Issue - meetings

Background:

The report advised that the Medway Development Company (MDC) and the Council had been successful with their bid for £6.8m from the Brownfield Infrastructure and Land (BIL) grant fund from Homes England (HE), to deliver 195 homes on the former Strood Civic Centre site, as set out at Appendix 1 (Location Plan) to the report.

In order for MDC to secure the award of grant funding the Council was required to sign the Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) as the second guarantor. The report outlined the need for the grant and the associated risks to the Council, which needed to be considered, prior to the signing the GFA.

MDC had submitted a separate bid for BIL funding to HE, for Mountbatten House as set out at Appendix 1, which had passed the initial gateway and when finalised would require the same GFA as Strood Civic to be signed by the Council as a second guarantor.

Exempt Appendices to the report provided further information in respect of the progress of the bid and the amount of grant funding expected to be awarded by Homes England and also the Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land Grant Funding Agreement relating to Strood Civic Centre.

Reasons:

Signing the GFA for the Strood Civic site unlocks a grant of £6.8m, which enables the site to be developed and a land receipt. MDC are working through the final stage, which will establish the grant award for the Mountbatten House site.

A breach of the funding agreements could result in the Council needing to payback the grant awarded. The sites and GFAs are not interdependent. It is important that the Cabinet understand the circumstances in which the grant could be subject to clawback.

If the Council does not sign the GFAs the deliverability of the sites would be impacted.