Hillingdon Council Cabinet Member and Officer Decisions
Housing Revenue Account New General Needs Housing Stock (Housing Buy-Back Scheme) - RELEASE NO: 5 - PART II
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Capital Release Decision Notice – 02 February 2021 OFFICIAL DECISION NOTICE PUBLISHED BY DEMOCRATIC SERVICES ON 02 FEBRUARY 2021 The Leader of the Council, the Cabinet Member for Finance and the Cabinet Member for Property and Infrastructure have made the following decision today: 1. LEADER OF THE COUNCIL, CABINET MEMBER FOR FINANCE AND CABINET MEMBER FOR PROPERTY AND INFRASTRUCTURE CAPITAL RELEASE REPORT (January 2021) DEPARTMENT: Residents Services SERVICE AREA / PROGRAMME: Housing Revenue Account New General Needs Housing Stock (Housing Buy-Back Scheme) RELEASE NO: 5 DECISION: FULL APPROVAL That the Leader of the Council, the Cabinet Member for Finance and the Cabinet Member for Property and Infrastructure: 1. Agreed to the capital release requests of £2,254k from the Housing Revenue Account Acquisitions and Internal Developments budget for the funding of the purchase and repair of ten ex-Right-to-Buy properties, as detailed in the report. 2. Agreed to the reallocation of the previously approved capital release amounting to £ 97k from the Housing Revenue Account Acquisitions and Internal Developments budget for the funding of the purchase and repair of one ex-Right-to-Buy property, as set out in the report. REASONS FOR THE DECISIONS MADE In January 2015, Cabinet approved the implementation of a buy-back scheme for ex -Council properties and delegated authority to the Deputy Chief Executive and Corporate Director of Residents Services, with the agreement of the Leader of the Council, to purchase properties, agree necessary purchase prices and/or parameters and any other property transactions or decisions required to effectively implement the scheme. The scheme was approved to deliver benefits to local residents in terms of improved housing provision in the Borough. Two of the key drivers of the scheme are: a) To increase the supply of affordable housing for rent in the HRA, that in turn can be used to reduce the Council's reliance on temporary accommodation, es pecially high -cost bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation. Purchase of these properties should facilitate the Perry Scott, Director of Infrastructure, Procurement, Business Improvement, Communications, Waste Services, and ICT Ben Sargent, Private Sector Housing Capital Release Decision Notice – 02 February 2021 reduction of B&B costs and generate savings to the General Fund in a full year estimated at £52k. b) To apply locally in Hillingdon right -to-buy ( RTB) receipts from Council house sales that would otherwise be returnable with interest to central Government, thereby meeting the Council's one -for-one replacement of Council housing commitment under the self-financing arrangement agreed with central Gove rnment for the HRA. The application of RTB receipts to these purchases will assist in applying receipts within the three-year limit, of which 30% (£ 705k) of the purchase cost would be applied to these properties. ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED AND REJECTED The main alternative option is to not buy back the properties, with the vendors selling them privately on the open market. This would not assist the Council in increasing the supply of social housing in the Borough, in meeting the one -for-one replacement commitment, or in utilising time -limited RTB receipts. Alternatively, the Council could offer lower purchase prices to the vendors. However, the Council is in competition with private buyers for these properties, with no leverage to compel the vendors to accept below -market prices, and the prices offered in this report have already been accepted by the vendors. FURTHER INFORMATION The report relating to thi s decision was declared as exempt from publication as it involves the disclosure of information in accordance with Section 100(A) and paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 (A) to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), in that the report contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it. NOTES FOR OFFICERS ACTIONING CAPITAL RELEASE DECISIONS (APPROVAL / HOLD / MORE INFORMATION / NO DECISION YET): • Approved - Where project approval has been given, these funds will be released by corporate finance in due course. • On Hold - Where funding for projects have been put on hold by the Cabinet Members, then these cannot be progressed at this current time and no capital funds will be released to progress them. You may wish to consult with your relevant Cabinet Member. More information required - Where projects require further information, the Cabinet Members are still yet to make their formal decision – it is therefore effectively in suspension. If you wish your project(s) to proceed then you should provide further details about them to Corporate Finance. DECISION AUTHORITY & IMPLEMENTATION Capital Release Decision Notice – 02 February 2021 Where required, these decisions have been taken under The Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012. These decisions, unless called in, will come into effect from 5pm on Tuesday 09 February 2021. This is the formal notice by the Council of the above decisions. If you would like more information on any of the decisions, please contact Democratic Services on 01895 250636. The right hand column indicates the name of the officer(s) responsible for implementing / following up the decision in each case. Circulation of this decisions sheet is to a variety of people including Members of the Council, Corporate Directors, Officers, Group Secretariats and the Public.