Agenda item

Cabinet

Authorised:

1.            The making of the London Borough of Havering (Briar Road) Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO/the Order) 2014 under Section 17 and Part XVII of the Housing Act 1985, and the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 to acquire all leasehold interests with the block 9-35 Briar Road, Harold Hill to develop new residential flats and houses.  The premises detailed for acquisition were shown on the plan in Appendix 2 to the report.

2.            The Director of Legal and Governance to alter the CPO boundary as shown on the plan in Appendix 2 to the report so as to exclude any land/interests acquired prior to the sealing of the Order.

3.            The Director of Legal and Governance to seal the Order and take all necessary steps, including the publication of all statutory notices, to secure confirmation of the Order (with or without modifications).

4.            The Director of Legal and Governance (in the event that the Secretary of State notifying the Council that it had been given the power to confirm the Compulsory Purchase Order, to confirm the Order and take all steps necessary to secure possession of the property, including the making of a General Vesting Declaration if he or she was satisfied that it was appropriate to do so.

5.            The Head of Homes and Housing and/or the Property Services Manager both in advance of and after the making and confirmation of the Order, to arrange for negotiations to proceed with the owners of leaseholders interests and rights in the land with a view to acquiring those interests and rights by agreement if possible but thereafter by determination, and to pay such compensation for the acquisition of the interests and rights as may be proper and reasonable

Approved:

6.            An allocation of £495,000 from Right-to-Buy receipts should be agreed for this new build programme.

7.            The entering into a funding agreement with the GLA to enable the Council to receive grant.

8.            The commencement of the process of procuring the main contractor/s to deliver the schemes.

9.            The appropriation of the proposed development site at Ongar way into the HRA should this be necessary.

Noted:

10.         That the specific financial allocations from all sources were applied to the constituent schemes as detailed in Appendix 3 to the report and noted that the requested increase to the capital budget was £22,756,000 inclusive of the externally funded grant from the GLA of £3,192,000 and that the increase be agreed and will be referred to Council for final approval. 

11.         That the proceeds of the shared ownership home sales should be spent on housing and/or regeneration projects. 

12.         That properties at Diana Princess of Wales House, Ongar Way, Kilmartin Way and Dewsbury Road previously agreed by Cabinet for disposal in the open market were now being retained for direct housing development and that earlier Cabinet decisions regarding those sales were superseded by this report.

Agreed

13.         That an allocation of £19,069,000 resources from the HRA Business Plan should be agreed across the whole of new build programme (whether in addition to GLA or RTB funds), for expenditure across 2015/16 to 2017/18.

Delegated

14.         Authority to the Lead Member for Housing to make variations to any of the schemes covered in the report, including virement between schemes, deemed desirable following scheme review, resident consultation and/or identified as a planning requirement unless the variations would incur additional capital investment by the Council in which case the approval of Cabinet and Council would be sought.

Councillor Damian White, Cabinet Member for Housing, introduced the report

In line with the Council’s commitment to address the local need for good quality affordable homes, approval had been given by the Leader of the Council on 4^th March 2014 to submit bids to the Greater London Authority (GLA) to attract inward funding for new build housing schemes.  Although the bidding round had been extremely competitive, the Council had been successful in securing £3,192,000inward investment from the GLA to fund development in the borough.  This funding covered six schemes consisting of 117 new homes and a shop unit integrated into one of the housing schemes. 

Cabinet was informed that the report sought authority to allocate the required complementary funding from unallocated Housing Revenue Account (HRA) capital sources.

The report also sought authority to allocate Right-to-Buy receipts and the required complementary funding from unallocated HRA capital resources for two additional schemes at Kilmartin Way and Dewsbury Road.  GLA funding had not been sought for these as the combined use of right-to-buy and other HRA resources was sufficient.  Those schemes would deliver 10 new homes, making a total of 127 new homes.

In addition, as part of the enabling programme, the report also sought permission to proceed with the making of a compulsory purchase order (CPO) generally under the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 and specifically under Section 17 of the Housing Act 1985 to compulsory acquire the leasehold interests within the block 9-35 Briar Road, Harold Hill, RM3 8AH located on the Briar Road Estate, Harold Hill, in the event of acquisition by agreement proving to be unsuccessful.

Reasons for the decision:

Development of the proposed schemes would meet a well-documented housing need and was fully in accord with the Council’s Housing Strategy 2014-17.  The schemes would provide a range of rented and shared ownership homes for local people.  The new homes would remain a Council asset and a significant element of the overall programme attracted GLA subsidy.

The programme would ensure the final phase of the Briar Road Estate Regeneration scheme would be completed while the selection of other small sites made good use of existing underused assets to deliver new homes.

Developing on Council-owned land and retaining control over the new dwellings would strengthen the Council’s housing portfolio and future revenue sources.

Other options considered:

Disposal of the land for development by a housing association or private developer – REJECTED.

The proposals to expand its existing development programme rather than to dispose of the sites would ensure that the Council retained full control over the type, number and quality of homes developed and retained control over allocation through existing Housing policy.

It was also important to note that should the Council not be able to spend its right-to-buy receipts within three years of their generation, they would need to be returned to the HCA/GLA with interest.  These proposals would obviate the risk of this.

Cabinet

Authorised:

1.           The making of the London Borough of Havering (Briar Road) Compulsory Purchase Order 2014 under Section 17 and Part XVII of the Housing Act 1985, and the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 to acquire all leasehold interests with the block 9-35 Briar Road, Harold Hill to develop new residential flats and houses.  The premises detailed for acquisition were shown on the plan in Appendix 2 to the report.

2.           The Director of Legal and Governance to alter the Compulsory Purchase Order boundary as shown on the plan in Appendix 2 to the report so as to exclude any land/interests acquired prior to the sealing of the Order.

3.           The Director of Legal and Governance to seal the Order and take all necessary steps, including the publication of all statutory notices, to secure confirmation of the Order (with or without modifications).

4.           The Director of Legal and Governance (in the event that the Secretary of State notified the Council that it had been given the power to confirm the Compulsory Purchase Order to confirm the Order and take all steps necessary to secure possession of the property, including the making of a General Vesting Declaration if he or she was satisfied that it was appropriate to do so.

5.           The Head of Homes and Housing and/or the Property Services Manager both in advance of and after the making and confirmation of the CPO, to arrange for negotiations to proceed with the owners of leaseholders interests and rights in the land with a view to acquiring those interests and rights by agreement if possible but thereafter by determination, and to pay such compensation for the acquisition of the interests and rights as might be proper and reasonable

Approved:

6.            That an allocation of £495,000 from Right-to-Buy receipts should be agreed for this new build programme.

7.            The entering into a funding agreement with the GLA to enable the Council to receive the grant.

8.            The commencement of the process of procuring the main contractor/s to deliver the schemes.

9.            The appropriation of the proposed development site at Ongar way into the HRA should this be necessary.

Noted:

10.         That the specific financial allocations from all sources were applied to the constituent schemes as detailed in Appendix 3 to this report and noted that the requested increase to the capital budget was £22,756,000 inclusive of the externally funded grant from the GLA of £3,192,000 and that this increase was agreed and will be referred to council for final approval. 

11.         That the Cabinet resolved to spend the proceeds of the shared ownership home sales, on housing and/or regeneration projects. 

12.         That properties at Diana Princess of Wales House, Ongar Way, Kilmartin Way and Dewsbury Road previously agreed by Cabinet for disposal in the open market were now being retained for direct housing development and that the earlier Cabinet decisions regarding these sales were superseded by the report.

13.         Agreed that an allocation of £19,069,000 resources from the HRA Business Plan should be agreed across the whole of the new build programme (whether in addition to GLA or RTB funds), for expenditure across 2015/16 to 2017/18.

14.         Delegated authority to the Lead Member for Housing to make variations to any of the schemes covered in the report, including virement between schemes deemed desirable following scheme review, resident consultation and/or identified as a planning requirement unless the variations would incur additional capital investment by the Council in which case the approval of Cabinet and Council would be sought.