To enter into a Development Services Agreement with OX Place for the Delivery of affordable homes at Westlands Drive

The Director of Housing decides as follows: 

1.    Approval to enter into an agreement with OCH(D)L for provision of development management services for the delivery of the Development for the fee of £237,500. The project budget has been allocated through the annual February Council budget-setting meetings and vired into a new HRA budget line from October 2025 Cabinet (as set out at item 3 of the Cabinet Decision).  

The site is owned by Oxford City Council (“the Council”) and held in the HRA, and the development will be directly delivered by the Council, with OCHDL) acting as the development agent. The site has secured planning consent, and a competitive tender exercise completed with regards to the procurement of a build contractor.  

The scheme had previously been in the OCH(D)L pipeline programme as one of their development sites (where the Council would commit to selling and buying back the land and affordable homes).  On review, the scheme is now considered to be better brought forward directly by the Council. This is due to the nature of the Development, being 100% affordable housing and on Council (HRA) owned land.  It provides better value for money for the HRA and better ensures that development appraisal financial parameters are met.  

This is a 100 per cent affordable housing scheme of 15 much needed affordable homes for general needs. These are a mix of unit types with flats ranging from 1-bedroom to 4-bed and 2- and 3-bedroom houses.  Six of the homes are for Social Rent, five are for Affordable Rent (capped at Local Housing Allowance) and four houses are to be developed at Shared Ownership tenure. One social rent flat is a 4-bed (6-person) flat which supports delivery to meet a limited but acute housing need for larger family homes. One of the 2-bed flats at affordable rent will be built to the accessible M4(3) standard (formerly wheelchair standard).   

Procurement of an external development management partner was considered. However, this option was not pursued as OX Place is the Council’s wholly owned development company and can be directly appointed under the Teckal exemption. Using OX Place provides continuity of project knowledge, aligns with the Cabinet-approved delivery model, and represents better value for money by avoiding the additional time, cost and procurement risk associated with undertaking a competitive procurement exercise for development management services. Furthermore, OX Place has extensive experience of delivering affordable housing schemes for the Council and is already familiar with the site and project objectives. 

Failing to proceed will delay or halt the delivery of more affordable housing, reducing the supply of much-needed affordable housing.