build and housing acquisition programme.