Issue - meetings

This report provides an update on progress of Medway’s Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) Bid – New Routes to Good Growth, which will provide much needed infrastructure to enable growth in and around the Hoo Peninsula.

The report asks Full Council to agree to delegate authority to the Director of Place and Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader the Chief Finance Officer and the Chief Legal Officer to carry out all non-executive pre- and post-commencement conditions, as detailed in the Exempt Appendix.

The report was initially considered by the Cabinet on 7 April 2020. Comments of the Cabinet are set out in section 3 of the report.

Discussion:

This report provided an update on progress of Medway’s Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) Bid – New Routes to Good Growth, which would provide much needed infrastructure to enable growth in and around the Hoo Peninsula.

The report asked Full Council to agree to delegate authority to the Director of Place and Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader, the Chief Finance Officer and the Chief Legal Officer to carry out all non-executive pre- and post-commencement conditions, as detailed in the Exempt Appendix to the report.

The report was initially considered by the Cabinet on 7 April 2020. Comments of the Cabinet were set out in section 3 of the report.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Jarrett, supported by the Portfolio Holder for Resources, Councillor Gulvin, proposed the recommendation in the report.

Decision:

The Council agreed to delegate authority to the Director of Place and Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader, the Chief Finance Officer and the Chief Legal Officer, to carry out all non-executive pre- and post- conditions of the Grant Determination Agreement, as detailed in the Exempt Appendix.

Background:

This report provided an update on the progress of Medway’s Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) Bid, ‘New Routes to Good Growth’. The report explained that on 1 November 2019, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) announced that Medway’s HIF bid had been successful. Since then, officers had responded to conditions that MHCLG required to be attached to the receipt of this funding. The Exempt Appendix to the report set out the HIF Grant Determination Agreement (GDA) (Appendix 1) and the pre- and post-commencement conditions (Appendix 2).

The report explained that there were a large number of conditions contained within the GDA which the Council either needed to achieve or set out how it could achieve them should they become necessary. The Council did not currently have the powers available to it to meet all requirements. However, to ensure that officers could do so in a timely and efficient manner, delegations were being sought from Cabinet and Full Council to enable respective executive and non-executive functions to be exercised.

Detailed financial information in relation to the delivery of the HIF bid was set out in section 6 of the report. The report stated that once the GDA was signed, MHCLG had indicated that funding would be provided based on monthly claims, with the first payment not expected until September 2020. The cost of borrowing to fund works in advance of claims would be charged to the capital scheme and would not impact on the Council’s revenue budget.

Reasons:

The alternative option would result in the loss of £170m of capital funding, which is considered vital in supporting Medway’s future regeneration, and delivering against Local Plan targets.