Agenda item

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Place and Climate Change regarding development of housing at Blackfriars, Battle through Alliance Homes (Rother) Limited (AH).  AH was established by the Council to accelerate housing development through the district and to deliver housing on council-owned land. 

Past attempts to develop Blackfriars had been unsuccessful, principally due to many constraints including complex ground conditions, land assembly and the need for costly road infrastructure.  In February 2018, the Council had provisionally been awarded grant funding by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government part of Housing Infrastructure Fund to finance the construction of the road infrastructure necessary to develop this site.  Whilst working through the design process it became clear that the viability gap on this site had increased and officers successfully re-negotiated a revised offer of grant funding from £3.24m to £8.7m.  It was noted that the funding was specifically for the road infrastructure and could not be used for any other purpose.

The site had full planning permission for the delivery of 200 homes and as of August 2021, the Council was in legal ownership of all the land.  It was intended that the housing land would be sold to AH to procure a development partner to deliver the site.  Despite AH being owned by the Council, the land must be sold in a manner that demonstrated good value.  Valuation, legal and tax advice were required prior to ascertaining the precise framework and structure through which the land would be disposed.  It was noted that the Council had invested significant sums in both the acquisition of land and the development of the planning permission which remained unfunded costs at this stage.  Whilst the final value would be based on specialist advice, it was expected that the minimum price paid by AH should not be less than the unfunded costs incurred by the Council in making this scheme ‘build ready’.

Cabinet agreed that delegated authority be granted to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Performance Management to agree the terms of the sale between the Council and AH.  It was also agreed that, in future, Ward Member(s) were informed of and fully consulted on any projects that were developed within their wards.

The Development Projects Manager was congratulated for his hard work in progressing this milestone site and ensuring the inclusion of Ward Member(s) in all discussions and that the community was kept fully informed of all developments.  It was suggested that once the approved developer had been announced and affordable housing partner agreed, that a presentation be delivered to full Council on their plans for this landmark project.

RESOLVED: That:

1)    the Chief Executive be granted delegated authority to dispose of land at Blackfriars, Battle (as outlined at Appendix A) to Alliance Homes (Rother) Ltd on terms agreeable to him in consultation with the Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Finance and Performance Management;

2)    Ward Members be informed of and fully consulted on future projects developed within their wards; and

3)    a presentation be delivered at full Council by the developer and affordable housing partner on their plans for the site.