Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council

Thursday, 14 January 2010

Ambitious Housing Regeneration Proposals Agreed by Cabinet

STOCKTON Council's Cabinet tonight (14 January) agreed ambitious housing regeneration proposals to transform two Stockton neighbourhoods.

At Parkfield, it agreed to start community consultation on proposals to extend the boundary for the existing Parkfield Mill Lane housing regeneration scheme.

It is proposed to extend the boundary in Phase 2 to Dovecot Street in order to provide enough scale of change to deliver the transformation and improvement needed for the area.

The 152 households in the area included in the proposed extension will receive a hand delivered letter with details of all the proposals and will be invited to one-to-one sessions with staff from Stockton Council to talk through any queries or concerns they may have.

This is the latest development in the £60 million regeneration master plan for Parkfield Mill Lane. When the Council's Cabinet first approved the demolition boundary in 2005, many residents just outside the boundary voiced disappointment they were not in it.

The consultation which will now take place will gauge support for the new proposals.

The Council's ambitious 15 to 20 year plans for the Parkfield Mill Lane area aim to transform it into a thriving residential neighbourhood and, to date, have demolished more than 200 properties and built 90 new homes there.

At Swainby Road, residents were consulted on demolition proposals in October 2009 and there was overwhelming support.

During the consultation, 119 people responded with 99 per cent in favour of the regeneration plans. At the heart of the scheme is an opportunity for residents affected to be initially rehoused and then given priority to return by moving into new homes once they are built.

Now, Stockton Council and Tristar Homes will be working with the community to progress this multi million pound scheme.

The area is also soon to benefit from multi million investment in a new academy for secondary school children, state-of-the-art youth facilities for young people at MySpace and an additional 330 new high-quality homes on the former Hills Joinery site.

Councillor Steve Nelson, Stockton Council's Cabinet Member for Housing and Community Safety, said: "Stockton Council has an ambitious housing regeneration programme throughout the Borough and is committed to ensuring that all its residents enjoy good quality housing in safe, well designed neighbourhoods.

"This latest Cabinet decision shows we continue to meet this commitment to residents despite the current economic climate."

Together, these two schemes could create more than 600 jobs for local people.

Stockton Council continues to work on the successful, ambitious housing regeneration plans at Hardwick and Mandale where, to date, more than 1,200 properties have been demolished and more than 1,000 residents successfully relocated into new high-quality housing. Further information on progress on any of the above can be obtained from Sharon Thomas, Housing Regeneration Manager, tel. 01642 527024, e-mail Sharon.Thomas@stockton.gov.uk

Housing Futures (Options for Future Investment)

In September 2009, Cabinet had formally endorsed 'stock transfer' as the Authority's preferred delivery option to secure future stock and service investment needs. Since then a number of key work streams had been taken forward including; the establishment of the new-style Tristar Homes Shadow Board, identification of 'other' assets that may transfer (for example associated land and estate shops), consultation with tenants in estates that were deemed not to be sustainable in the long term, ongoing financial modelling, the development of the Offer document and critically negotiations with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) leading to the submission of a formal Transfer Application.

The Shadow Board had met on a number of occasions to progress the business of the potential new landlord. It was explained that as part of the transfer the Council needed to consider if it was appropriate to transfer associated assets such as estate shops, land and park and cemetery lodges.

Details were provided on the clarification sought by the Council from the HCA on timescales for a formal Transfer Application. To ensure that the Council was in a position to take full advantage of the current 'transfer window' it was imperative that once the HCA approved the Councils Transfer Application (and Offer document) that the Council then proceeded immediately to the formal stages of consultation with tenants. The timetable for consultation was prescribed by Government and detailed below:

• Offer Document issued to each secure and introductory tenant (Stage 1). This would be followed by a 28 day consultation period, in this period tenants would be invited to provide feedback (via pre-paid reply cards) on the transfer proposal.
• The Council would then take account of tenants' comments and decide whether the transfer proposal needed to be altered and whether to proceed to ballot.
• If the Council decided to go ahead a letter would be sent to all tenants (called a Stage 2 letter).
• A confidential ballot would then be organised by the Council (to be carried out by an independent organisation - the Electoral Reform Society). A 28 day ballot period was considered to be the norm.

Further information on the above can be obtained from Julie Nixon, Head of Housing, tel. 01642 527072, e-mail Julie.Nixon@stockton.gov.uk

Review of the Stockton Renaissance Partnership Board

Cabinet was advised of the results of the review carried of the Stockton Renaissance Partnership, made up as follows:-

The detailed methodology used for the review, which included consultation with stakeholders, telephone surveys, self assessment and comparison with other Renaissance Partnerships, was noted.

Overall the review concluded that it was valued as a vehicle for partnership working in the borough and compared favourably with the meeting attendees' experience of other similar Partnership's in the Tees Valley. This view is supported by the Audit Commission's independent Comprehensive Area Assessment report published in December which indicated that LSP priorities and arrangements were strong and flexible enough to respond to key issues.

Areas were highlighted for improvement regarding Governance, Performance Reporting, Inclusivity and Communication, and actions and an Improvement Plan to address these areas were agreed.

Further details of the activities of the Stockton Renaissance Partnership can be found at http://www.stockton.gov.uk/renaissance/ Further information on the outcome of the above review can be obtained from Lesley King, Head of Policy, Performance and Partnerships, tel. 01642 527004; e-mail Lesley.King@stockton.gov.uk.