Issue - meetings

Report No: CAB/WS/19/041

Portfolio Holder: Cllr Sara Mildmay-White   Lead Officer: Julie Baird

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: (17 December 2019)

That:-

1.       Taking into account the financial and risk implications set out in Report No: CAB/WS/19/041 and Exempt Appendix A, the Barley Homes Business Plan 2019 be agreed.

2.       In order to bring the Barley Homes Business Plan 2019 into effect:

(a)         A revenue budget of £350,000 be established to fund the Council’s share of costs to progress planning applications for the Mildenhall site and also the development of future pipeline sites;

(b)         A capital budget of £5m be established, funded from the Investing in our Growth Agenda, to support the issuing of equity and loan financing (to increase the existing £7.5m facility) to facilitate the development of the two additional sites identified in the Business Plan;

(c)     It is noted that in order to facilitate the developments within the Business Plan, the Council will be required to acquire sites from partners and subsequently dispose of these to Barley Homes.

(Report No: CAB/WS/19/041)

The Cabinet considered this report which set out:

-     the current development proposals being put forward for Barley Homes;

-     the longer-term approach to developing a ‘pipeline’ of developments for Barley Homes; and

-     the seeking of Council’s endorsement to the funding necessary to deliver these proposals.

In order to support the development of the Business Plan, the Cabinet noted that Officers had undertaken a wide range of work to evaluate potential development sites, considered the financial implications arising from the sites and considered the governance arrangements in place.  This work had been set in the context of the Council’s emerging Strategic Framework and the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).

Whilst the proposed Business Plan focused on bringing forward two new sites (in addition to the two sites currently under development), work had been undertaken to assess other future development opportunities for Barley Homes, referred to as the ‘pipeline’.

The details of the sites were included in the Business Plan(Exempt Appendix A to Report No: CAB/WS/19/041) and were forecasted to deliver an additional (over and above the existing two Haverhill sites) 118 homes, 30% of which would be affordable, and all built to the Government’s minimum size standard.  These were to be delivered across two sites, one in Mildenhall and the other near Bury St Edmunds. In recommending these sites, the Cabinet noted that this would contribute to the geographical reach of Barley Homes, adding to the committed two sites in Haverhill. Combined, these would generate a steady build out rate, delivering 181 homes over a five year period, starting in Autumn 2019.  

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: (17 December 2019)

That:-

1.           Taking into account the financial and risk implications set out in Report No: CAB/WS/19/041 and Exempt Appendix A, the Barley Homes Business Plan 2019 be agreed.

2.           In order to bring the Barley Homes Business Plan 2019 into effect:

(a)         A revenue budget of £350,000 be established to fund the Council’s share of costs to progress planning applications for the Mildenhall site and also the development of future pipeline sites;

(b)         A capital budget of £5m be established, funded from the Investing in our Growth Agenda, to support the issuing of equity and loan financing (to increase the existing £7.5m facility) to facilitate the development of the two additional sites identified in the Business Plan;

(c)     It is noted that in order to facilitate the developments within the Business Plan, the Council will be required to acquire sites from partners and subsequently dispose of these to Barley Homes.