There were no declarations of interest.

Recommendation(s):

That the Housing Group Shareholder resolves to approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 28 March 2017.

The Shareholder resolved to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 23 March 2017.

The Company Secretary will present this item.

The Company Secretary presented this item. 

The Shareholder noted Jane Winfield’s credentials and commercial experience, particularly with regard to the Barton development.

The Oxford City Council’s S151 Officer (Head of Financial Services) will present this item.

Recommendation(s):

That the Company’s Shareholder resolves to:

Delegate the award of the contract for the provision of external audit services for the Housing Group to Oxford City Council’s S151 Officer (Head of Financial Services).

The Council’s Head of Financial Services (s151 Officer) presented this item and referred the Shareholder to the report which had been circulated.  He said that the appointment of external auditors was a reserved matter within the Shareholder Agreement and explained that to facilitate the 2017/18 audit it was necessary to procure an external audit service for all the Council’s owned or jointly owned companies including the Housing Group.

The Shareholder resolved to:

Delegate the award of the contract for the provision of external audit services for the Housing Group to Oxford City Council’s Head of Financial Services (S151 Officer).

The Company Secretary will present this item.

Recommendation(s):

That the Housing Group Shareholder resolves to:

Amend the Shareholder’s Agreement for the Housing Group in the manner specified in the report to facilitate inter-company loan transfers.

The Company Secretary presented this item and said that while the making of loans was a matter properly reserved for shareholder consent, it had become apparent that in practice this requirement was unduly restrictive for routine operations between the Housing Group companies. He explained that this might occur, for example, if the holding company were to receive a loan from the Council to make a property purchase, but when in the normal course of business that property is transferred to another group company, say the investment company for sale or letting, the repayment obligations under the loan could not “follow” the property without express shareholder consent.

To prevent the Housing Group having to request consent from the Shareholder on each such occasion, it was proposed that the Shareholder grant continuous authorisation to permit any of the Housing Group companies to make and accept inter-group loans and inter-group loan transfers.

The Shareholder resolved to:

Amend the Shareholder’s Agreement for the Housing Group in the manner specified in the report to facilitate inter-company loan transfers.

The Chair of the Board of Directors will present this item.

Recommendation(s):

That the Housing Group Shareholder resolves to:

1.       Notes the report and progress being made.

Councillor Tidball and the Monitoring Officer joined the meeting at the start of this item.

The Chair of the Board of Directors presented this item and reminded the Shareholder of the four initial corporate objectives, set by the Council and underpinned by the Business Plan, which set the Housing Group’s initial business lines:

·       The purchase and management of the new affordable rental homes at Barton Park

·       To develop new affordable housing with a range of tenures

·       The purchase and management of high value void properties from the Council to help fund the Government’s levy on stock holding Local Authorities to compensate Registered Social Landlords for the costs of Right to Buy

·       To undertake estate regeneration schemes

The Shareholder then discussed each of these business lines in detail and the following points were noted:

Barton Park

·       The transfer of the first tranche of properties was expected in May 2018

·       The Housing Group could not influence the scheduled transfer dates

·       The Housing Group Project Team and the Council’s Landlord Services team were leading on the work needed to prepare for the transfer and ensure that the properties would be ready to let in May 2018

·       The Housing Group would have a Service Level Agreement with the Council’s Landlord Services to manage the Housing Group stock and this would address sub-contracting arrangements with the Direct Services Trading Companies

·       tenants of the Housing Group would have the same level of service and experience as the Council’s tenants; service delivery should be unchanged but it would be made clear to tenants, from the outset, whether the landlord was the Housing Group or the Council

·       Those policies which are reserved matters for the Shareholder: Rent, Lettings, Sales and Debt Recovery would be considered at the next shareholder meeting in March 2018

·       That the costs of the Barton Park Green Levy would be defrayed by the Housing Group as landlord; and that future Housing Group developments should not adopt that specific model but would explore the scope to use the Council’s  Parks team for landscaping and site maintenance

Affordable Housing site development

·       a consortium including Levitt Bernstein architects, Currie and Brown project managers, GL Hearn Planning consultants led by WSP had been appointed to provide the range of professional services required to deliver a successful development programme

·       Officer capacity was an issue for the Housing Group as staff were currently undertaking the new tasks for the Housing Group alongside existing work for the Council’s housing function

·       An officer had been appointed as a dedicated project management resource for the Housing Group to address, in part, this issue

·       A Project Team, chaired by Stephen Clarke, met twice monthly to provide co-ordination and oversight on project management; this team included Council officers from other service areas such as Planning and Communications and operated on the principle of “ethical barriers” to separate the needs of the Housing Group from those of the Council

·       the initial design feasibility studies for all eight development sites (to assess capacity and including pre-planning application  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Shareholder resolved to:

exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the item in the exempt from publication part of the agenda in accordance with the provisions in Paragraph 21(1)(b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (England) Regulations 2000 on the grounds that their presence could involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in specific paragraphs of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Chair of the Board of Directors will present this item.

Recommendation(s):

That the Housing Group Shareholder resolves to:

1.     Agree to the acquisition of the Lucy Faithfull House site from Oxford City Council and its inclusion in the Company’s Business Plan; and

2.     Support the provision of a loan facility of up to £13 million to facilitate the development of the site.

The Chair of the Board of Directors presented this item and explained the background to the proposal that the Housing Group should acquire the Lucy Faithfull House site from the City Council through the provision of a loan facility from the City Council.  The site would then be included in the Company’s Business Plan. 

The Shareholder noted the content of the report and the confidential appendix.

The Shareholder resolved to:

1.     Agree to the acquisition of the Lucy Faithfull House site from Oxford City Council and its inclusion in the Company’s Business Plan; and

2.     Support the provision of a loan facility of up to £13 million to facilitate the development of the site.