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Subject:
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Site Purchase -
Valley Social Centre
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Date of Meeting:
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10 October 2019
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Report of:
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Executive Director
Neighbourhoods Communities & Housing
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Contact Officer:
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Name:
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Jo Thompson
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Tel: 01273
291466
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Email:
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jo.thompson@brighton-hove.gov.uk
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Ward(s)
affected:
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East Brighton;
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FOR GENERAL
RELEASE
1.
PURPOSE OF REPORT AND POLICY CONTEXT
1.1
To seek authority to purchase the Valley Social Centre site,
Whitehawk Way, Whitehawk. The council already owns the car
park, which is located on Housing Revenue Account (HRA) land.
Purchasing the building will expand the land available to enable
the potential for construction of approximately 28 new council
homes. The acquisition of the site would support the
council’s key priority of providing additional council homes
in the city, as agreed by September 2019 Housing Committee in its
Priorities and Work Plan for 2019 to 2023. However, we will
consult the community on the incorporation of community space
within any future redevelopment of the site and provide a suitable
space where need can be proven. The proposed consultation
with Whitehawk residents and community groups detailed in Section 5
of this report will inform this decision. This report is
complimented by a separate report in part two of the Agenda.
2.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
2.1
That committee authorises the freehold acquisition of Valley Social
Centre at the appropriate price following independent valuation
advice.
2.2
That the approved budget for this acquisition will be added to the
2019/20 HRA capital programme and will be funded from commuted
resources held by the council. Further detail is included in
the part 2 report.
2.3
That delegated powers be given to the Executive Director of
Neighbourhoods Communities & Housing, the Executive Director
Economy, Environment & Culture and the Executive Lead of
Strategy, Governance and Law to agree terms for the
acquisition.
3.
CONTEXT/ BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Site
3.1 The Valley Social Centre (VSC) is home to the
Whitehawk and Manor Farm Community Association. It is a
social club and venue for functions, training and events, providing
competitive rates to the voluntary, community and statutory sectors
and is located on the west side of Whitehawk Way (see Appendix
1). Pedestrian and vehicular access is from the rear of the
building, via the adjacent car park. The adjacent car park is
owned by the council. There is also pedestrian access from
Whitehawk Way via an elevated walkway.
3.2
The Trustees of VSC bought the site in 1970’s from St
Cuthman’s Church (shown in red in App 1). The car park
(shown in yellow in App 1) is owned by the council and is located
on Housing Revenue Account land (approx. 0.05 Ha).
3.3
The VSC is a two storey detached building used as a Social Centre
and venue for training, functions and events. The
accommodation is arranged as offices, stores, a sports arena,
training rooms, function rooms, a bar, café and nursery with
ancillary toilets etc. The building was originally
constructed in the early 1980s and subsequently extended.
The Valley Social Centre
3.4
According to the Trustees, the VSC has suffered from falling
bookings in recent years, partially as a result of the
establishment of the Whitehawk Community Hub & Library which,
they report, has also led to the re-location of certain services to
the Hub. Many of the grassroots organisations who rented
accommodation at VSC over a number of years (e.g. Impact
Initiatives, Sussex Deaf Association, Safety Net, Women Without
Violence etc.) have either folded, due to a lack of revenue
funding, or re-located to other premises in the city.
3.5
In July, the Trustees of the VSC contacted the council as they were
keen to explore the council purchasing the freehold interest in the
building, in advance of marketing it for sale in the open market in
October 2019. At a meeting with Trustees in August, officers
interrogated the current operation and it was evident that the
café was no longer operating and that no other organisations
were renting space within the building. The Trustees accepted
that the VSC was no longer viable and would need to be sold once
the nursery was wound up and the children re-located to Roundabout
nursery in September 2019.
3.6 The Trustees have already had the site
valued. In order to inform a decision on whether to purchase
the site or not, council officers commissioned Parsons Son and
Basley (PSB) to provide some independent advice on the potential
value of the property. Their pre-acquisition valuation advice
is summarised in the Part 2 report.
3.7 A high level
study carried out by the council’s Property Architecture
& Design Team revealed that the combined site, including the
council’s car park, of 0.16 Ha could accommodate
approximately 21-28 council homes in a 3-4 storey development, with
some allocated parking. The precise quantum of housing is
likely to be influenced by feedback from planning officers
regarding the mass and height of the development and whether a
community use is incorporated as a result of further community
consultation as detailed in Section 5 of this report.
4 ANALYSIS & CONSIDERATION OF ANY ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS
4.1 There are two options that officers have been
exploring:
Options
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Opportunities
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Threats
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Risks
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Option 1 - Do nothing
The council doesn’t purchase
the building, resulting in its sale via auction on the open
market.
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·
Other organisations or developers
will be given the opportunity to acquire the site
·
The capital receipt derived from the
sale will be distributed to community organisations in the
“area of benefit”
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·
The council loses the opportunity to
deliver more council homes to meet the council’s target of
800 additional council homes in the next 4 years
·
The site is developed without proper
consideration of the needs of the local community
·
Selling the building in the open
market will mean extra costs incurred for the Trustees, exposing
them to financial liability for these costs
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·
High risk of community unhappiness
and disillusionment with the council for not stepping in to help
address the situation with the VSC
·
Residents have already expressed
some concern about the quantum of proposed development in the East
Brighton area and the impact on community space and/ or
amenities.
·
It will limit the opportunity for
the council to convert the car park (in council ownership) to an
alternative use
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Option 2 (Preferred) – The
council purchases the building
The council already owns the car park (which is
located on HRA land). Purchasing the building will expand the land
available to enable the construction of 21-28 new council
homes. Consideration will be given to the incorporation of
community space within the proposed development, if there is a need
for new community facilities
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·
The council makes best use of its
existing assets by contributing towards the delivery of its council
house target of developing 800 additional council homes by
2023
·
The capital receipt derived from the
sale will be distributed to community organisations in the
“area of benefit”
·
The site is developed with proper
consideration of the needs of the local community
·
The council has the financial
resources available to make the purchase
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·
The acquisition costs together with
the provision of new community space could make it unviable to
redevelop the site for housing
·
Further down the line, the council
would need to make a planning application which may be refused
planning permission
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·
Officers would need to ensure that
future development proposals were viable by managing public
expectations about the quantum of new community space that could be
re-provided
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Initial discussions with planners
would suggest that the principle of housing or a mixed use
development on this site is acceptable, providing suitable policy
justification can be made
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4.2 Based on the
council’s independent valuation advice, officers recommend
proceeding with the council’s purchase of the building.
Following acquisition, it is further recommended that a meeting be
held involving the council and St Cuthman’s Church to explore
potential opportunities for bringing forward a future development
in partnership. This could potentially combine both parcels
of land to facilitate a mixed use development comprising housing
and a new community facility. Underpinning these discussions would
be a very “bottom up” approach to community engagement
in order to fully establish the needs of Whitehawk residents and
local community groups in any future redevelopment of the
site.
4.3 There has been
some discussion within the broader Whitehawk community, of
potentially registering the site as a community asset.
The process of registering a community asset with the Local
Planning Authority is likely to take a considerable amount of time
running into several months. Since there are covenants on the
land which already offer protection of the site for community uses,
going forward, it is not clear what the advantages would be for the
community in pursuing this option. However, if the site were
to be sold at auction, this may be something that the community may
wish to explore further.
4.4 Other options
for the site were considered including whether the site could be
used for community led housing instead of new council homes.
Whilst the council has allocated HRA land via a long
lease for community led housing (e.g. Plumpton Close and Dunster
Close, with a scheme at Hinton Close under review), these have, to
date, been small sites which would be unviable for the council to
bring forward for housing development. In this case, the
opportunity afforded by the sale of the VSC together with the HRA
land (i.e. car park) is too significant for the council not to take
forward. This is because there is potential to deliver
between 21-28 new council homes towards the council’s
pipeline for development of 800 additional council homes in the
next 4 years. Therefore the preference on this site is for
the council to purchase the freehold and seek to develop new
council homes.
5 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT &
CONSULTATION
·
the existing supply and location of
community facilities, together with the demand for those
facilities;
·
the current economic standing of
community and voluntary sector organisations; and
·
the identification of any gaps in
the provision of community facilities.
5.2
These discussions have revealed a mixed picture, with some
community facilities thriving i.e. the Manor Gym, Hawks Café
etc. while others, such as the Whitehawk Inn (Brighton Housing
Trust) and Crew Club, are struggling as a result of factors such as
over reliance on single grant streams, high private rents and
building costs.
5.3
Community Engagement Officers were aware that the Valley Social
Centre had been struggling for a number of years and had seen a
number of its services cease including the bar and function room (a
commercial operation), the café and the nursery.
Rental streams from the office space, which used to be rented out
to a number of grassroot community organisations, is now
non-existent. Nevertheless, the VSC still provides storage space
for the foodbank which is run on a weekly basis by St
Cuthman’s Church. If the council acquires the site, it
is highly likely that an agreement will be reached with St
Cuthman’s to continue to provide storage space for the
foodbank within the building while further consultation is
undertaken with the community regarding the future redevelopment of
this site.
5.4
Recently, council officers, ward Members and other community groups
have found it increasingly difficult to hire rooms within the
Centre due to unavailability of staff taking the bookings and/ or
higher room hire tariffs. This is not uncommon, especially
when room bookings are falling leading to a significant reduction
in revenue available to employ staff, pay the utility bills and
meet the maintenance obligations of the building. The
Trustees have advised that they have been under financial pressure
for some years.
5.5
Officers will gather more evidence from the Centre Manager of
Valley Social Centre on the use of the building over the past 1-2
years. A wider consultation with other community
organisations like St Cuthman’s Church, the Crew Club,
Brighton Housing Trust, Whitehawk Inn, The Manor etc. would be
undertaken to establish the need for community facilities on this
site. This information will not only inform the
council’s strategy in relation to this site, but it will also
provide the necessary evidence to support a future planning
application if the site were to be brought forward for a housing or
mixed use development.
6.
CONCLUSION
7. FINANCIAL &
OTHER IMPLICATIONS:
Financial Implications:
7.1 The approved budget for
this acquisition will be added to the 2019/20 HRA capital programme
and will be funded from commuted sums held by the council.
Further detail is included in the part 2 report. The housing
commuted sums is an amount of money, paid by a developer to the
council, where the size or scale of a development triggers a
requirement for affordable housing but it is not possible to
achieve appropriate affordable housing on site. These sums can
subsequently be used by the council to unlock affordable housing
development across the city.
Finance Officer Consulted: Craig
Garoghan
Date: 27/9/2019
Legal Implications:
7.3 The acquisition of land is
a decision which must be made by the council’s Policy &
Resources Committee (P&R). Purchases of properties which
will be used for housing are generally the subject of reports to
the Housing Committee before a report is brought to P&R.
However, this is not necessary where it is impractical for timing
or other reasons. In this instance, there is a concern that
the opportunity to purchase the site will be lost to the council if
there is delay.
7.4 Section 17 of the Housing
Act 1985 enables a local authority to acquire land for housing
purposes. The property is subject to a number of restrictive
covenants which restricts the use of the property. From
initial inspection of the title information, it appears that the
council has the benefit of the main restriction which limits the
use of the property to a Community Hall Social Centre or Club as it
originally sold the VSC together with other land in 1935 to the
Chichester Diocesan Fund and Board of Finance. If this property is
purchased the release/discharge of this covenant should be
achievable and legal services will consider this carefully prior to
the purchase proceeding.
Lawyer Consulted: Joanne Dougnaglo /Alice
Rowland
Date: 27/09/2019
Equalities Implications:
7.5 There are no immediate equalities
implications arising from this report. However, extensive
consultation with local community organisations and residents in
the East Brighton area will be undertaken to support any future
redevelopment of the site.
Sustainability Implications:
7.6
There are no immediate sustainability implications arising from
this report. For any redevelopment of the site, all new homes will
be required to meet sustainability standards, be energy efficient
and encourage a sustainable lifestyle.
Crime & Disorder Implications:
7.7 Any redevelopment of the site
will be designed having heed to the requirements outlined in the
Secured by Design guidance.
Risk and Opportunity Management Implications:
7.8 Please see paragraph 4.1 for
opportunity, threats and risks analysis. Any risks associated
with developing new homes on the site will be closely monitored by
the Project Manager and Design Team.
Public Health Implications:
7.9 There are no immediate public
health benefits arising from the project at this stage.
However, there are numerous benefits to the potential provision of
additional, good quality and energy efficient council housing.
Corporate / Citywide Implications:
7.10
The New Homes for Neighbourhoods programme of building new homes on
council land supports the council’s priorities for the
economy, jobs and homes. The development of new housing has a
strong economic multiplier impact on the local economy, estimated
at over £3 of economic output for every £1 of public
investment, creating jobs and supply chain opportunities.
7.11
Every new home built on small sites helps meet the city’s
pressing housing needs and deliver the first priority in the
council’s
Housing Strategy 2015 of
improving housing supply. New homes also help bring benefits
to the council in the form of new council tax income.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Appendices:
1. Site Plan Valley
Social Centre
Documents in Members’ Rooms
None
Background Documents
None
Appendix 1
– Site Plan Valley Social Centre
