Agenda item - ANNUAL REVIEW OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

Agenda item

ANNUAL REVIEW OF HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

To receive a presentation from the Head of Development, Nnenna Urum-Eke.

Minutes:

The scrutiny panel received a presentation from Nnenna Urum-Eke (Head of Development) updating members on the Annual Review of the Housing Development Pipeline.

 

1.            Presentation

 

During the presentation, Nnenna Urum-Eke highlighted the following: 

 

·         The Council’s housing programme was on track to build more than 3500 new council led homes by 2030.

·         To date 1047 affordable units are being committed to be delivered through the GLA’s Affordable Housing Programme (AHP) 2016-23.

·         In the last year the Council are on -site or being completed 366 units and with a further 669 units on site by 2022.

·         It was announced recently, that the Council had received an affordable housing allocation from the GLA of £167M to deliver 1,119 units. This was the second highest allocation among local authorities and the 5th highest funding allocation overall, as detailed in the table within the presentation.

·         Current market conditions, impacting the programme over the past 18 months, were reported including; the pandemic, Brexit, climate change and the Suez Canal back log. The market therefore at present is quite volatile both in terms of supply of goods and labour. The impact would be higher costs and delays to the delivery times, to the programme due to supply issues and contractor uncertainty. Despite this the Council has still been able to deliver achieving 336 new homes on site during a difficult period.

·         The programme is not purely through direct delivery, the Council are working with partners and are acquiring units from the market as well as delivering itself. This was a balanced approach insulating some issues going on in the market.

·         Partnership schemes (as detailed in the presentation) were reported against sites at New Avenue, Ladderswood, Alma Estate and Electric Quarter, providing progress details and completion time estimates/predictions.

·         Direct Delivery schemes (as detailed in the presentation) were reported against Newstead House, Maldon Road, Gatward Green and Bury Street West, providing progress details and completion time estimates/predictions.

·         The Council are also providing over 669 new homes on site through direct delivery and acquisitions by 2022. Details provided for these sites at Exeter Road, Upton & Raynham, Dandridge Close and Bullsmoor Lane, including the number of units and timescales.

·         The Council had also acquired 240 council homes as detailed in the presentation regarding Meridian Water in partnership with Mistry.

·         Sites relating to funding in relation to the recent grant received from the GLA. The Joyce & Snells direct delivery scheme had been allocated £54M to progress phases on the site and to deliver around 2,000 new homes. The Council are also looking to provide infill schemes on the Alma Estate looking at garage sites around the estate (on Main Avenue, Bush Hill Park) providing 86 units around this scheme.

·         Partnership delivery scheme at the Osward & Newdale site with RP partner to deliver 438 new homes (the Council retaining 156).

·         Two sites acquired, relating to small build direct delivery, at South Place in Ponders End and Hyde Park Avenue in Bush Hill Park using SME consultants and contractor.

·         120 units delivered through a Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) consortium with Barking, Waltham Forest, Newham, Haringey and Redbridge across 5 sites detailed within the presentation.

 

2.    Questions/Comments

 

a.   The Council are looking at EDAROTH (everyone deserves a roof over their head) and ZED PODS Ltd companies to provide the factory-made buildings in some housing schemes.

b.   Concern regarding MMC (Modern Methods of Construction and that the supply chains the Council use are robust enough to deliver a long-term programme. The Council were using a consortium of 5 Local Authorities because a factory to be viable it needs a supply chain with a back order of 3000 over 5 years which is the length of the mix of programmes. Between the 5 Local Authorities the Council has exceeded this. Therefore, the Council will be choosing 3 providers with skill, financial backing and resilience. Waltham Forest Council would be leading the exercise to set up the framework and doing the due diligence around that.

c.    The presentation summary was clarified. The total target of 3500 new council homes was for the next 10 years and the other figures in the summary were extracted from the total figure of 3500.

d.   As well as larger Registered Partners (RP) the council would also be supporting smaller RP’s to deliver 2,268 new council homes. The Osward & Newdale development would be done in partnership and the council would be seeking a partner who would be the first through the new framework. A mixed portfolio of options is required to deliver the programme.

e.   Concern at how well the council are doing as regards delivering new homes. From the target of 3500 the council had delivered 366 new homes in the last 12 months. The Council has a target of 1047 new council homes which it needs to achieve by 2023. This is the council’s initial first tranche of grant funding. The Council are on track in achieving the target of 1047 by 2023 through a mixed portfolio. Overall, it had been a difficult year, but the council were on target to meet its grant obligations. In terms of the programme envisaged, there had been a lot of slippage with a cost increase. In terms of medium-term success, the Council were on track as recorded in the quarter 1 Cabinet report.

f.     Confirmation that the Council will be able to deliver the proposed 3500 council homes over the next 9 years. Including the eventual achievement of the new local plan target of 1200 homes per year.

g.   The Council had been allocated 20-50% more money per housing unit than the top 3 allocations by the GLA. This was due to officers seeking a higher grant rate looking at the following:

·        Build cost inflation.

·        Forward forecasting the bid over the next 10 years as regards the market.

·        Recognition that social rent income is lower than the council has had in the past and is therefore more affordable for residents but makes viability more challenging.

·        Good negotiating by officers to negotiate more money per homes than other councils.

h.   In terms of delivery, the council through its partnership schemes and direct delivery are delivering more housing in Enfield than any other developer. In recognition of the council’s housing issues raised my members i.e. temporary accommodation, overcrowding, housing waiting lists and affordability.

i.     Concern that a report should be provided in a transparent way to highlight the real housing issues in the borough. The Chair clarified that she had sent out information and had asked all members of the committee to send details of what they would want presented at this committee for scrutiny/questions. Only one response was received. As regards the committee’s work programme, the Chair acknowledged concern about shared ownership, needs and vision but this topic was not received by the Chair for inclusion onto the current work programme. The Chair took note of the topic and would ask officers to emphasise on where the difficulties are and how the council are looking to measure this, to make it as realistic as possible.

 

3.   Summing up by the Chair

 

The Chair thanked officers for their presentation and noted that there is assurance from the GLA funding and the confidence they have in Enfield’s ability to try and achieve an incredibly difficult situation in terms of its housing needs.

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

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