A vote was taken on Standing Orders and it was UNANIMOUSLY AGREED to extend the meeting for half an hour.

The report summarised progress since the last report to Committee on 16 March 2021 on the development of a pipeline of new affordable homes through the development and regeneration of various Housing Revenue Account (HRA) owned sites.

As a reminder, this Strategic Housing Delivery Programme (SHDP) is currently made up of two elements, 1) the regeneration of Brookfield Close and Courage Court, Hutton resulting in a planned 62 zero carbon homes and 2) the development of a range of smaller HRA sites to deliver new homes.

All of these new homes will contribute to and be managed within the Council’s HRA. The Council’s Corporate Strategy ‘Brentwood 2025’ commits to Introducing “innovative Carbon reduction and absorption schemes”, “identify opportunities for low emission and green developments” and using ‘brownfield sites efficiently, such as council owned garage sites, to provide affordable homes…”.

The Chair wanted to thank and acknowledge the work from Lauren, Amy, Kate and Sophie during the project so far. 

A motion was MOVED by Cllr Mrs Pearson and SECONDED by Cllr Russell

to agree the recommendations in the report.

Following a discussion a vote was taken and it was RESOLVED that: Members are asked to:

R1. Subject to planning permission being granted, proceed with the next technical stages of design for Brookfield Close and Courage Court regeneration, with a final costed assessment to be reported to this Committee before any final approval to proceed.

R2. Approve the ‘Regeneration Offer’ to residents affected by the Council’s housing regeneration activity attached as Appendix B to the report.

R3. Commence the process of the decanting of residents at Brookfield Close and Courage Court under the terms specified in the ‘Regeneration Offer’ including the buyback of privately owned property.

R4. Approve the ‘New Affordable Homes Strategy 2021-2028’ attached as Appendix A to the report.

Reasons for Recommendation

The report updated Members on progress on what is a key strategic priority, the delivery of new affordable homes and requests approval for critical next steps towards regeneration.