Issue - meetings

(Housing Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached report (C-064-2016/17).

(Housing Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached background paper in conjunction with the report (C-064-2016/17).

(1)        That, as an improvement that would contribute towards improving the social well-being of the local area;

(a)        The Council’s land at Hillhouse, Waltham Abbey, shown on the plan attached as an Appendix to the Cabinet Report, be appropriated for planning purposes, in order to facilitate the development of the proposed new Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) Leisure Centre on the land; and

(b)        The request from Essex County Council to release the covenants on the County Council’s adjoining land (also shown on the plan in the Appendix to the report) – currently restricting the use of the land for the purposes of the Education Acts or as playing fields and prohibiting any of the land to be fenced off – be agreed in order to allow the land to be developed to provide a new independent living scheme to meet the housing and care needs of older residents from the Epping Forest District and a new health centre to help meet the primary care needs of residents from the local area.

The Housing Portfolio Holder presented a report regarding covenants and appropriations at Hillhouse, Waltham Abbey.

The Portfolio Holder advised that the Council had been working in close partnership with Essex County Council (ECC) and NHS England (NHS) to develop the large areas of land in this Council’s and ECC’s ownership at Hillhouse, Waltham Abbey, to provide a new Leisure Centre (EFDC), Independent Living Scheme for older people (ECC) and Health Centre (NHS).

The Portfolio Holder stated that the two areas of land had had covenants placed on them when the land was originally acquired from the GLC in the 1970’s. Therefore, in order to enable the land to be developed in accordance with the recent Outline Planning Permission, this Council’s land needed to be appropriated for planning purposes and the covenants on the ECC land needed to be released, for which this Council had received a formal request from ECC. 

The Portfolio Holder advised that a detailed joint financial appraisal by the Council’s affordable housing and viability consultants had established that ECC’s land had no value for the proposed developments and, in fact, the development had a deficit of around £657,000, which would therefore require ECC to provide a capital subsidy of around £715,000 from their county wide capital budget for independent living schemes to enable their development to go ahead.

Decision:

(1)        That, as an improvement that would contribute towards improving the social well-being of the local area;

(a)        The Council’s land at Hillhouse, Waltham Abbey, shown on the plan attached as an Appendix to the Cabinet Report, be appropriated for planning purposes, in order to facilitate the development of the proposed new Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) Leisure Centre on the land; and

(b)        The request from Essex County Council to release the covenants on the County Council’s adjoining land (also shown on the plan in the Appendix to the report) – currently restricting the use of the land for the purposes of the Education Acts or as playing fields and prohibiting any of the land to be fenced off – be agreed in order to allow the land to be developed to provide a new independent living scheme to meet the housing and care needs of older residents from the Epping Forest District and a new health centre to help meet the primary care needs of residents from the local area.

Reasons for Decision:

The Council’s land needed to be appropriated for planning purposes and the covenants on ECC’s land needed to be released, in order for the land to be developed for the purposes for which Outline Planning Permission had been received.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

The main alternative options appeared to be:

(a)        Not to appropriate the Council’s land for planning purposes, but this would open up the Council to a legal challenge in the future, which could delay the construction of the Leisure Centre – which could be very expensive if construction works have commenced.

(b)        Not to release the covenant on ECC’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 144