Scarborough Borough Councillors to scrutinise progress of 'Better Homes' project
The project is proceeding towards its construction phase
Scarborough Borough councillors are to scrutinise the progress of the authority’s Better Homes venture for affordable housing as the project proceeds towards its construction phase.
Scarborough Council’s Better Homes Joint Venture, which plans to build around 40 additional affordable homes in the borough, will be further scrutinised by councillors following a decision to proceed with a bidder.
The name of the bidder has not yet been made public and confirmation by the cabinet and North Yorkshire County Council is still required.
Though no houses have been built as part of the scheme yet, the council has said that it has now decided on a “preferred bidder” following a process where applicants submitted tenders to work with the authority.
On Monday October 3, council leader, Cllr Steve Siddons, approved “the bidder submitting the tender which has been evaluated as being the most economically advantageous tender”.
The preferred bidder will be notified on Friday October 7, but before the project can proceed further, the decision will be scrutinised by the council’s lives and homes overview and scrutiny committee.
On October 28 the committee will “undertake detailed cross-party pre-decision scrutiny in respect of the completion of a compliant procurement process”.
If no valid objections are raised and the council’s cabinet approves the chosen bidder at its meeting on November 15, it will draw to a close a bidding process that began in January 2021.
Speaking at a meeting of the scrutiny committee in August, Richard Bradley, the Better Homes project director said that “a report will go to cabinet to enter into the contract and the land disposals” with the council already having “ringfenced the disposal of eight land assets for the purpose of the joint venture”.
The joint venture arrangement will exist over a 30-year period with the authority hoping that it will help to alleviate what it has described as “an affordable homes crisis” in the area.
The council said in November last year that “double the number of homes currently being built need to be constructed between now and 2038 if demand is to be met” which means “around 3,000 are needed in a 16-year period.”
According to a report by Scarborough Council, the authority appointed an “external experienced moderator, to ensure that tender evaluation was carried out in a transparent, non-discriminatory, and open way”.
In addition to cabinet approval, the council must also seek consent from North Yorkshire County Council’s executive in order to proceed.