Decision details

1.      That Cabinet approves the outline strategic case for the Building Homes and Communities Strategy set out in Appendix A which aims to:

·         Build new, genuinely affordable housing which will help maintain the borough’s vibrant social mix;

·         Supports the Council’s Business Plan priority of ‘Building Shared Prosperity’;

·         Renew key community assets, including schools and leisure centres; and

·         Generates income to reinvest in frontline services

2.      That Cabinet notes the approach to consultation and engagement including:

(a)  the principle that no individual scheme can proceed without substantial resident involvement

(b)  the interdependency between the strategy and the Defending Council Homes policy currently in development 

(c)  the establishment of a resident panel to provide oversight of consultation on individual schemes as an integral part of the development gateway process.

3.      That Cabinet approves the outline programme with further work being undertaken to assess feasibility of individual schemes and procure design work where schemes pass the relevant development gateway.

4.      That Cabinet approves budget of up to £230,000 for feasibility studies and project management costs for General Fund schemes identified at appendix C, funded from previously approved developer contributions.

5.      That Cabinet approves budget of up to £1,484,119 in relation to HRA schemes set out at appendix B for initial business case, design and survey costs to enable the Council to develop these schemes to outline design (RIBA stage 1) funded from right to buy receipts, grants, developer contributions, borrowing or reserves.

6.      That Cabinet approves that a core programme team capital budget of up to £2,134,800 over the current capital programme to 2022/23 to be recovered from capital project costs, where these can be capitalised.

7.      That Cabinet notes a future financial requirement of up to £6,990,150 to allow the Council to develop HRA schemes set out at appendix B to allow the Council to develop those schemes identified as feasible to planning (RIBA stage 3). This will require further approvals in line with the Council’s Constitution and Financial Regulations.

8.      That Cabinet notes a future financial requirement of up £2,165,958 for initial business case, design and survey costs to enable the Council to develop General Fund schemes set out at appendix B to outline design (RIBA stage 1). This will require further approvals by Cabinet.

9.       That Cabinet notes a future financial requirement of up to £12,336,980 to allow the Council to develop General Fund schemes set out at appendix B to planning (RIBA stage 3) if they are considered viable. This will require further approvals in line with the Council’s Constitution and Financial Regulations.

10.   That Cabinet delegates the decision to commit expenditure to progress schemes within the outline programme from RIBA stage 0 (strategic definition) to RIBA stage 3 (developed design) to the Strategic Director for the Economy, in consultation with the Strategic Director, Finance and Governance in line with the above budget approvals.

11.   That Cabinet delegates identification of funding of the above budget approvals to achieve RIBA stage 0 to 3 to the Strategic Director, Finance and Governance in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance and Commercial Services.

12.   That Cabinet approves the Procurement Strategy and Business Case for the appointment of multi-disciplinary design teams to develop initial business cases, design and survey costs for schemes identified in the outline programme, as set out in exempt appendix C, and delegate the decision as to which of the recommended frameworks to use for each design team procurement to the Assistant Director for Growth.

13.   That Cabinet delegates authority to the Strategic Director for Economy to agree revisions to the approved Procurement Strategy and Business Case where there are good operational or procurement reasons for doing so.

14.   That Cabinet agrees to delegate the award of the contracts for design services to the Strategic Director for the Economy in consultation with the Cabinet Member for the Economy and the Arts provided that these have been procured in accordance with the approved Procurement Strategy and Business Case referred to in paragraph 2.11.

15.   To Cabinet agrees to appoint Bevan Brittan as legal advisors to the Council with regards to the 50 Commonwealth Avenue through a direct award from the London Borough’s Legal Alliance (LBLA) panel framework.

16.   That the Council enters into the Master Development Agreement, a Deed of Cooperation and any other legal agreements with ARK and any subsidiary Company and any of its funders, which are required to facilitate the delivery of Education City.

17.   To delegate authority to the Strategic Director for Growth and Place, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for the Economy and the Arts and the Assistant Director of Legal and Democratic Services, to finalise and complete negotiations with ARK and any subsidiary company and any of its funders in order to give effect to the decision in 2.16 above.

18.   Cabinet are asked to approve a waiver of the usual tendering requirements of Contract Standing Order 10 in relation to the proposed development agreement with ARK (and its subsidiaries) for the Education City development, on the grounds that this is covered by a legislative exemption, as described in the legal implications of the Cabinet report of 29^th April 2019 (exempt).