Agenda item

To receive a report from the Director of Housing and Communities which seeks support with a proposed delivery route for affordable housing at the Castle Mills site.

(Please note that Annex A is considered exempt from publication for reasons set out in agenda item 3.)

Resolved (unanimously):

That Executive

a)            Agrees the preferred delivery route of 100% affordable housing at the Castle Mills site with the procurement of a design team to update the design previously approved by Planning to adapt it to 100% affordable housing, and achieve a refined design to RIBA Stage 3, using the proposed on-cost budget.

b)            Agrees to the submission of a planning application with the refined Castle Mills design.

c)             Agrees to procure a contractor to operate under a Pre-Contract Services Agreement or other type of design-only contract to collaboratively design Castle Mills to RIBA Stage 4 and price the design, to enable an updated full business case to be presented to the Executive for approval.

d)            Recommends to Full Council the creation of the Castle Mills scheme within the HRA capital programme; the wider business case for which will come forward at a later date.

e)            Recommends to full Council approval of a budget of £2.377m funded from HRA borrowing, to develop the proposals through RIBA stages 3 and 4 as described in a), b) and c) above.

f)              Agrees to delegate authority to the Director of Housing and Communities (in consultation with the Director of Finance and the Director of Governance) to take such steps that are necessary to procure and appoint such the contractors, and to determine the provisions of and enter into the resulting contracts described in a) and c) above (and any subsequent modifications and/or extensions thereto), in accordance with the Council’s Financial Regulations set out in Appendices 10 and 10a of the Constitution (the “Finance Regs”), the Contract Procedure Rules set out in Appendix 11 of the Constitution (the “CPRs”) and (where applicable) the Procurement Act 2023 (the “Procurement Act”) and the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (the “PCRs”).

g)            Agrees to the preparation and submission of applications to Homes England for funding from the Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) to deliver the affordable homes at Castle Mills, and (provided that the application to Homes England is successful) to receive funding and agree to proceed with entering into a grant agreement with Homes England.

h)            Notes the Brownfield Fund grant awards received from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (YNYCA) for the development of affordable housing at Castle Mills, Former Manor School and 68 Centre sites and agree to proceed with entering into grant agreements to receive funding.

i)              Notes that a Brownfield Land Release Fund grant application to the One Public Estate (OPE) has been submitted to contribute to funding of the Willow House project delivery including the necessary enabling works; and pending the grant award, agree to proceed with entering into a grant agreement to receive funding.

j)              Further to g), h) and i) above, agrees to delegate authority to the Director of Housing and Communities (in consultation with the Director of Finance and the Director of Governance) to determine the provisions of and enter into any resulting grant funding agreements with Homes England and YNYCA, and the provisions of any subsequent modifications and/or extensions thereto, to ensure compliance with the Subsidy Control Act 2022, the Finance Regs and the CPRs.

Reasons:

·      To ensure any works and/or services are procured in compliance with the Finance Regs, the CPRs, and (where applicable) our statutory duties under the Procurement Act 2023 and the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

·      To ensure any grant funding arrangements comply with the Subsidy Control Act 2022.