Friday, 12 January 2018

Brent Council cancels joint venture with HUB for 'commercial reasons'

From Inside Housing LINK

-->
Brent Council has cancelled a development vehicle it had proposed to form with developer Hub for “commercial reasons”.

A report to be submitted to the council next week LINK notes that the joint venture “is not proceeding at this time” and that the council as a result is focusing on a smaller housing programme in Wembley.

Brent had been in negotiations with Hub over forming a joint venture or a development vehicle aimed at delivering 651 homes, 215 of which would be affordable.

The proposal was to transfer both council land and land owned by Hub into the vehicle. Part of the point of the vehicle was to use it to purchase Network Rail land, as homes built on land sold directly to councils don’t count towards Network Rail’s quotas.

The cabinet voted in June last year to endorse the proposal, with full details to be decided in a following meeting.

It now intends to continue with a smaller development programme on the other, non-Network Rail sites.

The council also provided seed funding of £1.6m to the project, aiming to secure £8m of grant funding from the Greater London Authority (GLA) for land acquisition.

One of the sites to be funded with GLA money, Ujima House, was purchased in June last year after the approval of the plans. 

Inside Housing has asked Brent Council about its alternative plans for funding this purchase.
at

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous12 January 2018 at 20:22

    Could somebody translate the council mumbo jumbo language into English so that we can understand what this is about. For the assistance of this "a vehicle" is used as description of something which carries either passengers or goods on wheels on either road or similar surfaces or rails: it is also used in the pharmaceutical industry to describe a liquid or lotion in which the active ingredient is suspended or dissolved. Its use in the context above does not seem to be logical.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Martin Francis12 January 2018 at 21:46

      That was Inside Housing's word. A joint venture to achieve a common objective - I don't think Brent used the word. Comes after the controversial Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV) deal with a private developer Landlease.

      Delete
  2. Unknown13 January 2018 at 12:36

    Ujima House is currently housing squatters

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous13 January 2018 at 23:17

    Who I hope are truly impressed by the quality of the internal fittings including the tiled frescos and beautifully designed and fully fitted kitchens on each floor. When Ujima obtained and refurbished the property they did not skimp on anything. It's a shame that this is all just going to end up in a skip.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous15 January 2018 at 15:38

    Do anyone know if there was any political opposition to this development? It seems like it might be similar to the controversial Haringey Development Vehicle.

    ReplyDelete