The Corporate Director of Environment and Place addressed the committee, in doing so he explained the report outlined the activity completed by Gloriana over the last 12 months.

He continued to explain Gloriana had established a series of controls put in place to govern the development and delivery of projects. This was known as the Governance Gateway and set the parameters within which Gloriana would gain approvals from Thurrock Council in respect of scheme selection, property transfers and finance.

Members were informed the first development at St Chad’s, Tilbury was progressing well and was nearing completion, with 20% of the development being made available for affordable housing.   The Committee were notified of the pipeline of schemes with the next proposed scheme - Belmont Road in Grays, which had been submitted to the planning department and was awaiting a decision.

Councillor Pothecary thanked the Corporate Director of Environment and Place for the report. She sought clarity on the expected role of Gloriana and commented on the percentages of the amount of units available for affordable housing offered to local residents. It was explained Gloriana’s principle aim was to develop new market housing within the Borough and to provide quality housing to meet housing needs and improve the lives of Thurrock residents.

The Corporate Director of Environment and Place notified the Committee there was the opportunity for affordable housing would come through the Section 106 which also provided funds for local environment and education priorities. He continued by confirming all future schemes would similarly be presented to the Planning Committee.

During discussions Members were advised the St Chads site had been contaminated with asbestos and so had been an expensive site to develop with no interest from private developers notwithstanding this the project had been delivered within budget.

Councillor Redsell enquired as to the cost of the service charges on the new development. Officers advised the cost would be included in the rent of the properties.

Councillor Allen commented the residents of Tilbury were disappointed as they were advised the properties would be offered to local people. He further stated that the percentage of affordable housing should have been greater. The Corporate Director of Environment and Place remarked that Gloriana was still a new company and perhaps they could have promoted the development differently at the outset.  The amount of affordable housing was agreed by Planning Committee on the basis of viability assessments.

Councillor Piccolo sought additional information on the development of planning permission as mentioned at 2.2 and 2.3 of the report. He also mentioned that the Gloriana development was different to the development at the Topps Club.

It was confirmed that the two developments were different in that the Topps Club was a scheme funded by the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). The Corporate Director of Environment and Place advised the Committee there was funding available through the recently announced Housing Infrastructure Fund to allow ambitious developments, of which the Council were preparing their bid. These would not be through the HRA however, as the borrowing cap remains.  A case would be made as part of the bid for the cap to be lifted to allow more Council homes to be built.

Councillor Gerrish enquired as to the future of the housing developments in Thurrock, in particular to income streams from using Gloriana as opposed to Council led schemes through the HRA.

Officers stated in relation to the St Chads site developed by Gloriana that the benefit was an immediate revenue return from the lending of development finance by the Council to Gloriana and that in addition the council received a capital receipt once the units are eventually sold by Gloriana.

The Housing Tennant Representative commented that officers mentioned a learning process from this first development. She queried as to whether all lessons had been learnt. It was confirmed by Officers that lessons had been learnt as this was the first Gloriana scheme – particularly around communication and residents’ expectations. 

Members sought as to whether the site would be used for housing for Key Workers in the borough. The Corporate Director of Adults, Housing and Health explained that was under consideration. He continued to notify Members the Key Worker scheme had been agreed by Cabinet; however it would need to be integrated with the cycle of recruitment – particularly for teachers and NHS staff.

The Chair of the Committee asked if it was possible in line with the Localism Act, if part of the development could be directed to residents living in the area. The Assistant Director of Housing explained there were provisions under the Housing Act for such a clause, however felt it would be subject to legal challenge.

Councillor Spillman then commented that the current work programme was not on the scale required to fully supplement private sector building, to meet the local housing need. He requested that Gloriana present option to Full Council of an ambitious expansion that can meet this need.

Councillor Piccolo commented that it was important that the council and the Planning Committee were not seen as to giving developments by Gloriana any special treatment, as this would set a precedent for other developers.

RESOLVED that the Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the information provided on the progress of the Company.