There were no declarations of interest.

Recommendation(s):

That the Housing Group Shareholder resolves to approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 20 March 2018.

The Housing Group Shareholder resolved to approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 20 March 2018.

Minute item 13, sub-heading Capacity

Councillor Hollingsworth asked whether the Housing Group’s concerns about resource constraints in the Council’s planning service had been resolved. The Director said that the Housing Group had offered to finance additional staff resource through a planning partnership agreement but this had been rejected as the problem was in identifying suitably qualified people rather than being purely financial.  The situation had now improved as a result of further meeting with the Head of Planning Services and a planning officer had been allocated to deal specifically with the Housing Group’s applications.

The Shareholder will wish to consider any recommendations arising from the Companies’ Scrutiny Panel meeting on 7 June 2018.

The Shareholder noted that Councillor Fry, Chair Scrutiny Companies Panel, had sent apologies and that Stefan Robinson (Scrutiny Officer) was in attendance to present the views of the Scrutiny Companies Panel which had met on 7 June 2018.

The Scrutiny Officer explained that the Panel had not made any formal recommendations to the Shareholder but wished to register their concerns regarding the following issues:

·       whether the priorities of the Housing Group and the Council were fully aligned, as the company’s ambition to meet revenue targets may not be conducive to maximising the delivery of affordable housing units. 

·       the decline in deliverable units across the sites following discussions with planning officers regarding the acceptability of proposed density and layout from a planning perspective.

·       that the delays experienced in 2018 should not continue into 2019

Those concerns had been raised with the Housing Group at the Scrutiny Panel meeting and their responses were recorded in the minutes of that meeting (previously circulated as a supplement to the agenda for the Shareholder meeting).

Councillor Rowley said that it was important to recognise that the reduction in the number of units was due to challenges presented by the planning services’ assessment of the schemes against planning policy.  These were specific instances and there was no reason to think that the Council and the Housing Group were not in full agreement about the overall objective to increase the supply of affordable housing within the city.

The Scrutiny Officer left the meeting at the end of this item.

To receive a presentation concerning progress made by the Housing Group on the delivery of the Business Plan. This presentation will also be considered by the Companies Scrutiny Panel on 7 June. The Shareholder is invited to consider the presentation, and make any comments or recommendations as appropriate. The presentation will be circulated in advance of the meeting.

The Housing Development Manager gave a presentation on the Housing Group’s portfolio of development schemes and property acquisition. He explained that the slippage in the completion dates for the development sites was in part due to the delays experienced in planning pre-application process but that he was confident that the current schedule was a realistic assessment.

Harts Close

This was at an advanced stage in the planning process and was due for completion in May 2019.

Warren Crescent

Work would begin on site in January 2019 on completion of the water monitoring programme; it was due for completion in January 2020.

The Shareholder said that it was important to remind local residents that this was still a valid planning application and to ensure that there was a comprehensive communications plan to brief residents on the timescales and details for the construction phase of the site development.

The Housing Group gave assurances that a communications plan was in place and that it would address the concerns raised by the Shareholder.

Underhill Circus  

The current focus was on acquiring the maisonettes above the shops on the site; completion was scheduled for late 2020.

Two sites at Rose Hill

Due to their proximity the two sites at Rose Hill would be treated as a single development.  Pre-application feedback had resulted in a reduction in the number of deliverable units on this site.  Public consultation was due to start on site in June 2018.  Completion was due in March 2020.

Cumberlege Close and Elsfield Hall

The scheduled completion for these two sites was late 2019 – early 2020. It was proposed to treat these two locations as a combined development.  There was an Oxford Preservation Trust Covenant on Cumberlege Close. Initial pre-application feedback had resulted in a reduction in the number of deliverable units at Elsfield Hall.

The Shareholder observed that the Elsfield Hall site was in a highly sustainable location with good transport links and green space and as such should be able to support a higher level of units.

The Shareholder asked for a report to the next meeting detailing the background to and status of the discussions about the Oxford Preservation Trust Covenant on Cumberlege Close.

Between Towns Road

Pre-application feedback had resulted in a reduction in the number of deliverable units on this site.  Public consultation was due to start on site in July 2018.

Lucy Faithfull House

Demolition was underway. Initial design proposals were based on a high density scheme in keeping with its city centre location.  Design details and construction timescales for this site would be heavily influenced by the outcomes of the archaeological survey.

Barton Park

The Housing Development Manager said that the first homes were due to transfer to the Housing Group in August 2018.  He explained that the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) index recorded a cost increase in 2017 which would impact on the Phase 1 property prices paid by the Housing Group.  This increase was expected to be within the Housing Group financial  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.