Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)            to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)          where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)         the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)         if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)          all Members of the Committee;

(b)          all other Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note the declarations, if any, as published on the Council’s website prior to the meeting.

Report of the Interim Commercial Director.

Members received a report which provided an update on the progress of the work of the Harrow Strategic Development Partnership (HSDP) and set out the next steps and work in for the coming months.

The Interim Commercial Director highlighted the following key points:

·                 Originally the HSDP had been comprised of three sites, but since November had included an additional site, Milton Road and that the HSDP had been invited to produce a business plan for the Grange Farm development.

·                 There were two approaches to how the HSDP worked, either through a development agreement or a Community Works Agreement (CWA).

·                 Due to significant build cost inflation and enhanced planning requirements the Byron Quarter development, based on the current designs, was not viable at this time.

·                 Over the next 2 to 3 months the long-term position of the HSDP would be clarified as well as how the schemes could be dealt with.  As per the business plan, the development designs, the programme delivery, alternative tenure options, value engineering and alternative funding needed to be assessed.  In addition, the costs needed to be examined in detail and consideration of the returns made.

·                 The number of homes at the Poets Corner development may be increased from 1,000 to 1,104.  Build cost inflation and enhanced planning requirements had presented financial challenges and a detailed financial appraisal was currently underway.  There was optimism however, due to the increased number of dwellings, the length of the scheme and the potential sales values.

·                 The Grange Farm Development also faced financial challenges due to build cost inflation and enhanced planning requirements, however there were proposed solutions which included an increase in net internal area, more houses, better building plan efficiencies, design changes with an opportunity to increase sales revenue, and again a review was to be completed. 

·                 A detailed analysis was to be undertaken of the Peel Road development.

·                 Planning permission had been granted for the Milton Road development with legal documents and the financial cost plan agreed and the delegated authority being exercised.

·                 The next steps were that each scheme be assessed as well as the overall HSDP business plan.  The cost and income assumptions needed to be scrutinised and a discussion on grants and affordable housing levels was needed with the Greater London Authority (GLA).  Due diligence needed to be undertaken on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) to understand borrowing capacity and affordability.

The Chair thanked the Interim Commercial Director for the overview. In the session which followed, questions around the HSDP update were asked as set out below:

·                 A Member sought clarification over the financial and planning issues the HSDP had recently faced, they noted that the new London Plan was published a year ago and that build cost inflation had also been a known issue over the past year, and challenged why these issues were being presented now, noting the change in confidence since the meeting in July 2021.

The Interim Commercial Director highlighted the recent, unprecedented events and the resulting unexpected increase in inflation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 203.