Meeting documents

The Housing Development and Enabling Manager and the Development Manager presented a verbal update on the North Taunton Woolaway Project.

Officers presented some of the background details of the Project that had previously been reported to the Board. 

Officers had held four public consultation events that had focused on the local community which included both Taunton Deane Borough Council (TDBC) tenants and private tenants.  After each consultation event, officers had offered individual meetings for the tenants of the 212 households in the area, 121 of those households had attended an individual meeting.  A Design Group had also been set up to discuss the options available for tenants, which were to either refurbish, redevelop or comprehensively redevelopment the properties.  North Taunton residents could also visit the TDBC office that had been set up in one of the void properties in the area and officers had ensured that any information from the consultation events was published on the TDBC website.  All of the information that had been gathered in that phase had been used in the design process and had led to the option for comprehensive redevelopment being chosen for the scheme.

The next stage of the Project was to submit a planning application for the works that were required for the Project.  Architects were currently working on the planning application and were still in the design phase.  Officers were working on the financial details behind the scenes and would be taking a paper to Full Council in early 2019 and would present that information to the Board in January 2019.

The Weavers Arms Project had experienced delays and officers were in the process of sorting out the snagging, de-snagging and back-snagging of properties so that they would be ready for hand over.  Work was being carried out on the Section 278 Agreement which related to the highways part of the Project and the snagging works were included in that.

During the discussion, the Board Members made the following points:-

·         Concern was raised that the properties in the Weavers Arms Project were ready but not occupied.

Officers advised that the properties might appear to be ready from the outside but that work was still being carried out on the inside that needed to be signed off by Building Control, hence why they had not been occupied.

·         Members queried what MHCLG meant.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, formerly known as the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).

·         Members queried how many properties were included in the North Taunton Project.

There were 212 properties in total, TDBC owned 167 of those properties.  The proposal would include 227 new builds and then refurbish a further 27 properties.

·         Members queried whether the private owners had been asked to pay for the works.

Officers were in negotiations with the private owners to see what options were available to help them pay for the works.

·         Members queried how the decant process of the project would be carried out.

Officers has kept void properties in the area to help with the decant process, but advised that it would happen in stages to help alleviate the demand for housing in the area.

·         Members hoped that the planning application would be of the same standard as the Creechbarrow Road application.

Previous work carried out by the Development Team on the Creechbarrow Road Project had fed into the North Taunton Project.

Resolved that the Board noted the Officer’s report.