Agenda item

To review an update to the Growth Board setting out the 2019/2020 Quarter 3 progress report for the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal and asking it to endorse any amendments to programmes of work as necessary. Also, to receive the Quarter 3 financial summary for the Housing and Growth Deal.

The Panel considered a report to the Growth Board presented by Bev Hindle, Growth Board Director, which set out an update on progress at Quarter 3 (2019/2020) with the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal, and the interim financial position. The following points were highlighted:

·           Para 27 set out spend against the agreed programme for the Oxfordshire Affordable Housing Programme over a three-year period.  A theme was that the programme was finding it difficult to compete with other schemes including those provided by Homes England, HM Government’s housing delivery agency.

·           Several proposals to help improve performance had been made to HM Government which had been received well, but the effect of these would take time to have an impact and might not have effect until after the end date of the programme.

·           Active consideration was being given to how the Oxfordshire Affordable Housing Programme, (OAHP) and wider Growth Deal could be turned into a longer-term programme and there was the potential to deliver a lot more in the future.

·           As of Quarter 3, a significant amount of learning was taking place around potential strengths and weaknesses and it was acknowledged that performance needed to improve.

·           The target for capital programming had been achieved at Year 1, in part because a lot of work had already taken place on individual projects, but it had been harder to bring completely new scheme forward in Year 2.

·           The capital programme for the OAHP was over a three-year period and the capital programme for Home from Infrastructure was a five-year period, but delivery experience indicated that a 10-15-year programme might be more appropriate.

In its discussion of the report with Officers, the Panel commented and noted that:

·           The Chair commented that in his view, the overall tone of the report had been quite negative, particularly the change in performance outlined in paras 26-27 between June 2019 and December 2019 which showed a significant decrease in performance and the challenge around providing a competitive grant rate in comparison to other providers

·           Concern was expressed regarding the scale of the challenge of delivering 70% of the affordable homes target in the final year of the programme and whether this could realistically be achieved.

·           The scale of the challenge was accepted by officers, which was most acute in respect of the Affordable Housing Programme.  Mitigations to improve performance had been proposed to HM Government, but unfortunately a number had not been accepted which was discouraging.

·           Steps had been taken across the Oxfordshire local authorities such as the pooling of resources and developing dialogues with developers to build longer term relationships. The view of officers was HM Government strongly wanted the programme to succeed, but some of its current governance structures and processes had tended to make this more difficult.

·           The Housing and Growth Deal had been the first of its kind and whilst it would deliver, all parties would seek to apply the learnings for future arrangements. It was a significant challenge to deliver complex housing projects within the period of the Deal, but progress was being made.

·           The Panel welcomed the information set out in the report, but also commented that it would be helpful to see some of background information supporting it, particularly to help it understand spend versus benefits realised. 

·           The Panel suggested that it would be helpful for there to be a review of the Deal and programmes with recommendations for the future.  It was noted that there was an annual review process with HM Government and that there was the potential to also undertake an audit. This would be welcomed as it would provide a useful insight for all parties on what could be improved. 

·           Concern was expressed about slippage in the Year 2 affordable housing programme and asked whether HM Government funding had been the most significant issue or whether other factors, such as planning delays had had also had an impact.  The Panel was informed that the reasons were multi-factorial. Delivery of some major sites had slipped, and some potential sites had been lost to providers with more attractive grant offers and the picture had been similar in respect of infrastructure. It was necessary to be transparent and clear that not all factors on delivery could be controlled locally or that mitigations were not controlled local either.

·           Members suggested that it might be appropriate to set numerical targets for delivery that reflected the risk of some sites dropping out of the Affordable Housing Programme and it was confirmed this was already considered.

·           It was technically possible that HM Government could decide to clawback unspent funds, but both it and the Growth Board, were working to support the Deal.

The Panel strongly welcomed the actions being taken by officers in seeking to mitigate any risks to the Affordable Housing Programme and the Growth Deal and were supportive of a review. 

RESOLVED: That the Scrutiny Panel recommended that the Growth Board, in considering the Housing and Growth Deal Progress report, seek to develop a reflective paper on experiences to date concerning the deliverability of the Housing and Growth Deal including mitigation activities and future risks. Furthermore, that the Growth Board ask the Government to respond to the request for extension made by officers on the Oxfordshire Plan 2050 timelines and that this should reflect on the need to set flexible and realistic timescales for any future investment agreements with Government following an audit of existing arrangements.