Agenda item

To consider the joint report of the Director of Environment and Housing and the Director of City Development providing an update on the Council Housing Growth Programme and the sites that have been identified for development. The report also provides details of the sites where a bid has been submitted to the HCA for grant funding, details of the rental strategy to be adopted, as new properties developed through grant funding from the HCA will need to be charged as affordable rents, which is 80% of market rent levels. Finally, the report provides an update on the work undertaken to develop a ‘Leeds Standard’ which will include design approaches to reduce running costs by providing a more energy efficient product and information on the proposed ‘Lettings Policy’ for the new build Council properties. 

(Please note that Appendix 1 to this report are designated as exempt under the provisions of Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4(3))

Further to Minute No. 45, 17^th July 2013, the Director of Environment and Housing and the Director of City Development submitted a joint report providing an update on the Council Housing Growth Programme and the sites that had been identified for development. In addition, the report also provided details of the sites where a bid had been submitted to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) for grant funding, together with details of the rental strategy to be adopted. Finally, the report provided an update on the work undertaken to develop a standard of finish which would include design approaches aimed at reducing running costs by providing a more energy efficient product and also information on the proposed ‘Lettings Policy’ for the new build Council properties.

By way of an introduction to the submitted report, the Executive Member for Neighbourhoods, Planning and Personnel emphasised the scale and ambitious nature of the programme. In addition, the Board noted that Scrutiny Board (Housing and Regeneration) was scheduled to consider the Council’s Lettings Policy as part of its work programme.

In considering the report, Members discussed the following:-

·  The need to ensure that neighbourhoods were ‘liveable’ and sustainable;

·  The importance of design quality and energy efficiency standards which were being developed as part of the programme;

·  The need to demonstrate to the HCA that the Local Authority was able to successfully deliver such an ambitious programme;

·  The accommodation needs which needed to be addressed in the outer areas of the city, as well as those in the inner areas;

·  The vital importance of housing provision for the elderly across the city.

Following consideration of appendix 1 to the submitted report, designated as exempt from publication under the provisions of Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4(3), which was considered in private at the conclusion of the meeting, it was

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the progress on the development of the Council Housing Growth

Programme be noted;

(b)  That the development of a new rental strategy for new build Council properties which are funded through the Homes and Communities Agency’s Affordable Homes Programme, be agreed;

(c)  That the progress made against the development of a new approach to the standard of the final product, as it relates to the development of new council housing, be noted;

(d)   That a new approach for the allocations of new build Council homes be agreed, and that approval be given for the Director of Environment and Housing to approve local lettings policies;

(e)  That the further injection of £20,194,000 into the Council Housing Growth Programme from the HRA, with authority to spend of £30,120,000 per the table at paragraph 6.7 of the submitted report be approved, and that £10,194,000 of the new injection be utilised from reserves and additional available ‘Right To Buy’ (RTB) receipts and £10,000,000 from unsupported borrowing.

(f)  That responsibility for the delivery of the resolutions above be delegated to the Director of Environment and Housing.

(g)   Thata further report be submitted to Executive Board in September 2014 outlining the work that is being developed to achieve ‘quality’ and ‘quantity’ as part of the overall Housing Growth Programme.