Issue - meetings

This report seeks permission to negotiate and thereafter purchase a mix of affordable units in Blocks D and E and market units in Block A forming part of a development of Euro House, Fulton Road Wembley HA9 0TF.

Cabinet RESOLVED to delegate authority to the Director of Finance in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance Resources and Reform and the Operational Director of Property and Assets to negotiate a unit mix of social and market units that deliver a financially viable scheme and the terms and thereafter enter into an underlease for up to 60 years (to be made between L.B. Brent and Asset SPV) in respect of the affordable homes and market units within the Fulton Road Development subject to:

(a)     clean and marketable title;

(b)     financial and legal due diligence;

(c)     all commercial terms having been agreed between the parties; and

(d)     vacant possession, with a target completion date as soon as possible after the grant of the long lease of 999 years (the headlease).

Councillor Mili Patel (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources & Reform) introduced a report seeking permission to negotiate and thereafter purchase a mix of affordable housing units in Blocks D & E and market units in Block A forming part of a development at Euro House, Fulton Road, Wembley.

In considering the report, Cabinet noted the outlined provided in relation to the site and negotiations between the Council and developer in seeking a buyer for the affordable housing units included within the development.  As a result authority was being sought to formally progress the initial negotiations undertaken in order to secure a mix of social and market units that could be delivered to ensure a financially viable scheme.  On the basis of negotiations undertaken to date, members were advised that the Council were aiming for a target mix that replaced all intermediate units with the most affordable social rented units.  This would involve an uplift in the number of affordable units to be provided by the development from 218 to 252, with the breakdown of proposed tenure mix also redesigned to increase the number of larger 3 bed units to help support current levels of housing demand.

In welcoming the proposal, Cabinet were keen to highlight support for the potential increase in delivery of affordable housing units based on a more optimal unit mix designed to reflect the Council’s ongoing commitment towards addressing local housing need.

In recognising that the terms of any scheme were subject to the outcome of final negotiations which would need to reflect current market conditions, Cabinet RESOLVED, having noted the exempt information contained within the appendix to the report, to delegate authority to the Director of Finance in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance Resources and Reform and the Operational Director of Property and Assets to negotiate a unit mix of social and market units that deliver a financially viable scheme and the terms and thereafter enter into an underlease for up to 60 years (to be made between L.B. Brent and Asset SPV) in respect of the affordable homes and market units within the Fulton Road Development subject to:

(a)       clean and marketable title;

(b)       financial and legal due diligence;

(c)       all commercial terms having been agreed between the parties; and

(d)       vacant possession, with a target completion date as soon as possible after the grant of the long lease of 999 years (the headlease).