The Audit and Resources Committee of Eastleigh Council were scheduled to meet on Tuesday 23 September 2025 to discuss internal audit strategies, progress and quality assessments, updates on the One Horton Heath development, corporate fees and charges, community asset transfers and other committee business. The meeting was also scheduled to include verbal updates from members representing the Strategic Risk Management Group and the Procurement Executive Group.

Community Asset Transfers

The committee was scheduled to discuss a report regarding the council's accelerated Community Asset Transfer programme. The report noted that since 1994, the council has had a policy of transferring assets to town and parish councils, and that a borough-wide programme has begun to support the council community asset transfers from Eastleigh Borough Council to local town and parish councils.

The report included a recommendation that Cabinet:

• Approves the removal of pre-emption right and restrictive use covenants for assets listed in Community Asset Transfers App 3, as recommended by the Community Asset Transfer Board.
• Delegates the decision to apply to the Secretary of State for express consent for proposed transfers where the undervalue is more than £2M to the Service Director of Finance, Improvement & Strategic Housing and the Head of Property, in consultation with the Leader of the Council and the appropriate Local Area Committee Chair.
• Delegates authority to the Head of Legal Services to appropriate land and buildings to applicable Holding Powers to enable disposal.

The report noted that requests had been received from nine of the 11 parish and town councils for a range of community facilities, and that transfer requests from Allbrook Parish Council were due to complete imminently for:

• Allbrook Knoll
• Rookwood Close
• Pitmore Road/ Boyatt Lane

The report also noted that a small number of sites had been identified that cannot be transferred, including land on the North East Side of Grange Road, land to South of Gulleycroft Mead, land lying to the South East of St Johns and land at Sundays Hill.

The report discussed concerns raised by Eastleigh Town Council and Hedge End Town Council regarding proposed covenants that took the form of a pre-emption right clause and change of use restrictions. The Community Asset Transfer Board recommended that no new covenants be imposed for the majority of assets transfers, with more complex, higher value, or strategic assets being assessed on a case-by-case basis.

The report also noted that the Council had sought independent legal advice, and that the advice highlighted that the Council needs to be clear as to the reason why the relevant land is being disposed of to town/ parish councils and the basis on which the decision to dispose of the relevant assets at an undervalue can be justified.

One Horton Heath Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the One Horton Heath (OHH) Programme¹. The report included a recommendation for the Audit and Resources Committee to consider and comment on the council's progress across various projects within the One Horton Heath programme.

The report stated that work had been progressing on many elements within the programme, including:

• Construction at Lower Acre
• Planning for the formal opening of The Avenue
• Completion of the in-house design of the new housing rent system and customer portal 'my eastbrooke'
• Work on the sales and marketing elements for the first homes
• Appointment of a consultant team to master plan the development
• Appointment of a Primary School consultant team

The report noted that with recent announcements around Local Government Reorganisation², it is important that the council ensures that the vision for One Horton Heath is, as far as possible, protected into the future, and that to facilitate this, accelerating master trajectory planning and reserved matter applications becomes more important.

The report also stated that the consultant team and SSEN have confirmed the need for 15MVA for 2,500 homes and 16.8MVA for 2,850 homes, and that all utilities are currently being installed across the Lower Acre.

The report noted that the opening of The Avenue is another significant and welcome infrastructure addition to the site providing additional highway capacity which will relieve pressure on the local road network.

The report stated that the new updated suite of house types has been agreed with the Programme Board and have been developed to prioritise what is important to Borough residents, and that the overall trajectory for the entire OHH development is currently being worked on and demonstrates the master programme for delivery of the whole OHH development.

The report also noted that sales activity has stepped up during this period following a 'soft launch' event for the Lower Acre held on 28 June 2025, and that the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is now live and in daily use by the sales advisor team.

Corporate Fees and Charges

The committee was scheduled to scrutinise proposed fees and charges and make any necessary recommendations to Cabinet. The report contained a recommendation that Cabinet approves all proposed fees and charges in Corporate Fees and Charges Appendices to come into effect on the dates outlined in the report.

The report stated that in accordance with the Medium Term Financial Plan, fees and charges levied by the council are reviewed annually with the intention of any changes being introduced, where possible, with effect from October 2025, and that the fees and charges set out in the report are anticipated to achieve an additional yield of £319,910 which represents an average increase of 4.4% in 2026/27 and achieves targets within the Medium-Term Financial Plan.

The report noted that several new fees and charges are proposed to support the introduction of new services and offerings, including an early booking incentive for theatre hirers, a new daily hire rate for theatre hire, a new package offering full-day hire of the entire venue, a dedicated Smoke Effects package, a fee for the Eastleigh House virtual office service, event charges, split court costs fees, a new charge to cover the additional cost of the collection and disposal of waste domestic soft seating, a new charge for the 'Hire of 1100L Bin for General Waste Use', two new fees for hackney carriage compliance retests, primate licensing fees and zoo licensing fees, fees for use of tennis courts at Long Lane, Bursledon and The Hub, Bishopstoke Road, a new fee for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) pre-licence advice, and an initial registration fee for developers wishing to reserve nitrate and phosphate credits.

The report also noted that in many cases, services have increased prices by a figure broadly in line with the targeted increase of 4.4%, and detailed occurrences where the council has made changes to fees which are not solely inflationary.

Internal Audit

The committee was scheduled to discuss three reports relating to Internal Audit.

The first report, Internal Audit Strategy, presented the Internal Audit Strategy 2025-28 to the Audit & Resources Committee for review and noting. The strategy will be periodically reviewed with ongoing updates to the Audit & Resources Committee on the achievement and delivery of objectives as part of regular progress reports.

The second report, Internal Audit Progress Report, presented the Internal Audit Progress Report June 2025, providing the Audit and Resources Committee with an overview of internal audit activity and assurance work completed in accordance with the approved audit plan and provides an overview of key updates relevant to the discharge of the committee's role in relation to internal audit.

The third report, Internal Audit - External Quality Assessment, provided an overview of the alternative options considered in commissioning an external assessor to undertake the pending independent assessment of the Southern Internal Audit Partnership against the Global Internal Audit Standards in the UK Public Sector. The report recommended that the Audit & Resources Committee notes arrangements for the pending external assessment of the Southern Internal Audit Partnership against the Global Internal Audit Standards in the UK Public Sector.

Other Business

The committee was also scheduled to discuss the Cabinet Forward Plan, and the Audit and Resources Committee Work Programme.