Issue - decisions

The Committee resolved:-

(i)             to note that the Chief Officer – Corporate Landlord, would issue a Service Update to members with details on offers accepted from homeowners;

(ii)            to thank the Torry RAAC Campaign Group Management Committee (TRCG) and UK RAAC Campaign Group for their positive engagement in the process of identifying alternative options for owners and for granting permission to share the note of engagement via Appendix A with the Committee;

(iii)          to note the contents of the Viability Assessment contained in Appendix B and that the purpose of the review was to determine if there are additional options which would meet the Council’s overall objectives;

(iv)          to note that Options 2, 3 and 4 in the Report are all identified by officers as being viable and worth investigating further with all owners;

(v)           to note that TRCG have expressed a view that any option which involves owners contributing to costs or sharing equity in their property will not be acceptable to them;

(vi)          to note that if Option 3 is pursued there will require to be a commitment from all owners within any identified terraces of properties and that there will be a requirement to vacate properties timeously as part of the overall agreement in order to mitigate the health and safety risks; 

(vii)         to note the previous decisions that Voluntary Acquisition will be at Market Value (with additional supporting payments as previously agreed) and agree that all options should be equitable in so far as no single option will be more financially beneficial than any other to owners;  

(viii)       to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to write to all homeowners to advise them of the alternative options presented, in keeping with the officer modelling within Appendix B, and ask homeowners, having considered the information, to formally identify by the end of June 2025 which option they would be willing to consider; and:

In relation to the roof on roof off proposal (Option 3):

a)      to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord,  in consultation with the Chief Officers of Finance, Housing and Capital, to thereafter review terraces on the site which would best lend themselves to meeting demand for the roof on roof off option as indicated by owners;

b)      to instruct the Chief Officer – Corporate Landlord to progress negotiations with owners to deliver the option as identified in the Viability Assessment and enter into legal agreements as required if there is sufficient interest to undertake this option in relation to at least one full terrace where all owners are in agreement;

c)      to approve the necessary spend, using the funding solution identified for voluntary acquisition, to undertake works as identified in the Viability Assessment including procuring works, supplies and services as required in accordance with the Council’s Procurement Regulations;

d)      to instruct the Chief Officer – Finance to explore the options in relation to loan, standard securities and shared equity mechanisms to support owners to meet a share of costs as outlined in the Viability Assessment in connection with their properties;

e)      to instruct the Chief Officer – Corporate Landlord to instruct the disposal of properties to owners as identified in the Viability Assessment, where this is considered appropriate;

          In relation to the excambion (house swap) option (Option 4):

f)      to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord and Chief Officer - Housing to identify Council houses that may be appropriate for excambion, prepare property information on these and circulate details to interested owners;

g)    to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord and Chief Officer - Governance to arrange any necessary works to properties under existing delegated powers and conclude transactions in relation to this Option in accordance with the terms contained within the Viability Assessment;

h)    to approve the use of the existing funding solution for voluntary acquisition to fund these works, including making payment to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for the loss of housing stock (all at Market Value);

i)      to instruct the Chief Officer – Housing to keep the Scottish Housing Regulator advised of progress with this work;

(ix)          to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to progress negotiations with owners, in consultation with the Chief Officer – Finance, and report back on progress to the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee in August 2025 within the already scheduled report;

(x)           to note that the first proposal within the UK RAAC Campaign Group Option is assessed as unviable, but that the remaining proposals have been built into the roof off/roof on proposal  from the TRCG;

(xi)          to note that works to masterplan the site have been ‘stepped down’ until July 2025 to ensure clarity over the options being taken forward in this report, as have works to progress site landscaping and demolition to avoid abortive costs; 

(xii)         to instruct the Chief Officers of Finance, Housing and Corporate Landlord to continue to pursue all available funding options to meet the needs of the Council and owners; and

(xiii)       to instruct the Chief Officers of Finance, Housing and Corporate Landlord to discuss the content of this report formally with External Audit to confirm that they have no objections to the Value for Money of the recommendations within this report.