Issue - meetings

Appendices 1 and 2 to the report are in the exempt section of the agenda at Item 22.

By Minute 26 (21 July 2015), it was agreed that the Council would enter into an Overarching Borough Agreement with the Greater London Authority (GLA) regarding the selection of the Barking Town Centre (BTC) area as a Housing Zone under the GLA’s London Housing Zones programme.

One of the key sites within the BTC Housing Zone was Crown House and the Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Investment introduced a report setting out details of the negotiations with the site leaseholder, Lightquote Limited, as well as a recommended way forward to deliver the outputs under the Housing Zone funding agreement and the Council’s wider objectives for the area.

The Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Approve the proposed delivery route for the project, as set out in paragraph 3.2 of the report;

(ii)  Authorise the Strategic Director of Growth and Homes, in consultation with the Strategic Director of Finance and Investment, the Director of Law and Governance and the Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Investment, to finalise terms with Lightquote Ltd for a memorandum of understanding, an agreement for lease, building licence / new lease or other tax efficient alternative, under the principles set out in the report;

(iii)  Agree to enter into the Borough Intervention Agreement (BIA) for the Crown House site with the Greater London Authority;

(iv)  Agree to the principle of loan funding being used for the capital costs of construction of the development on Council land with repayment through rental income;

(v)  Delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Finance and Investment, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Investment, to determine the amount of borrowing required to support the project and to enter into the necessary arrangements to acquire the funding;

(vi)  Agree to the purchase of the Baptist Church car park and community hall required to deliver the scheme plus, subject to viability, other land shown hatched on the plan at Appendix 1 to the report, and to delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Finance and Investment, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Finance, Growth and Investment and the Strategic Director of Growth and Homes, to negotiate terms and enter into any necessary agreements;

(vii)  Agree to commit funding for 50% of the costs associated with submitting a planning application for the site; and

(viii)  Agree to Roycroft House car park being used as the market traders’ car park on market days as well as some space within London Road multi-storey car park in order to unlock the development site.