To approve the allocation of budget to deliver the mobilisation phase of the procurement programme following the appointment of a developer to work in partnership with the council in delivering the development and regeneration programme.

The cabinet member contracts and assets introduced the item. He noted that the past months had been spent evaluating a preferred development partner for the development and regeneration programme (DRP). The report currently before cabinet was to support the finalisation of the contract and set out the costs involved.

The programme director housing and growth summarised the report. He highlighted that:

·         in June 2016 cabinet decided to carry out a procurement exercise to identify a strategic development partner;

·         the objective of the programme was to achieve maximum benefit for the council from the land and assets it owned, particularly in relation to economic and housing growth;

·         many authorities across the country were going through similar processes;

·         in July 2017 cabinet approved a recommendation to appoint Keepmoat Homes as the preferred development partner;

·         since that decision the council had undertaken due diligence in the relation to the contract and the stand still period set out in the procurement arrangements had been fulfilled; and

·         the recommendations now put before cabinet sought to mobilise the contract and start work on the first phase of sites to be assessed for potential development.

The cabinet member finance, housing and corporate services asked whether, in light of the additional projects on the potential list for the development partner to assist in delivering, the council should consider allocating additional capital to this area of spend over the next two years. The current allocation being £20m.

The programme manager confirmed that there might be future requests for additional funding based on a case by case assessment of each site appraisal.

The cabinet member infrastructure queried how the figure of £503k for client side capital costs was arrived at. The programme manager responded that the figure was simply an assessment of the requirements as seen at the time.

Group leaders were asked to give the views of their group.

The leader of the Its Our County group asked for confirmation that full due diligence had been carried out, whether the preferred development partner had expressed an interest in delivering student accommodation and whether the council would have sufficient input or control over the dwelling mix on sites developed for housing to meet local housing needs.

The programme manager confirmed that full due diligence had been carried out, that Keepmoat Homes had expressed an interest in developing student accommodation and had previous experience of delivering such accommodation. He also confirmed that the mix of dwellings on housing sites would take account of the latest housing needs assessments at the time they were developed.

The leader of the green group sought assurance that due diligence had been carried out on Keepmoat Homes. She stated that detailed questions on the delivery of the objectives and of affordable housing would be sent outside of the meeting. The group leader reported that Keepmoat Homes had not performed well in dealing with the community when redeveloping the barons cross estate in Leominster. It was hoped that this bad experience was a one-off. The role of scrutiny in evaluating the performance of the contract was also queried.

The programme manager stated that the partnership would give the council the opportunity to work on improving relations with communities surrounding development sites. The input of scrutiny would be valuable in relation to the management of the contract including look at the progress, conduct and success of the partnership. There would be a number of key performance indicators agreed as part of the contract and these would be tested through council processes.

Resolved that:

(a)   legal and commercial support to finalise the contract (development and regeneration programme overarching agreement) with the development partner be procured at a cost of not more than £90k;

(b)   subject to satisfactory completion of contractual arrangements the appointed development partner be requested to develop within 3 months of the formal request being made, a stage 1 submission, including a business case and estimated timescales for housing on the Bromyard depot land and paddock site;

(c)   subject to satisfactory completion of contractual arrangements, to include the tranche 1 projects – county bus station and car park; Model Farm, Ross-on-Wye; Hildersley SUE, Ross-on-Wye – onto the programme subject to the council completing its internal (stage 0) approval, including options appraisal, for each site;

(d)   the council’s client side revenue costs, estimated at £155k annually, be funded from within existing operational budgets; the client side capital costs, including externally commissioned professional services, are estimated at £503k annually and are included in the council’s capital programme; and

(e)   the programme director growth be authorised, following consultation with the chief finance officer, to take all operational decisions necessary to allocate the above client side resources in accordance with contractual and client side requirements.