Agenda item

Statements from Council Owned Companies

To receive any statements from Directors of Council Owned Companies.

 

In accordance with Procedure Rule 4.2.24 the total time allocated to this item shall not exceed 10 minutes, and no Director, except with the consent of Council, shall speak for more than 3 minutes.

Minutes:

Shahid Younis, Loddon Homes

 

I would like to make a statement as Chairman of Loddon Homes. In May, UllaKarin Clark stepped down as Chairman of Loddon Homes and Lindsay Ferris resigned his post as Non-Executive Director. Myself and Norman Jorgensen were nominated to the Board by WBC. I am pleased to say that I was elected as Chairman at a meeting earlier this week. I want to convey my thanks to UllaKarin and Councillor Ferris for their valuable time served. I look forward to working closely with the other Non-Executive Directors who will bring with them a wealth of knowledge and will collectively provide appropriate commercial challenge and operational scrutiny whilst ensuring that Loddon Homes maintains its independence as a registered provider.

 

For the benefit of our new Members, Loddon Homes is a “for profit” registered provider of social and affordable housing. We currently hold 112 properties in our portfolio with a further 40 under construction. This week the Loddon Homes Board signed off the end of year financial accounts for 2020/21 and recorded a small profit of £3k. Whilst the recorded profit may not appear to be significant, Loddon Homes continues to make a positive financial return to the Council through the strategic payment of interest charges associated with the development bill. This is in addition to the payment of services across the Council such as finance and legal support as well as well as the housing management function provided via tenant services.

 

Despite delays associated with Covid-19, Brexit and industry-wide construction material shortages, Arnott Avenue and the first phase of the Gorse Ride regeneration programme is progressing well. 26 properties have now been handed over and the quality of the finished homes is excellent. The residents are very happy with the new homes. The final 30 shared ownership properties at this site are due to be handed over in late October with 19 of the 20 flats already reserved.

 

Loddon Homes has taken its first steps into the S106 market and has been selected as a registered provider of choice by two developers. We are purchasing four houses from Hicks Development for shared ownership in Earley and Hurst. This market has remained robust despite Covid-19 and all the shared ownership properties are selling well. We are also purchasing 16 supported living properties within the Hatch Farm Dairies estate in Winnersh.

 

Loddon Homes has also received funding from the Ministry for Housing and Local Government to buy five one bedroom properties on the open market for rough sleepers in the Borough. Loddon Homes were able to secure four of the five properties and we are now beginning to offer those residents a new start in the Borough in safe and secure homes.

 

Stuart Munro, Wokingham Holdings Ltd

This is a good time to give this speech, straight after Councillor Younis. It gives me great pleasure to talk about the results of the Council companies, all the Housing companies. As Members may recall, this is to invest then get a return, like most businesses. I have the figures for 2018/19 and 2019/20. The presentation of 2020/21 will be finalised fairly soon. It is important to reiterate these numbers as they clearly show the progress made so far. So I will go through each one.

 

Wokingham Borough Holdings Ltd., the overall holding company which invests in the other companies has moved from 2018/19 at £212,000 investment to £62,000 investment, an improvement of £150,000.

 

Wokingham Housing Ltd. showed a profit in 2018/19 of £153,000. In 2019/20 that moved to £650,000, an improvement of £497,000.

 

Loddon Homes moved from a loss of £218,000 in 2018/19 to a profit of £54,000, an improvement of £164,000.

 

Berry Brook Homes moved from an investment of £231,000 to a profit of £15,000, an improvement of £256,000.

 

So, overall, an investment in the early years of £508,000 to a profit of £650,000. That is an improvement of £1.165m. This is turnaround of over £1m, as I have just said. I am also happy to say that, despite Covid-19 issues, we are on course to continue to deliver not only much needed affordable homes, as you heard from Councillor Younis, but also to deliver profits to be used for the Borough’s residents. Operationally and financially all the company projects remain on course as originally planned.

 

Charles Margetts, Optalis

Optalis celebrates its 10th birthday this year. It is now more closely aligned and delivering more value to WBC than ever before. Recent years have seen a real focus on service improvements and also financial efficiency which has led to the following highlights.

 

The Supported Employment Service remains No 1 in the south east for the last two years and No 3 in the UK for learning disability employment outcomes. Optalis continues to redesign and improve key services, a recent example being the Community Lives Programme which is about day servicers, building on the best of what we currently offer and enabling customers to take a more active part in the community.

 

The Short Term Reablement Team has recently had a CQC inspection and was rated Good, which demonstrates the support people receive to enable them to reach their full potential of independence. Optalis staff have worked very hard through the pandemic to keep all of their customers safe. I would like to commend David Birch and his team, everyone who works there who have worked really well for our Care Homes Task Force.

 

Optalis is now completely aligned form a strategic perspective with WBC. WBC services within Optalis have been financially ring-fenced so there is no question of any cross-subsidy between WBC and RBWM. The Council now has complete visibility and input into everything the company does. Transparency has been key to building trust in what Optalis does for the Council and residents.

 

In terms of financial efficiencies these changes have led to a £1m one-off saving over the last two years. Optalis is on course to deliver a further £1.4m ongoing saving over the life of the MTFP.

 

Changes coming in the future including streamlining of governance and management which will, I think, give more control over what we are doing and where we are going and will see further improvements. I hope to say more about this in coming meetings.

 

Norman Jorgensen, Loddon Homes

I was pleased to join the Board of Loddon Homes recently, as Councillor Younis has stated. It is great to see the progress the companies have made over the past few years. I was last involved in the Holding Company about five years ago. A lot of really good schemes have gone through since then, which is great, including the first phase of the Gorse Ride scheme. So we are now getting quality homes built for our residents, affordable social housing and shared equity schemes.

 

So it is great to be able to help so many of our residents. The many projects being completed already and the many more in the pipeline, which is very encouraging. If we can do that and make a return to the Council, I commend the work that the company is doing.