Decision details

Telford Place Land Proposal (SHAPS/86)

Decision Maker: Head of Strategic Housing

Decision status: For Determination

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: No

Purpose:

On 6 July 2022 Cabinet considered report SHAPS/86 and approved the proposed strategy to dispose of the site at Telford Place for an all-affordable housing scheme, and authority was delegated to the Head of Strategic Housing Services, the Head of Crawley Homes, the Head of Corporate Finance, and the Head of Governance, People & Performance, in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Housing to complete all relevant legal documentation in order to enter into the necessary contracts to achieve the approved recommendations, which included the Council securing the Affordable Rent units within the proposed scheme.
Accordingly, an ‘Agreement for Sale’ and an ‘Agreement for Lease’ have been prepared and are now ready to be exchanged, with this notice serving to announce this intention.

The Agreement for Sale addresses the land sale to Platinum Skies Crawley Limited (PSCL) with Affordable Homes & Healthcare (AHH) as the parent company, where the land is restricted to affordable housing use only. The transaction will complete subject to certain conditions being satisfied, most notably upon achieving a successful planning application, which must be submitted within six months of exchanging contracts. The planning application is to be for a 100% affordable housing scheme, aiming at achieving 35% as affordable rent, 35% as shared-ownership, and 30% older-persons shared-ownership. The land price will be determined by the number of units approved by Planning, which is based on a formulae ranging between a minimum of 250 units and capped at 300 units.

The Agreement for Lease enables the Council to acquire the completed affordable rent units on a 999-year leasehold interest, where the purchase price will be finalised once Planning is approved, which is based on securing these rental units at cost using a formulae set out in the agreement, with deposit payments to be made at certain milestones. In the event that the purchase price exceeds the currently approved HRA budget, then the agreement will be conditional on the required budget uplift being approved by Council.

Decision:

That the Head of Strategic Housing Services, the Head of Crawley Homes, the Head of Corporate Finance, and the Head of Governance, People & Performance (in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Housing) approve the ‘Agreement for Sale’ and the ‘Agreement for Lease’ ready for exchange. This Notice serves to announce this intention to exchange contracts.

This decision will achieve the resolutions agreed by Cabinet on 6 July 2022, which includes the Council securing the Affordable Rent units within the proposed scheme.

Alternative options considered:

Previous attempts to offer this site to the market for a policy compliant residential development have been unsuccessful, and an offer made by AHH to acquire this site for affordable housing purposes has been favourably considered as the most beneficial offer yet to be received by the Council for this site.

Publication date: 29/11/2022

Date of decision: 28/11/2022