The report of the Strategic Director (Growth and Development) was to follow and is now enclosed.

Councillor Richards declared a personal interest in this as a Director of the Joint Venture Company in the Northern Gateway.

In March 2017 the Executive had authorised the City Solicitor, City Treasurer and Strategic Director (Development) to enter into an agreement with the Council’s preferred investment partner for the regeneration of the Northern Gateway lands, Far East Consortium International Limited (FEC). We had also delegated authority to the Chief Executive to dispose of the Council’s interest in land at the Northern Gateway Site (Minute Exe/17/064).

The Council had entered into the Joint Venture (JV) with the Far East Consortium (FEC) in April 2017 for the comprehensive redevelopment of the Northern Gateway for housing and ancillary development. As part of the delivery arrangements, the Council and FEC established a JV company, Northern Gateway Operations Limited, to have strategic input into and oversight of the development of the Northern Gateway.

In February 2019 we approved the Strategic Regeneration Framework for the Northern Gateway, the 155 hectare land area made up of the adjacent neighbourhoods of New Cross, the Lower Irk Valley and Collyhurst. This Framework was to support the opportunity to deliver up to 15,000 new homes over a 15-20 year period (Minute Exe/19/25).

In June 2019 consideration was given to the preferred approach to facilitating strategic land acquisitions within the Northern Gateway SRF area, and approval given to making a loan of up to £11 million to FEC (Minutes Exe/19/52 and Exe/19/57).

In February 2020 consideration was given to an outline Strategic Business Plan for the Joint Venture, and authority was delegated to the Chief Executive to approve the full initial Development Area Business Plan (Minute Exe/20/29).

In July 2020 the Executive had approved the Council entering into a Grant Determination Agreement with Homes England for the receipt of up to £51.6m Housing Infrastructure Fund grant to deliver major infrastructure in the Northern Gateway area (Minute Exe/20/84).

This report from the Strategic Director (Growth & Development) provided details of proposals to deliver the first phase of housing development within the Collyhurst neighbourhood. It also providing an update on progress being made in the wider initiative in relation to the Housing Infrastructure Fund grant.

The Collyhurst first phase was to see 274 new residential properties. For the 244 new homes in Collyhurst Village (Harpurhey ward), 100 were to be new council homes with the remaining 144 properties being developed for open market sale. The other 30 were to be new council homes developed in South Collyhurst (Miles Platting & Newton Heath ward) on a site agreed with the local councillors. The scheme would also deliver the first phase of the new Collyhurst Village Park. To achieve all this it was going to be necessary to demolish 29 residential units (22 Council and 7 Private or Right to Buy) and 1 commercial unit. It would therefore be important that the scheme ensured the timely delivery of re-provision homes to allow residents to relocate, in a single move, from affected properties to a new property within the development. It also had to provide alternative retail premises to enable the current operator to continue trading.

Current estimates indicated that an overall budget for the Council’s share of the Phase 1 costs would be around £31.2m. This budget would cover the costs of new build properties; associated public realm; the relocation of existing tenants; the acquisition and relocation costs of existing owner occupiers and commercial premises (£29.8m); and the construction of phase 1 of a new community park (£1.4m). There was £23.41m of previously approved resources still available for expenditure on this scheme. It was also proposed to vire £1.4m of the existing capital budget allocation for the Northern Gateway to contribute to the first phase of the new Community Park. That would provide a total available budget to the project of £24.81m, and a further £6.39m was required. It was intended for this to be met through a bid to Homes England for Shared Ownership and Affordable Housing Programme (SOAHP) Funding, which was anticipated to attract funding in the region of £6-6.5m. However, for the scheme to progress, and in recognition that the grant bid will take time to be completed, it was proposed that the remaining funding for the scheme is underwritten by HRA capital resources. Officers were also reviewing whether retained Right to Buy receipts could be used as part of the financing towards this project. There was, therefore, a risk that should the grant bid be unsuccessful, the HRA would have a reduced capacity for other investment priorities.

The report explained the consultation that had been undertaken with residents and the wider local community to help develop the proposals for these proposed schemes. The initial consultation plans had had to be revised to take account of the worsening pandemic during 2020. Nevertheless, the work that had been possible had ensured that feedback from the local community had been captured throughout the design development process. That had then been used to influence the decisions about the scheme proposals.

Decisions

1.         To note the detail of proposals set out for Phase 1 of development in Collyhurst which would provide up to 274 new homes, including up to 130 new Council homes which will be managed through the Housing Revenue Account.

2.         To delegate authority to the Strategic Director, Growth and Development, the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer and the City Solicitor to finalise the terms for the delivery of this proposal through the Joint Venture partnership that has been established with Far East Consortium.

3.         To delegate authority to the City Solicitor to enter into and complete all necessary documents to give effect to (2) above, the delivery of this proposal through the Joint Venture partnership.

4.         To recommend to Council an increase in the capital budget for Collyhurst of £6.39m, funded from Housing Revenue Account reserves, noting that grant funding will be sought to refinance.

5.         To authorise the Strategic Director, Growth and Development to explore the potential for the use Homes England’s Shared Ownership Affordable Housing Programme and submit a bid for funding once the eligibility of the scheme against the criteria of the grant programme has been fully assessed and determined.

6.         To approve the virement of £1.4m from the Northern Gateway budget for the construction of the first phase of the park.

7.         To note that two separate planning applications relating to the delivery of proposals in Collyhurst Village and Collyhurst South will be submitted for determination.

8.         To note that land assembly activity will be required to ensure that the proposals set out in this report can be delivered in full.

9.         To authorise the Head of Development to negotiate terms for the acquisition by agreement, where possible, of any interests in land required to facilitate to deliver the regeneration programme.

10.       To note that if the City Council is unable to secure the acquisition of land interests required for the delivery of the overall regeneration programme, a future report will be brought to Executive to seek authority to make a Compulsory Purchase Order.

11.       To delegate authority to the Director of Housing Growth & Residential Growth, in consultation with the Executive Member for Housing and Regeneration, to establish a local lettings policy relating to tenants who have the Right to Return to the Collyhurst neighbourhood; tenants affected by demolitions; and the letting of tenancies within the proposed age restricted block, noting that such a policy will be in line with commitments made in previous Executive decisions and will ensure that the new Housing Revenue Account stock being provided fully meets the housing needs of the city.