Issue - meetings

(i)             to note the engagement undertaken over the summer period and thank the community for their participation and contributions to the online engagement and drop-in sessions. In addition, note the planned follow-on engagement with RAAC impacted owners and residents;

(ii)           to agree that the optimum option is the demolition and rebuild of homes on site and instruct the Chief Officer - Capital to proceed with the demolition aspect of this (Option 4a), and report back to the next appropriate meeting of the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee  on the initial phasing of demolition and landscape details;

(iii)          to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord in consultation with the Chief Officer - Capital,  Chief Officer - Housing, and the Chief Officer - Finance, to assess the ‘building new homes’ option as alluded to in Option 4b with consideration towards  undertaking a detailed masterplanning exercise assuming the site is vacant to determine future redevelopment proposals. For the wider site give consideration to creation of appropriate greenspace, preferred housing mix, opportunities to extend tenure mix and provision for housing for varying need and report this to a future meeting of the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee in 2025 (as early as possible);

(iv)          to approve the funding noted within the Financial Implications section of the recommendations and  instruct the Chief Officer - Capital, following consultation with the Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, and the Chief Officer - Procurement, to procure appropriate works and services, and enter into any contracts necessary for the delivery of the demolition, masterplanning and landscaping works  without the need for further approval from any other Committee of the Council subject to due diligence, consistency with the financial model and affordability and regular update on progress of project delivery to the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee;

(v)           to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to look at a range of delivery options for new housing on the site including opportunities to work with partners to meet the masterplan aspirations, and the requirement of the Housing Revenue Accounts 30 year business plan; reporting this in as part (ii) above;

(vi)          to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord in consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance to take forward negotiations with private owners to acquire their properties voluntarily at Market Value, noting that this would be a valuation of the property at the current date and be on the same basis as the CPO process. In addition to Market Value the Council would be willing to meet reasonable legal and professional costs along with home loss and disturbance payments;

(vii)        to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord in consultation with the Chief Officer - Housing as part of the negotiations with private owners to assess the housing options available for each individual owner to identify any support that can be offered in rehoming;

(viii)       to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord in consultation with the Chief Officer - Governance to bring back  ...  view the full decision text for item 8

With reference to Article 8 of the minute of its meeting of 3 July 2024, the Council had before it a report by the Chief Officer - Capital which presented the completed options appraisal, an overview of feedback from the recent engagement with Council tenants, homeowners, private tenants and the wider community and associated survey work, and wider contextual information used to help formulate a recommendation for consideration.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)           note the engagement undertaken over the summer period and thank the community for their participation and contributions to the online engagement and drop-in sessions. In addition, note the planned follow-on engagement with RAAC impacted owners and residents;

(b)           agree that the optimum option is the demolition and rebuild of homes on site and instruct the Chief Officer - Capital to proceed with the demolition aspect of this (Option 4a), and report back to the next appropriate meeting of the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee  on the initial phasing of demolition and landscape details;

(c)           instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord in consultation with the Chief Officer - Capital,  Chief Officer - Housing, and the Chief Officer - Finance, to assess the ‘building new homes’ option as alluded to in Option 4b with consideration towards  undertaking a detailed masterplanning exercise assuming the site is vacant to determine future redevelopment proposals. For the wider site give consideration to creation of appropriate greenspace, preferred housing mix, opportunities to extend tenure mix and provision for housing for varying need and report this to a future meeting of the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee in 2025 (as early as possible);

(d)           approve the funding noted within the Financial Implications section of the recommendations and  instruct the Chief Officer - Capital, following consultation with the Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, and the Chief Officer - Procurement, to procure appropriate works and services, and enter into any contracts necessary for the delivery of the demolition, masterplanning and landscaping works  without the need for further approval from any other Committee of the Council subject to due diligence, consistency with the financial model and affordability and regular update on progress of project delivery to the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee;

(e)           instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to look at a range of delivery options for new housing on the site including opportunities to work with partners to meet the masterplan aspirations, and the requirement of the Housing Revenue Accounts 30 year business plan; reporting this in as part (ii) above;

(f)            instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord in consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance to take forward negotiations with private owners to acquire their properties voluntarily at Market Value, noting that this would be a valuation of the property at the current date and be on the same basis as the CPO process. In addition to Market Value the Council would be willing to meet reasonable legal and professional costs along with home  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8

The Council resolved:-

(i)             to note the information contained within the report about the various options under consideration;

(ii)           to agree and approve that Option 1: Bearing Shelf Extension be ruled out as a viable remedial option (refer to paragraphs 3.37 - 3.39);

(iii)          to agree the addition of a ‘demolition and consideration of future housebuilding’ option for consideration by Council on 21 August 2024;

(iv)          to explain that 'demolition and consideration of future housebuilding’, alongside the demolition costs, would detail (a) the future potential housebuilding options; and (b) estimated building costs range;

(v)           to approve that engagement on the remaining options, was planned to be held during July 2024, which would be open to all Council tenants as required by the Housing Act 2001 (refer to Appendix B: Proposed Stakeholder Engagement);

(vi)          to note that it was proposed that private owners/tenants would be invited to participate in that engagement as noted in (v) above;

(vii)        to note that the information collated from the tenant engagement as intimated in (v) and (vi) above would be considered alongside the technical evaluation of options;

(viii)       to note that from a construction perspective, officers continued to reinforce the need for tenants to be rehomed irrespective of the outcome of the option consideration;

(ix)          to note that the intention was to come back with a recommended option to the next Council meeting which was scheduled to take place on 21 August 2024;

(x)           to note the reference to the expected levels of consequential costs because of carrying out remedial measures for the options which retained the existing properties, as intimated in Section 4;

(xi)          to note that intrusive surveys of RAAC impacted properties were still progressing as part of an ongoing mitigation strategy to allay any assurance concerns to existing Council tenants (refer to paragraph 3.6);

(xii)        to note that 138 of the properties identified with RAAC in the Balnagask area were privately owned (refer to Appendix A: Property Ownership and Housing Mix); and

(xiii)       to note with regard to Private or Registered Landlord properties, 40 buildings were not adjoining any Council owned property, 61 buildings were adjoined and there were 33 addresses which shared a building with the Council (refer to Appendix A: Property Ownership and Housing Mix).

With reference to Article 3 of the minute of the meeting of the Urgent Business Committee of 29 February 2024, the Council had before it a report by the Chief Officers - Capital, Housing and Corporate Landlord which provided an update on the work underway and highlighted some of the key findings at this stage of the options appraisal.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)           note the information contained within the report about the various options under consideration;

(b)           agree and approve that Option 1: Bearing Shelf Extension be ruled out as a viable remedial option (paragraphs 3.37 - 3.39);

(c)           approve that engagement on the remaining three options, be planned to be held during July 2024, which would be open to all Council tenants as required by the Housing Act 2021 (Appendix B: Proposed Stakeholder Engagement);

(d)           note that it was proposed that private owners/tenants should be invited to participate in that engagement as noted in recommendation (c) above;

(e)           note that the information collated from the tenant engagement as intimated in recommendations (c) and (d) above would be considered alongside the technical evaluation of options;

(f)             note that from a construction perspective, officers continued to reinforce the need for tenants to be rehomed irrespective of the outcome of the option consideration;

(g)           note that the intention was to come back with a recommended option to the next Council meeting which was scheduled to take place on 21 August 2024;

(h)           note the reference to the expected levels of consequential costs because of carrying out remedial measures for the options which retained the existing properties, as intimated in section 4 of the report;

(i)             note that intrusive surveys of RAAC impacted properties were still progressing as part of an ongoing mitigation strategy to allay any assurance concerns to existing Council tenants (paragraph 3.6);

(j)             note that 138 of the properties identified with RAAC in the Balnagask area were privately owned (Appendix A: Property Ownership and Housing Mix); and

(k)           note with regard to Private or Registered Landlord properties, 40 buildings were not adjoining any Council owned property, 61 building were adjoined and there were 33 addresses which shared a building with the Council (Appendix A: Property Ownership and Housing Mix).

Councillor Watson moved as a procedural motion, seconded by Councillor Malik:-

That the Council suspend Standing Order 14.1 to hear the deputation in relation to the report.

On a division, there voted:-

For the procedural motion  (21)  -  Councillors Ali, Blake, Bonsell, Boulton, Brooks, Crockett, Cross, Farquhar, Graham, Grant, Houghton, Kusznir, Lawrence, Macdonald, McLeod, Malik, Massey, Mrs Stewart, Thomson, Tissera and Watson.

Against the procedural motion  (22)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Al-Samarai, Allard, Alphonse, Hazel Cameron, Clark, Cooke, Copland, Cormie, Davidson, Greig, Henrickson, Hutchison, MacGregor, McLellan, McRae, Mennie, Nicoll, Radley, van Sweeden and Yuill.

Absent from the division  (1)  -  Councillor Bouse.

The Council resolved:-

to reject the procedural motion.

The Council received a presentation from the Chief Officer - Capital and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8