Purpose

The Council received Levelling Up Fund (LUF)
grant to support the redevelopment proposals at Dagenham Heathway.
The project is a large-scale town centre redevelopment project and
is still in the early stage of the regeneration cycle. Due to the
time limitations of the funding agreement set by the Department for
Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DHLUC), Be First
structured the grant request to help facilitate a future
redevelopment rather than for any demolition or construction
activity.
 
One of the LUF projects is the acquisition of
the 25 leaseholder properties at Millard Terrace, which is a
Council owned housing estate held within the Housing Revenue
Account (HRA). The terms of the LUF grant include a minimum Council
match funding commitment of 10% to complete the project.
 
The Cabinet will be recommended to agree to
match fund the project via the HRA and resolve the purchase of the
leaseholder properties, utilising the grant funds, to secure vacant
possession of the site to help facilitate a future redevelopment
opportunity at Dagenham Heathway.

Content

Cabinet resolved to:
 
(i)  Agree to
progress the acquisition of the 24 residential leasehold properties
within Millard Terrace and the 19 commercial leasehold properties
within Dagenham Heathway shopping centre and delegate authority to
the Strategic Director, Resources, in consultation with the Head of
Legal, to negotiate final terms and execute all necessary legal
agreements to complete the acquisitions, provided that the costs
remain materially in line with the financial parameters set out in
Appendix 4 to the report;
 
(ii)  Note the risks
to acquisition as referred to in the report and agree, in
principle, to the use of the Council’s Compulsory Purchase
Powers to assemble the site should an acquisition by negotiation
not be successful;
 
(iii)  Agree that, subject
to the endorsement of the Procurement Board, the Council proceeds
with the procurement strategy for the appointment of an external
design team and all other necessary appointment and/or ancillary
agreements in accordance with the strategy set out in Appendix 3 to
the report;
 
(iv)  Agree the allocation
of Council match-funding of £2.245m (£1.326m via the
HRA and £0.919m via the General Fund) as a condition of the
LUF grant allocation of £10.883m, as detailed in paragraph
1.7 of the report;
 
(v)  Note that the
match funding via the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) was not
currently reflected in the HRA Business Plan and, therefore,
subject to approval of the recommendations above, the HRA match
funding value shall be included in future versions of the HRA
Business Plan; and
 
(vi)  Delegate authority
to the Strategic Director, Resources, to authorise any grant claims
to enable draw down of the grant funds.