Purpose

To gain approval to proceed with options
appraisals across the Council's small sites and explore modular
construction methods

Decision

For the reasons set out in
the report and its appendices Cabinet RESOLVED to AGREE:

 

i) 
A budget of £200,000 to enable the appointment of an Asset
Strategy consultant to undertake the option appraisals and other
ancillary works on the small sites;

 

ii) 
A budget of £1,000,000 in order to undertake surveys and
other ancillary works in order to proceed with designing Vicarage
Lane; Berwick Road and Chargeable Lane or other suitable sites, to
RIBA stage 3, (pre submission of planning), with the intent of
delivering through modular construction where this is more
effective than adopting a traditional approach;
 
iii) 
To delegate authority to the Corporate Director of Resources, in
consultation with the Cabinet member for Finance and Resources to
approve any necessary procurement process and to award a contract
or contracts for the services as per (ii) above; and
 
iv) 
To note that a further report will be brought to Cabinet in
December 2023 to submit planning for suitable modular sites that
are proposed to be taken forward
 
Alternatives
Considered
 

1) 
Not to proceed with this options appraisal would
potentially leave 375 Council owned sites being underutilised for
several outcomes, including redevelopment and for community
use.
 

2) 
The Council currently do not have the internal resource
or expertise to carry out the options appraisal process. Given
it’s likely to only take six months and needs specialist
asset strategy knowledge it is seen more time and cost effective to
hire an external consultant to carry out the initial options
appraisal. 

 

3) 
The three sites identified suitable for modular housing
could be left as is but this would result in a loss of 14
additional homes and a loss of the opportunity for the Council to
properly explore a new method of housing delivery.