This paper seeks agreement to proceed with the creation of a Housing Pipeline Investigation Account budget which could be utilised to procure technical services to undertake initial site studies for sites in third party ownership to advance the creation of a pipeline of developable sites.

That:

a)    Create a Housing Pipeline Investigation Account from the capital Strategic Housing Development budget up to £350,000 which could be utilised to procure technical services to undertake initial site studies for sites in third party ownership to enable the delivery of council owned housing; and

b)   The Director of Economy and Place be given delegated authority to spend the funds,following consultation with the Chief Financial Officer, and to take all operational decisions including the procurement of third party services to complete the required technical services.

1.            The council could choose not to intervene in the provision of affordable housing in the County and rely on the current arrangement of Registered Providers (RPs) and house builders to meet provision. However, the type and scale of development produced via RPs and private house builders in recent times has not kept pace with demand for affordable housing seen as one of the key components of the County Plan.

2.            The council could chose not to create a Housing Pipeline Investigation Account and to seek a governance decision on a site by site basis to complete all technical investigation work into each potential third party owned site that will be considered for progressing the housing strategy. However this option was ruled out as it would potentially impact on the council’s ability to proceed with any site exploration in a timely manner and putting council at a competitive disadvantage against commercial operators.

3.           The council could choose not to proceed with the feasibility studies of any third party owned sites and only explore the feasibility of selected council owned sites already identified to facilitate affordable housing ownership. However this option was ruled out as it is apparent that there are not sufficient council owned sites proceedable due to various constraints to deliver the 2,500 homes required to meet the Cabinet strategic target.