Issue - meetings

That:

1)              authority be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Lead Member for Finance and Housing, to approve the transfer of land or property to the Council’s housing companies for the purposes of providing new homes to address agreed local housing need and where appropriate at less than market value in line with The General Housing Consents 2013 or subsequent amendments;

2)              authority be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Lead Member for Finance and Housing, to approve the funding (grant and/or loans) of any new homes provided by the Council through its Housing Revenue Account or its housing companies provided the funding required has been approved as part of the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan and within existing borrowing approvals and the new homes contribute to the Housing 1-4-5 Challenge and address agreed local housing need;

3)              authority be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with WBC (Holdings) Ltd, to approve the interest rate at which any long term loan is charged to the Council’s housing companies for any new housing developments.

(Councillor Clark and Councillor Kaiser declared personal interests in this item)

The Executive considered a report setting out an approval process for new housing projects that would contribute towards the Council’s Housing 1-4-5 +100 challenge.

The Executive Member for Finance and Housing informed the meeting about the background to the 1-4-5 +100 challenge and explained that the proposal within the report was to enable land that the Council owned to be identified and turned into decent homes.  Councillor Kaiser highlighted the importance of the proposals as the sooner homes could be built the quicker people could be housed.  When considering possible sites the Council wanted to ensure that homes were built in places where the infrastructure eg shops, schools, facilities etc was there to support the residents living in them. 

RECOMMENDATION that:

1)              authority be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Lead Member for Finance and Housing, to approve the transfer of land or property to the Council’s housing companies for the purposes of providing new homes to address agreed local housing need and where appropriate at less than market value in line with The General Housing Consents 2013 or subsequent amendments;

2)              authority be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Lead Member for Finance and Housing, to approve the funding (grant and/or loans) of any new homes provided by the Council through its Housing Revenue Account or its housing companies provided the funding required has been approved as part of the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan and within existing borrowing approvals and the new homes contribute to the Housing 1-4-5 Challenge and address agreed local housing need;

3)              authority be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with WBC (Holdings) Ltd, to approve the interest rate at which any long term loan is charged to the Council’s housing companies for any new housing developments.