Part 1
ITEM NO.
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REPORT OF THE STRATEGIC DIRECTOR FOR SUSTAINABLE REGENERATION
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TO THE LEAD MEMBER FOR HOUSING ON 21 JUNE 2010
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TITLE: DECENT HOMES PROGRAMME 2010 TO 2015
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RECOMMENDATION:
1. That Lead Member for housing is recommended to approve the detailed 2010/11
decent homes programme and outline programme to 2014/15. Both programmes are
subject to confirmation of available resources from the Homes and Communities
Agency.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Salix Homes is committed to the delivery of Decent Homes to the stock it manages on
behalf of the Council and has undertaken a robust approach to ensuring that the
options for delivery address the needs and aspirations of customers as well as the
wider regeneration issues within central Salford.
As the resources available from Salford City Council are insufficient to deliver the full
decent homes and associated investment an additional ALMO credit was sought.
The overall cost of achieving Decent Homes plus the 5% sustainability indicator when
profiled to 2014/15 is £104.089 million of which £68.79m would be HCA drawdown.
Salix Homes was expecting to draw down the first tranche of £15 million in 2010/11.
On 17th July 2009 the Government announced Building Britain’s Future programme
for more new homes, and highlighted that some of the resources for that work would
need to be found from within existing budgets. In order to relieve financial pressure
on all programmes the Government made a decision to defer budget for those
ALMOs that had not yet reached 2 star status.
Following the successful inspection in February 2010 the HCA agreed to bring
forward £5 million of the overall drawdown which will supplement the existing £3.7m
of existing funding for Decent Homes programmes and will enable Salix Homes to
maintain a level of continuity with its contractors prior to the proposed drawdown of
£16 million in 2011/12.
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The overall 2010/11 programme will enable the completion of some 700 decent
homes. The additional ALMO borrowing of £5 million will resource approximately 342
of these decent homes improvements.
The rationale for selecting the estates chosen is based on the identification of those
properties with the highest level of need in terms of decent homes impact, health and
safety requirements and maximisation of the capital funding available.
With the additional draw down Salix Homes will make a significant start on a number
of properties that would otherwise have been in the 2011/12 programme. Additionally
Salix Homes has been able to target schemes which will qualify for Community
Energy Saving Programme (CESP) funding thereby maximising the level of inward
investment.
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BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
Delivering Decent Homes in Your Neighbourhood
(Available for public inspection)
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KEY DECISION:
YES Item 62 – June forward plan
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DETAILS:
1.0
Purpose of the report
1.1
The purpose of the report is to inform the Lead Member of the proposed
detailed 2010/11 Decent Homes programme and outline programme to
2014/15.and to seek approval from the Lead Member to enable Salix Homes
to appoint contractors to carryout the works included within the 2010/11
programme.
2.0
Background
2.1
Salix Homes is committed to the delivery of Decent Homes to the stock it
manages and will manage in the longer term and has undertaken a robust
approach to ensuring that the options for delivery address the needs and
aspirations of customers as well as the wider regeneration issues within central
Salford.
2.2
As the resources available from Salford City Council are insufficient to deliver
the full decent homes and associated investment additional ALMO credit was
sought. The ALMO credit required was derived from the Building Cost Model,
which aggregates the costs of delivering the Decent Homes Standard and
deducts the resources available. Included is a 5% sustainability element
which is available for non Decent Homes works such as environmental
improvements and security.
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2.3
The Decent Homes target date of 2014/15 is only achievable with additional
resources in the form of ALMO funding which in 2010/11 will be in the form of
additional borrowing approval from the HCA.
2.4
The overall cost of achieving Decent Homes plus the 5% sustainability indicator
when profiled to 2014/15 was £104.089m and the total ALMO credit sought was
£68.789m.
2.5
Following the Government’s announcement of Building Britain’s Future
programme for more new homes, it was highlighted that some of the
resources for that work would need to be found from within existing budgets.
In order to relieve financial pressure on all programmes the Government
made a decision to defer budget for those ALMOs that had not yet reached 2
star status. The decision affected 12 ALMOs, one of which was Salix Homes
and the expectation that there would be no capital funding from HCA until
2011/12. Salix Homes, along with a number of round 6 ALMOs expressed
their concerns to the Housing Minister at this decision highlighting the impact
the deferral would have on the individual organisations. The paper highlighted
a number of key areas in particular the affect it would have on customers,
continuity of work for contractors, high level of repairs and the potential loss of
significant match funding from utility companies.
2.6
The HCA made a decision to release some funding for 2010/11 and after the
successful inspection in February 2010 agreed to bring forward £5 million of
the overall drawdown which will supplement the existing £3.7 million of
existing funding for Decent Homes programmes and will enable Salix Homes
to maintain a level of continuity with its contractors prior to the proposed
drawdown of £16million in 2011/12.
The £5 million will be taken from the total draw down over the following three
years and the anticipated new profile of resources from 2010/11 is shown in
Table 1. This will be subject to confirmation from the HCA that funding is still
available in 2010/11 and is not affected by deficit reduction measures.
Table 1 – Re-profiled Decent Homes Investment Programme
Decent Homes Investment
– Actual/Planned (£m)
HCA Funding
2.8
2010/11
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
5.000
15.947
15.947
15.947
15.948
Total
68.789
The total programme of £104m will assume a level of additional funding
required in addition to the ALMO draw down required to make all properties
decent by 2015 which would be subject to annual approval by Salford City
Council. This would be predominantly made up from the Major Repairs
Allowance.
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2.9
Salix Homes has now reassessed the original programme utilising the
Keystone Asset management software and produced a new 2010/11
programme which addresses those properties with the highest level of need in
terms of decent homes impact, health and safety requirements and
maximisation of the capital funding available.
2.10
With the additional draw down Salix Homes will make a significant start on a
number of properties that would otherwise have been in the 2011/12
programme. Additionally Salix Homes has been able to target schemes which
will qualify for CESP (Community Energy Saving Programme) funding thereby
maximising the level of inward investment.
Table 2 shows the detailed 2010/11 programme and the estimated
expenditure and decency impact the investment will have.
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Table 2 - Salix Homes Decent Homes Programme 2010/11
Decent Homes
Ward
Orsall Lane Phase 1
Ordsall
Broadway
Lissadel St
Ordsall
Irwell Riverside
Regent park
London St
Racecourse
Spike Island Phase 1
Ordsall
Irwell Riverside
Broughton
Broughton
Ordsall Lane Phase 2- Nineacre Court
Duchy Phase 1
Ordsall
Irwell Riverside
Islington
Decent Homes mop ups
Ordsall
Various
Brunswick Estate
Orient Road Estate
Lancaster
Road Estate
Irwell Riverside
Weaste and Seedley
Broughton Acquired
Total indicative scheme costs
Irwell Riverside
Weaste and Seedley
Neigbourhood area
Ordsall and
Langworthy
Ordsall and
Langworthy
East Salford
Ordsall and
Langworthy
East Salford
East Salford
East Salford
Ordsall and
Langworthy
East Salford
Ordsall and
Langworthy
Various
Kersal and
Charlestown
Seedley and Weaste
Seedley and Weaste
Kersal and
Charlestown
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Spend
2010/11
Units
DH Fail
New DH
£2,674,000.00
109
89%
97
£715,997.00
£595,804.00
93
88
94%
100%
87
88
£603,548.00
£521,059.00
£662,525.00
£1,962,000.00
86
67
79
80
100%
100%
99%
80%
86
67
78
64
£250,000.00
£1,028,896.00
30
80
100%
90%
30
72
£1,000,000.00
£501,000.00
30
33
100%
100%
30
33
£1,192,000.00
£64,000.00
65
4
55%
100%
36
4
£332,000.00
9
100%
9
£226,000.00
£12,328,829
12
70%
8
£3.690,000m programme homes
worked on
£8.690,000m programme homes
worked on
£1,677,829m over programming*
£1,961,000 potential 10/11 CESP
Total
£3,690,000
376
£5,000,000
£1,677,829
£1,961,000
£12,328,829
742
£3.69m programme Decent Homes
created
£8.69m programme Decent Homes
created
358
700
*Due to the need to mobilise quickly on a number of new schemes to ensure optimum expenditure, over programming is factored in
to allow more flexibility in managing the programme. Throughout the year the delivery of progress against schemes will be
monitored and over programming managed out and form part of the following years capital programme.
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3.0
Programme 2011/12 – 2014/15
3.1
Whilst the 2010/11 programme is approximately £10m less than originally
envisaged it is still the intention of Salix Homes to complete the Decent
Homes programme by March 2015 and following customer consultation the
full programme has been produced and distributed to customers in February
2010/11 (see appendix 1 – Delivering Decent Homes in your neighbourhood).
This information is also available on the Salix Homes website through a post
code search facility.
3.2
Actual works to properties will vary from estate to estate based on detailed
surveys and will include those works required to bring properties up to the
Decent Homes standard as well as other essential works and grant funded
energy efficiency works.
3.3
The programme, as distributed to customers, will now be reviewed again to
reflect the 2010/11 drawdown and will be re-profiled in line with Table 1. It is
the intention of Salix Homes to publish each year the detailed annual
programme in advance of the year start.
3.4
Table 3 shows the current four year programme adjusted to reflect the
2010/11 draw down and the knock on impact over the remaining four years of
the programme. The schemes shown purely reflect Decent Homes
improvements, however there will also be an ongoing programme of other
planned and statutory requirement works that will be funded through the Major
Repairs Allowance and other identified funding sources.
3.5
There will also be a programme of environmental works carried out by 2015.
The planning and identification of these has commenced and it is hoped to
start consultation on these shortly. There is a 5% sustainability pot within
Decent Homes drawdown which is targeted at works of this nature. This will
include fencing, pathways and estate works. This programme will be heavily
driven by input from local communities, an element of which will be delivered
through an enhanced participatory budgeting process, enabling local people
to have full involvement in developing and delivering their priorities based on
objective evaluation criteria. This will build on the successful Participatory
Budgeting initiative piloted by Salix Homes in 2009/10.
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Table 3 Decent Homes Programme 2011 - 2015
Decent Homes Investment 2011 - 2015
2011/12
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
Islington Estate Phase 2
Oldfield Road Estate
Phase 1
Southgarth Estate
Tootal Estate
Rainsough Brow
Estate
Meadowgate Estate
Beechfarm Estate Phase 1
Duchy Estate Phase 2
Greengate Estate Phase 1
Blackfriairs Court
Alexander Gardens
Broadwalk Estate
Phase 1
Beechfarm Estate
Phase 2
Ordsall Centre Estate
Muirhead Court
Greengate Estate
Phase 2
New Bank Court
Springbank
Mulberry Court
Broomedge
Riverbank Court
Spike Island/riverside
Estate Phase 2
Ordsall Lane Estate Phase
2
Magnolia Court
Heraldic Court
Weaste Steel Estate
Fairhope Estate
North Clifden Lane
Estate
Phoebe Street Estate
Oldfield Road Estate
Phase 2
Broadwalk Estate
Phase 2
Beechfarm Estate
Phase 3
Bury New Road Estate
Trafford Rd
Roundabout Estate
Ascot Court
Albion Stadium
Estate
Windsor/albion
Estate
Hightown Estate
South Ordsall Estate
Cheshill Court
Cannon Green Court
Longbow Court
Rialto Gardens
Sycamore Court
Oakhill Court
Queen Alexander
Mandley Park Estate
Whitefriars Court
Greyfrairs Court
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KEY COUNCIL POLICIES:
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EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND IMPLICATIONS:Full equality impact assessments have been carried out on the Salix Homes
Investment and Asset Management strategy and actions identified through the
service action planning process.
Measures have been put in place to ensure the needs of customers are identified at
an early stage through support plans and specifications tailored to avoid the need for
adaptations at a later stage.
A working protocol has been developed with Housing Futures to allow adaptations to
be carried out as part of the decent homes programme reducing disruption and
duplication.
Salix Homes also sees the increased investment level as an opportunity to lever in
investment into BME employers and promote employment and training in the
construction industry to under represented groups and has implemented a partnering
group to monitor and promote equality and diversity through the contractors’
workforce.
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ASSESSMENT OF RISK:
Medium
Procurement of contractor and consultant partners to deliver accelerated year
2010/11 programme.
Sufficient resources in house to deliver full Decent Homes programme.
Change in funding decisions following deficit reduction measures by the new
administration.
Failure to communicate effectively could affect reputation and customer relations
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SOURCE OF FUNDING:
Current approved Housing Public Sector Capital Programme and additional ALMO
borrowing.
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LEGAL IMPLICATIONS: No legal implications.
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FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
9
The Council approved a Public Sector Capital Programme of £12.975m for 2010/11
as part of the annual budget setting process in February 2010.
The approved programme included funding of £3.7m for work on New Decent
Homes.
Approval to the 2010/11 programme of £12.3m in table two below will be funded
through by the £3.7m already approved, £5m ALMO funding subject to confirmation
of additional borrowing approval from HCA and £1.9m CESP funding. These
resources of £10.6m will allow a level of over programming of £1.7m which will give
assurance that resources can be maximised once approved given the current
position in the financial year.
Approval to all future years’ capital programmes will form part of the annual budget
setting cycles.
Contact Officer and Extension No: Joanne Kay 779-8814 PLUS Council contact
officer
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OTHER DIRECTORATES CONSULTED: Not applicable
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CONTACT OFFICER
Matt Roberts Telephone: 0161 779 8886 Email: matt.roberts@salixhomes.org
John Wooderson Telephone 922 8723 Email: john.wooderson@salford.gov.uk
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