At its meeting on 13 April 2022, Cabinet resolved to:

1.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Development,in consultation with the Executive Director for Communities and People; the Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery; the Head of Financial Services/ Section 151 Officer; and the Head of Law and Governance,to approve and facilitate the sale of the council owned site, to facilitate the OCHL development and the subsequent acquisition of affordable dwellings by the HRA, within this project approval for Mill Lane, Marston;

2.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Communities and People,in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Affordable Housing, Housing Security and Housing the Homeless; the Head of Financial Services/ Section 151 Officer; and the Head of Law and Governance,to enter into agreements and facilitate the agreed purchase by the HRA of all the affordable housing units from OCHLwithin this project approval, for Mill Lane, Marston and the extensions;

3.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Development, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery; the Head of Financial Services/Section 151 Officer; and the Council’s Monitoring Officer, to enter into funding and other necessary agreements for the purpose of delivery affordable housing through the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal programme, within identified budgets, for the Gibbs Crescent scheme listed in the report;

4.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Communities and People,in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Affordable Housing, Housing Security and Housing the Homeless; the Head of Financial Services/Section 151 Officer; and the Council’s Monitoring Officer, to enter into funding and other necessary agreements for the purpose of delivery of affordable housing with Homes England;

5.      Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Communities and People,in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Affordable Housing, Housing Security and Housing the Homeless; the Head of Financial Services/ Section 151 Officer; and the Head of Law and Governance,to enter into agreement and facilitate the agreed purchase by the HRA of the affordable housing units, from OCHL, referenced at paragraphs 16 to 20 of this report, at a cost that exceeds the usual financial parameters for the HRA in respect of the 5 properties listed in Table 3, within further information provided in the confidential Appendix 2, to ensure units remain at Social Rent, within overall budget envelopes for affordable housing buy-backs.

To authorise the purchase, by way of transfer, of the extended and refurbished home at 26 Valentia Road, Oxford, resulting from the Oxford City Housing Development Ltd Extensions Programme for a total of £525,000.

Cabinet, on 13 April 2022, approved the OCC buyback of the remaining 5 properties in the OCHL Extensions Programme at market value - even where this falls outside of the usual HRA financial parameters - as it relates to a very small number of homes and the OCHL buy-backs over the whole affordable homes programme, continue to fall inside the HRA financial parameters overall.

Not to transfer the property would represent a missed opportunity to deliver affordable housing and support the delivery of the OCHL business plan.

Decision taken by Peter Matthew, Executive Director (Communities and People) in consultation with Councillor Linda Smith, Cabinet Member for Housing; Nigel Kennedy, Head of Financial Services; and Emma-Louise Jackman, Head of Law and Governance.