Issue - meetings

•    To update Cabinet on progress with Spendells House being retained and reconfigured for the provision of temporary housing accommodation.

•    To seek continued support for the project in the light of the options available and the ongoing need for the accommodation.

•    To seek additional funding for additional work to address matters that were not within the specification and were brought to light in the course of the project.

•    To inform Members of a breach of the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules and legal decision making requirements with regard to variation of a contract without sufficient approvals in place and the actions taken in response.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

a)     formally receives the Monitoring Officer’s report and in response, notes the update on progress, increased contractual costs and additional budgets required to complete the project;

b)     continues to support, acknowledging the risks highlighted, the principle of the Spendells house site being retained and reconfigured for the provision of temporary housing accommodation;

c)      notes the financial implications incurred but that the most cost effective route forward is to complete the scheme and the contract in place;

d)     allocates an additional £0.850m capital and £0.01m revenue from reserves to facilitate the completion of the project;

e)     authorises the additional contractual works to be undertaken and recorded through contract management, as set out in the report (A.6);

f)       acknowledges that managers have been reminded of the internal control arrangements in place and the need for these to be followed in order to ensure such contract instructions are not proceeded with in future without the necessary approvals in place;

g)     requests that the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning provides corporate oversight of the completion of the project within the approvals in place;

h)     notes and endorses the instructions and actions of the Chief Executive, as set out within the Addendum Report;

i)       requests that Officers provide an update against the instructions and actions taken by the Chief Executive as soon as practicable; and 

j)       acknowledges the potential alternative to using HRA Reserves highlighted within the Addendum Report and requests that the Section 151 Officer keeps the options under review during the year and reports back to Cabinet as necessary.

Cabinet considered a joint report of the Housing & Planning Portfolio Holder and the Monitoring Officer (A.6), which:-

1)     updated it on progress with Spendells House being retained and reconfigured for the provision of temporary housing accommodation;

2)     sought its continued support for the project in the light of the options available and the ongoing need for the accommodation;

3)     sought additional funding for additional work to address matters that were not within the specification and were brought to light in the course of the project; and

4)     informed Members of a breach of the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules and legal decision making requirements with regard to variation of a contract without sufficient approvals in place and the actions taken in response thereto.

Cabinet noted that the Monitoring Officer was a co-author of the Report, only in so far as complying with the Section 5A of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 obligations.

Background to bringing in new temporary accommodation to support the District’s homelessness challenge

Spendells House was a 1960s constructed sheltered housing scheme with shared washing facilities and limited living space by modern standards. By 2017 the scheme was under occupied, hard to let and suffering from a number of repair and maintenance difficulties. At the same time the Council was (and still is) experiencing high and increasing demand to provide temporary housing for homeless people. At national level it was reported that homelessness had increased by around 13%. That demand had substantially exceeded the available accommodation in the stock and had resulted in the block booking of hotel rooms.

Hotel rooms were costly and were unsuited to decent family accommodation for daily life. Cooking and laundry facilities were rare and hotel occupancy policies were not well suited to family life.

Cabinet received a timeline of events as follows:-

On 10 November 2017, Cabinet had received the report of the then Housing Portfolio Holder and had approved formal consultation on the future of two Sheltered Housing Schemes including Spendells House;

On 15 January 2018, Cabinet had agreed to waiver normal processes for allocating secure tenancies to enable the displaced and transferred tenants of Spendells House, Walton to be granted secure tenancies at alternative addresses;

On 15 January 2018, the former Service Development and Delivery Committee had considered the future of the Honeycroft and Spendells sheltered schemes and had supported the principle of closure of the schemes, subject to some supplementary recommendations;

On 16 February 2018, Cabinet considered the reference from the Service Development and Delivery Committee on the consideration of the future of the Honeycroft and Spendells Sheltered Housing Schemes. Cabinet had noted their recommendations and had welcomed the Committee’s support;

On 23 March 2018, Cabinet had received the report of the then Housing Portfolio Holder and had decided on the closure of the two Sheltered Housing Schemes;

On 26 June 2020, Cabinet had decided to bring Spendells House back into use as temporary accommodation;

Officers arranged for the site to be stripped internally of all asbestos and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13