13 Telford Place Car Park Development
Housing Portfolio
(Exempt Paragraph 3)
To consider report CH/180 of the Head of Crawley Homes.
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member for Housing presented report CH/180 of the Head of Crawley Homes which sought delegated approval to appoint a development partner and enter into a Development Agreement and progress the delivery of the scheme within the agreed budget, at Telford Place car park site. It was noted that the outline scheme mix would be approved as part of the finalisation of the Development Agreement.
RESOLVED
The Cabinet
1. approves the appointment Developer 1 as the Council’s preferred partner
2. delegates authority to the Head of Crawley Homes in consultation with the Head of Finance Revenues and Benefits, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Housing to agree final terms and enter into a Development Agreement. The agreement will incorporate the obtaining of planning permission for the whole development, designing and building of the whole scheme including contractual arrangements to enable the delivery of the works to be undertaken for the council within the available budget. The arrangements for the leasehold and/or/freehold sale of the site as required to enable the development will also be included in the Agreement.
3. delegate authority to the Head of Crawley Homes in consultation with the Head of Finance Revenues and Benefits, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Housing to agree final terms and enter into a funding agreement in respect of available funding through the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF).
Reasons for the Recommendations
The Council acquired this key town centre development site which is identified in the Local Plan as suitable for mixed-use development with a requirement to contribute, together with the County Buildings, Crawley Station and land north of The Boulevard sites, to a minimum cumulative delivery of 499 residential units within the town centre. This is the only one of these sites in the Council’s ownership and affords an opportunity to make a significant contribution to this delivery target.
To provide housing for Crawley residents in need from the housing register. To continue the delivery of dwellings funded from the HRA as part of HRA business plan and the Council’s RTB Receipts (one-for-one) funding programme.
To maximise the use of the potential funding through the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) bid process to aid the viability of the scheme.