To approve the appointment of a developer to work in partnership with the council in delivering the development and regeneration programme.

The cabinet member for contracts and assets introduced the report. He noted that the announcement of the development partner was the culmination of many months of work. He stated that this was one of the most important areas that the council could consider at a time when there was a need both to protect the future of the council and to look at ways of best investing significant resources the council may be obtaining.

The programme director housing and growth noted that the procurement process had taken around 12 months. The partnership was being promoted as a huge opportunity for the council to raise capital, deliver revenue receipts and to contribute towards housing growth targets. The partnership would support the One Public Estate programme and economic development.

The interim procurement manager announced that as a result of the final tender evaluation Keepmoat Homes Limited were recommended as the preferred bidder.

The programme director housing and growth explained that a standstill period would follow the announcement during which all the bidders would be able to review the results and place challenges. As a result only limited information could be released at this stage. The council would look to sign an overarching agreement with the development partner in September 2017. A development programme would be put together, taking account of known land opportunities already discussed. The final say on which sites were included in the programme would remain with the cabinet.

It was noted that the contract with the development partner would place the financial risk on the developer. The programme would be managed by the programme director housing and growth and supported by both internal resources and commissioning of tasks through the property services department on a case by case basis. The longer term aim would be to fund any additional capacity needed through appropriate capitalisation of costs. The programme director was confident that the resources would be in place to manage the programme effectively.

The group leaders were invited to make comments on behalf of their group.

The leader of the Herefordshire Independents asked if Keepmoat Homes Limited had been involved in similar schemes elsewhere in the country. It was confirmed that the model proposed for Herefordshire had been used by other councils such as Flintshire and Liverpool City Council and that a number of councils were in the process of setting up such models. Keepmoat Homes had a reputation for making long term regeneration commitments. Details of areas where they had worked previously would be supplied in writing.

The group leader commented that the programme would need a considerable amount of officer time and resource to ensure that it was properly managed. The leader of the council agreed with this assessment and stated that the programme director would have the necessary support.

The group leader asked who would set the profit level under the proposed contact. The interim procurement manager explained that the developer had bid a fixed level of profit as their reward for taking on the risk  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26