Decision details

Councillor Clare Cummins, the Cabinet Member for Housing Services, presented the report which sought approval for the disposal of two Council-owned Brownfield sites in Bury that had the potential to be redeveloped to deliver much needed housing and generate a significant capital receipt. These two sites had the potential to deliver 129 new homes between them, including 60 affordable homes with provision for 15 supported living apartments for people with learning disabilities and/or autism.

Decision:

Cabinet:

1.   Approved the disposal of land at Seedfield in Bury for low carbon family housing development in accordance with the terms included within Part B of this report;

2.   Approved the disposal of land at William Kemp Heaton Bury for affordable housing and assisted living accommodation development in accordance with the terms included in Part B of this report; and

3.   Delegated authority to approve the finalised terms of the agreement to the Director of Economic Regeneration and Capital Growth in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, the Cabinet Member for Housing Services, S151 Officer and Monitoring Officer.

Reasons for the decision:

·         To facilitate the Council’s Brownfield first approach to housing delivery.

·         To accelerate the delivery of much needed homes with a range of affordable tenures and typologies to reflect the modern demands of housing as outlined in the Councils Housing Strategy.

·         To generate capital receipt upon the successful disposal of the sites.

·         To reduce revenue cost to the Council of holding, maintaining, and securing this long term cleared sites.

Other options considered and rejected:

·         Do nothing. Bury has high levels of housing demand and supply is required in the marketplace immediately. The Council has several sites it is actively marketing through external agents and these sites are taking 12-18 months to be disposed of. Additional time will be required for planning prior to commencement of works. The proposals in this report accelerate commencement to within 6 months. This is reflected within the overall Best Value assessment.

·         Market Seedfield. Hive Homes are delivering a policy compliant development and are proposing to transfer liability of the repayment of the £995,000 grant. The Best Value assessment reflects this special arrangement and supports direct engagement.

·         Market William Kemp Heaton. Great Places are delivering a bespoke intergenerational affordable scheme with specialist supported accommodation that would not be delivered within the current housebuilding marketplace.

·         The Council is also disposing of 50+ other sites through the Accelerated Land Disposal Programme. Capacity is limited and there is an acute housing need across the district. These disposals are oven ready, allowing resources to be spent unlocking other brownfield housing sites.

·         For these reasons these options were discounted.