Refurbishment of Velbert House.pdf - Corby Borough Council

Open Decision Item
One Corby Policy Committee 7 June 2011
Refurbishment of Velbert House
SYNOPSIS
This report seeks a decision from the Committee on a proposal for the refurbishment of
Velbert House in the 2011/12 financial year. The proposal outlines the Council’s intention to
bring forward Velbert House refurbishment in place of decent homes/capital work which will
be rescheduled into 2013/14.
1. Relevant Background Details
During 2005, Corby Borough Council (CBC) agreed funding to bring its housing stock up to
the Decent Homes standard by December 2010, this funding also included an amount of
money to contribute to the refurbishment of the three sheltered schemes, Donald Greaves,
Sykes Court, and Velbert House.
The Council fell just short of the decent homes target in December 2010 by 14% and as a
result of this was able to submit a bid for backlog funding to the Homes and Communities
Agency (HCA) at the end of December 2010. The bid was successful and a funding
allocation of £1,855,000 was allocated to CBC for the 2013/14 financial year.
This allows the Council flexibility to prioritise the capital programme and include Velbert
House in this years capital programme. Velbert House is the remaining sheltered scheme
with shared bathing, and currently has 7 flats empty.
2. Report
Velbert House was one of the three sheltered units (the others being Donald Greaves and
Sykes Court) included on the initial 5-year Decent Homes programme and the extent of
works to the building has already been assessed. It is proposed that Velbert House is
started immediately on completion of Sykes Court, which would benefit the Council as
follows:
1. Velbert House units are currently ‘hard to let’ properties the properties to let are bedsits
with shared bathing facilities, there are currently 7 properties which have been long-term
voids and this number increases month on month. By prioritising the refurbishment of the
complex ahead of the time (it was due for decent homes refurbishment in 2013/14) It will
allow the Council to take advantage of the competitive building market, increase rental
income and could also potentially contribute to an increase in the empty homes bonus
funding for the Council.
2. By completing the refurbishment of Velbert House the Council would be achieving the 5-
Year Decent Homes programme for sheltered units by completing the three complexes
set out in 2005.
3. If the Council delay the refurbishment works to Velbert House until 2013/14 it will have an
impact on revenue, as units within the complex are currently ‘hard to let’, it would also
increase the cost of management of the scheme due to reduced occupancy and higher
repair costs.
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3. Options to be considered
a) do nothing, this will result in the scheme continuing to be hard to let and reduce
the level of income from the properties, costs will also need to be spent on
security and additional maintenance as a result of the decay of the building.
b) Refurbish the property realigning funds from the Housing Capital Programme.
4. Issues to be taken into account:-
Policy Priorities
This clearly focuses on CBC’s Decent Homes target and value for money commitment.
Financial
It is proposed to bring this project forward into the 2011/12 financial year within the Housing
Capital Programme and identify a sum of £910,000 to complete the works within this
programme. This will replace current scheduled works for decent homes capital work which
will be funded from the 2013/14 programme.
The funding from the HCA will be aligned with the housing capital programme to complete
decent homes funding in years 2013/14. Although the funds from the HCA has not been
guaranteed if this proposed funding is not made available to Corby Borough Council the risk
to the Council would be that the Capital Programme would be reviewed in 2013/14 and
extended to take account of any shortfall caused by the grant not being paid.
This is not expected as the HCA have confirmed that their priorities are funded prior to any
other commitments being made, but is highlighted as it is not yet within the timeframe the
HCA can guarantee the funding.
Legal
N/A
Performance Information
The relevant Decent Homes performance indicators are as follows:
• NI158. at year end was 10.25% non-decent.
• NI 158a. total of number of non-decent housing stock is 491.
• NI 158b. total number of housing stock is 4808.
Best Value
N/A
Human Rights
N/A
Equalities
N/A
Community Safety
N/A
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5. Conclusion
CBC has successfully bid for £1,855,000 of Decent Homes backlog funding, which is
expected to be allocated in 2013/14 which will contribute and finalises the Decent Homes
programme for Corby Borough Council.
By realigning the capital programme it will allow the Council to finalise the sheltered
accommodation aspects of CBC’s 5-year Decent Homes programme, and would also
generate rental income which is currently lost on rent loss due to the properties being hard to
let.
Recommendation
i) that “Option b” is approved as detailed within the report.
External Consultations
The Council has consulted with the current residents of Velbert House, who fully support the
proposals.
List of Appendices
None
Officer to Contact
Angela Warburton,
Assistant Chief Executive
Tel: 01536 464003
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