Decision details

Housing Infrastructure Fund Mariginal Viability Fund Grant Funding Agreement: Leopold Street

Reference: D48328

Decision Maker: Director of Resources

Is Key decision?: Yes

Is subject to call in?: No

Purpose:

Approval for Leeds City Council to enter into a funding agreement with Homes England for the sum of £990,000 Housing Infrastructure Funding to be utilised on remediation works to facilitate the delivery of housing at Leopold Street

Decision:

The Director of Resources & Housing provided approval for Leeds City Council to enter into a funding agreement with Homes England for the sum of £990,000 Housing Infrastructure Funding to be utilised on remediation works to facilitate the delivery of housing at Leopold Street. The final version of the funding agreement is attached at Confidential Appendix 1.

 

Approval is given to Legal Services to finalise the detail of and for the Council enter into funding agreements with ChaCo and Unity HA for the HIF grant on the basis of the terms and conditions outlined within the finalised funding agreement at Confidential Appendix 1.

 

The Director of Resources & Housing approved ‘Exemption to Call In’ for this decision as outlined at 5.1.3 of the Executive and Decision Making Procedure Rules.

Reason Key: Expenditure > £250,000;

Wards Affected: Chapel Allerton;

If the decision has not been published in the List of Forthcoming Key Decisions for at least 28 clear days, the reason why it would be impracticable to delay the decision:: Following lengthy and protracted legal negotiations, there is a criticality around the signing of the decision to enter into the funding agreement between Leeds City Council and Homes England. As the detailed Terms & Conditions were not finalised until mid-January 2019, there has been no previous opportunity to bring this decision forward for approval, as any detail outlined in previous draft agreements would have not been accurate and could have exposed the Council to unnecessary risk. Therefore, given the above rationale and due to there being insufficient time for notification of this Key Decision to be on the List of Forthcoming Key Decisions for the usual 28 day period, this decision is being taken under the ‘General Exception’ and ‘Exempt from Call In’ procedures, as outlined in Leeds City Council’s constitution.

If exempt from Call-In, the reason why Call-In would prejudice the interests of the Council or the public:: The scheme start on site has been delayed for 12 months and any further potential delay could result in the scheme becoming financially unviable and undeliverable due to an increase in development costs. Furthermore, an additional c£1.3m of external grant funding could be lost if the scheme does not commence immediately from the signing of the funding agreement.

Contact: Sarah May 0113 3787710 Email: sarah.may@leeds.gov.uk.

Publication date: 24/01/2019

Date of decision: 01/02/2019

Accompanying Documents: