Issue - meetings

Allocation of Section 106 funds to support the delivery of new affordable homes at the Shaftesbury Christian Centre site, Frankham Street, Deptford

1.1      The Vice Chair informed Panel Members that Councillor Bernards, had asked for this report to be submitted to this Panel for consideration.

1.2      Councillor Bernards said that he was concerned about a contract being awarded to J49 because he had not seen any business that they had been involved in and asked whether due diligence had been undertaken for this company. He was also concerned about a contradiction in the papers where it states that J49 was created for this project and the dates that the company was created and the dates that the land was acquired by the current owners were different. He also asked whether other providers had been approached to deliver the same project.

1.3      The Principal Development and Land Manager explained that J49 were a body that had been created to fulfil a registered provider function. Due diligence was focused on them working with the social housing regulator to become a registered provider. As part of that process, they had passed the initial assessment. They were now going through the main body of the assessment, which would consider various governance, financial and capability measures.

1.4      The Principal Development and Land Manager explained that the approval for the money was conditional on J49, as a new body, passing all of the regulatory, economic and governance requirements. Money would not be released until the social regulator, who oversees all the social housing in the country, agreed. In addition, J49 had bid for GLA funding, and this would also have to be approved.

1.5      The ownership of the land was with the trust and the church. Lewisham would not be in a position to negotiate with anyone else in terms of housing development. Housing would be built over their land so Lewisham were responding to something that the owners were trying to achieve.

1.6      Councillor Bernards said that J49 did not have any assets and giving this company a substantial amount of money was, in his opinion, risky. He said that planning permission had been acquired through delegated authority and asked why it had not been submitted to the relevant Committee. The Principal Development and Land Manager said that J49 was a creation of existing bodies. A lot of people involved with due diligence, had been involved in other developments; working with Homes for Humanity and Berkley Homes. Officers recognised that this was a new body so there was a risk. That risk, in terms of the suitability of the body, would be overseen by the social housing regulator and the reason why there was an additional condition around that.

1.7      The Principal Development and Land Manager said that planning permission has a monetary value, therefore, there was an asset upon which officers were considering making a charge on, so there would be some possible recompense if the very worst should happen. However, there had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22