Decision details

That Cabinet recommend that Council*:-

1.       Note the HRA Financial Plan operating account extract, including annual working balances, as detailed in Appendix 6 of report CAB3445.

2.       Approve the 2024-25 Housing Revenue Account budget as detailed in Appendices 1 and 2 to the report. 

3.       Approve the 10-year indicative HRA capital programme as set out in appendices 3 and 4 of the report.

4.       Approve capital expenditure in 2024-25 of £18.649m for the Maintenance, Improvement and Renewal programme as detailed in Appendix 3 of the report in accordance with Financial Procedure Rule 7.4.

5.       Approve the proposed budget in 2024-25 for new homes of £15.524m as detailed in Appendix 4 of the report subject to individual scheme approvals.

6.       Approve the proposed indicative funding for the HRA Capital Programme as detailed in Appendix 5.

7.       Note the proposed additional investment in the council housing stock of £30m over the next eight years to 2030-31 to retrofit properties on a fabric first basis to help improve their energy efficiency and reduce energy costs for tenants. This additional annual investment brings the total annual investment here to £5.6m a year and £45m in total (see paragraph 12.5 of the report).

8.       Approve the proposed strategic change in direction moving from a plan based upon direct delivery of new homes to one based upon a mixture of actively acquiring s106 affordable housing directly from developers alongside future development with grant funding and using Right to Buy resources (see paragraph 13.7 of the report), including the continuing commitment to rural housing, including through rural exception sites.

9.       Note the current financial viability assessment for new build and that at present all potential development sites based on current assumptions evaluated this year have not been assessed as being financially viable within the existing viability model (see paragraphs 13.1-13.10 of the report).

10.   Approve the proposed move to 80% market rent to help improve the viability of new homes development and to mitigate the increasing cost of delivery (see paragraph 13.5 of the report).

11.   Approve a revenue savings target of £400k over two years to assist with bridging the forecast gap in financing future capital expenditure (see paragraph 14.2 of the report).

12.   Approve the disposal in principle of Barnes house in 2024-25, and in addition the disposal of £0.500m of surplus HRA property per year over the next eight years to generate additional capital receipts to help fund the increased investment requirement over these years (see paragraph 14.3 of the report).

13.   Approve the average formula rent increase for 2024-25 for all affordable and social housing of 7.7% based on the September 2023 CPI figure of 6.7% +1% (see paragraphs 15.1-15.4 of the report).

14.   Approve the proposed move from RPI+0.5% to CPI+1% for existing council shared owners in the HRA from 2024-25 onwards, as well as in all future HRA shared ownership leases. Note that the impact of this in 2024-25 will be a reduction in rent rises this year from 9.4% to 7.7% (see paragraph 15.4 of the report).

15.   Approve a 7.7% increase in tenant service charges in 2024-25 (see paragraph 15.5 of the report). 

16.   Approve consultation on the move to full cost recovery from 2025-26 for both private and tenant connections of the council’s sewage treatment works and note that this will include transitional protection and be achieved within a nine-year timeframe, but subject to a further report in Autumn 2024 (see paragraphs 15.7-15.12 of the report).

17.   Note that officers are currently beginning a review of the current Housing IT management system with a view to evaluating whether it is still fit for purpose or needs to be replaced, as well as beginning work on the re-procurement of the repairs and maintenance contract. The Business plan provides for this to happen over the following two years at a provisional one-off cost of up to £2m (see paragraph 12.10 of the report).

18.   Note that the draft HRA Business 30-year Plan is viable and sustainable and has the capacity to support the council’s ambitious delivery of 1,000 new affordable homes over the next 10 years. The proposed plan provides sufficient funds over the life of the plan to still deliver over 1,500 new affordable homes in total.

*NB recommendations to Council are not subject to call-in.