Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from the following Panel members:

Councillor Kup, substituted by Councillor Wright;

Councillor Moore;

Councillor Farooki;

Councillor Bright;

Councillor Scobie.

To receive any declarations of interest. Members are advised to consider the advice contained within the Declaration of Interest advice attached to this Agenda. If a Member declares an interest, they should complete the Declaration of Interest Form

There were no declarations made at the meeting.

To approve the Minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 16 July 2024, copy attached.

Councillor Davis proposed, Councillor Green seconded and the Panel agreed the minutes to be a correct record of the meeting held on 16 July 2024.

Report to follow.

Ashely Jackson, Head of Housing and Planning introduced the report and made the following comments:

·  Members of the Panel would be aware that Full Council recently approved Thanet District Council’s accelerated affordable Housing development programme, which would result in at least 400 new homes being constructed or acquired by 2027;

·  While previous reports that had been brought to Overview and Scrutiny Panel and Cabinet detailed acquisitions that had been made for homes contained in Section 106 agreements (s106), this site represented a first in that these homes were a further addition;

·  Officers were contacted by Guildcrest, owner of the development at Haine Road, Ramsgate;

·  The cost for the 30 homes (3 x 2-bedroom homes and 27 x 3-bedroom homes) totals £8,350,000 and was funded as follows:

·  £2.5m Homes England grant (see below);

·  £5.5m was formed of borrowing;

·  £300,000 was from a s106 commuted sum which could be added;

·  £50,000 had been allocated for associated legal costs.

·  To be viable, schemes need to show an overall surplus over a 30 or 50-year timescale, depending on the duration of any borrowing. The proposed purchase would generate a cash flow deficit in year 1 of £38,860 with surpluses accumulating from year 8;

·  There is a significant need for properties containing 2-bedrooms and 3-bedrooms. The housing register shows 232 households having a requirement for a 2-bedroom property and 357 households requiring a 3-bedroom property;

1.  That the Council progresses with the acquisition of 30 new affordable homes being built by developer Guildcrest, using the accelerated housing programme capital budget, approved by Council at its meeting on 12 October 2023;

2.  To note that the Director of Corporate Services will re-assess the viability of the schemes and subsequently approve these acquisitions, in consultation with the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing, should there be a variation to the assumed level of borrowing needed;

3.  The letting of these homes in accordance with the Council’s Allocations Policy and any subsequent Local Lettings Plan (LLP), at an affordable rent as set out in the Council’s Tenancy Strategy.

The Panel asked questions and made comments as follows:

·  One member asked there was any new information on government proposals regarding that would affect the Council’s acquisitions policy;

·  Another member asked when the homes would be available for occupation;

·  They further asked if this purchase was going to be for the whole estate or a part of it;

·  They also asked what the expectations of Homes England were regarding insulation, sustainability and keeping energy bills low for these new acquisitions;

·  One member asked if Homes England had minimum standards of energy compliance;

·  They asked whether these homes were similar to the ones that had been bought before and whether they were in one part of the estate or scarred;

·  Members wanted to know how far the Council had gone in reaching the 400 homes target it set itself to secure by 2027;

·  They also wanted to know whether the Council would continue to purchase more homes, once the Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

Report to follow

Ashely Jackson, Head of Housing and Planning introduced the report and made the following comments:

·  The report sought Cabinet approval to acquire 10 properties for the Council to use as temporary accommodation and affordable rent on two separate small sites in the district at Margate Road, Ramsgate and King Street in Ramsgate;

·  These units were being built by SME developer GPML Construction. Although there were two sites and two sets of homes (6 x flats at Margate Road and 4 x townhouses in King Street) the homes would be acquired for different purposes;

·  In Margate Road, the flats would be acquired as temporary accommodation for the Council to use instead of some of the third-party provided nightly-paid accommodation and in King Street the townhouses will be acquired for the Council to use in its housing revenue account (HRA) as homes to add to its stock;

·  The cost for the homes at Margate Road, the six flats would cost the Council £1.2m;

·  For King Street, the acquisition cost is £1.33m and as with previous acquisitions to be viable, schemes need to show an overall surplus over a 30 or 50-year timescale, depending on the duration of any borrowing. The proposed purchase would generate a cash flow deficit in year 1 of £4,870 with surpluses accumulating from year 7 on King Street;

·  Though the homes had not been designated as temporary accommodation or affordable housing technically in their respective planning consents, they would have been designed to a high specification;

·  There was a significant need for the properties being acquired here. Currently, the Council had around 300 households in temporary accommodation;

·  There were currently 166 households in temporary accommodation using 1-bedroom properties;

·  The housing register showed 105 households having a requirement for a 4-bedroom property;

·  Officer recommendations were therefore as detailed below.

1.  That, subject to the conditions referred to above, a satisfactory valuation and sufficient grant from Homes England, the Council progresses with the acquisition of these 10 properties and their proposed uses as set out above, using the additional capital budget, approved by Council at its meeting on 12 October 2023;

2.  The letting of the King Street homes be in accordance with the Council’s Allocations Policy and any subsequent local lettings plan (LLP), at an affordable rent as set out in the council’s Tenancy Strategy. 50% of the homes are let to priority applicants from the council’s Housing Register and 50% will be let to people moving out of temporary accommodation.

·  The Margate Road homes would be let in accordance with the recently approved Temporary Accommodation Allocation Policy, agreed by Cabinet in July 2024.

The Panel asked questions and made comments as follows:

·  One member said that the proposed purchase of six flats for £1.3 million did not align with the current market price for similarly sized flats in the same area;

·  They further said that the four houses were expensive in comparison to market prices for similar properties in the same location;

·  However, another member said that a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

The Panel agreed to add “the Youth Services in Thanet” and “improving bio diversity” topics to the list of scrutiny review projects.

Members also agreed that the Panel invite Cabinet Members to present on “Neighbourhoods” and “Improving recycling across the district.”

The Panel agreed to amend the wording for the criterion on scoring matrix for the scrutiny topics list on “Will the topic result in recommendations that save that Council money or generate income?” to read “Will the topic result in recommendations that save that Council money, generate income or add social value to the district?”

Councillor Austin gave an update on the work of the external Grant Funding Review Working Party and said that the working party had held two meetings with infrastructure and funding bodies as well as local community voluntary organisations to get their views on their work activities and experiences working in Thanet and with Thanet District Council. Both meetings had very constructive discussions. A questionnaire was also sent out to representatives who were unable to attend the meetings.

The Panel noted the report.

The Panel noted the report.