Issue - meetings

To consider a report by Councillor Huw Williams, Chair of Communities Scrutiny Committee (copy enclosed) detailing the conclusions reached by the Scrutiny Committee following consideration of the call-in of the Cabinet decision taken on 22 September 2020 in respect of the disposal of land adjacent to Ysgol Pendref and recommending Cabinet revisit its decision to take into account the Scrutiny Committee’s conclusions and further recommendations.

Vote taken: 4 in favour, 4 against, 0 abstentions; Leader used his casting vote in favour to carry the resolution.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)       acknowledges Communities Scrutiny Committee’s conclusions and recommendations following its review of the Cabinet decision of 22 September 2020, and

(b)       having reviewed their decision and taken into account the recommendations from Communities Scrutiny Committee, reaffirm the Cabinet decision made on 22 September 2020 to –

(i)    “approve the disposal of land adjacent to Ysgol Pendref, Denbigh outlined in red on the plan (Appendix A to the report) which is surplus to Council requirements on the open market for residential development and delegates authority to the Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets to approve the final sale, and

(ii)  confirms it has read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment (Appendix B to the report) as part of its consideration”

Councillor Huw Williams, Chair of Communities Scrutiny Committee presented the report detailing the conclusions reached by the Scrutiny Committee following consideration of the call-in of the Cabinet decision taken on 22 September 2020 to dispose of land adjacent to Ysgol Pendref, Denbigh which was surplus to council requirements on the open market for residential development.

Cabinet was advised of the detailed discussions which had taken place at the Communities Scrutiny Committee meeting in respect of the Cabinet decision.  The conclusions of the Scrutiny Committee had been set out in the report together with their recommendations.  In brief the Committee had recommended that Cabinet –

·         acknowledges the Scrutiny Committee’s conclusions and recommendations

·         revisits its decision having regard to the vision for future social and affordable housing as set out in the draft new national development framework ‘Future Wales – the National Plan 2040’

·         delays the decision in relation to this particular site for 12 months until the new national development framework was agreed

·         considers options to make the land more attractive to social landlords and smaller developers by breaking it up into smaller parcels/plots, and

·         does not create an oversupply of large unaffordable homes in Denbigh which did not meet local need.

As Lead Member, Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill reminded Cabinet that the land in question had been allocated for housing in the Local Development Plan (LDP) in 2013 following all the appropriate processes and consultation stages.  The land was held within the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and therefore any capital receipt from the sale would be ring-fenced for the HRA and could not be used for other purposes.  He responded to the scrutiny recommendations as follows –

·         the WG’s draft national development framework was still in draft form with no indication that any new funding would be provided to support the affordable housing aspirations.  Whilst local authorities would be able to access the social housing grant from April 2021 the funding would be a finite amount top sliced from existing budgets for which councils would need to bid against each other and contribute financially.  The 58% intervention rate for registered social landlords would be protected and the amount to councils was not expected to be sizeable

·         delaying a decision on the off chance that something may happen in the future was not a sustainable way to make decisions.  The capital receipt from the sale of the site had already been assumed in the HRA business plan and any delay would impact on the delivery of that plan resulting in less new build housing or less maintenance on existing stock or a combination of both, and there would be no affordable housing provided on the site for a longer period

·         there were significant reasons why it would not be practical to break up the site into smaller development plots, namely the impact on the capital receipt and unit cost of the affordable housing proposed arising from the higher cost of the development and lower value of the land.  Smaller plots increased costs at all stages of development and a consortium of developers would need to agree an entire programme of works prior to purchase.  The council could provide the infrastructure at risk and cost with no guarantee monies could be recovered from future purchasers and it would also reduce or negate any capital receipt

·         in terms of creating an oversupply of unaffordable homes not meeting local need, the proposed sale would be on the open market with a condition of 20% affordable homes which provided double the number of affordable units required under the LDP.  There was an unmet demand for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6