Acquisition and redevelopment of Projects 4 and 5 of the Accommodation Repurposing Programme

1)    that delegated authority
be granted to the Director of Regeneration and Place Delivery, in
consultation with the Director of Finance and the Cabinet Member
for Housing and Finance, to acquire Sites 4 and 5 subject to:

(i)           
the developer securing planning consents that are acceptable to the
Council for conversion and refurbishment of the two properties;

(ii)         
an acceptable level of Homes England grant;

(iii)        
satisfactory completion of all relevant due diligence, and

(iv)        
completion of an appropriate form of linked Joint Contracts
Tribunal (JCT) Design & Build Contract for the sites (all as
outlined in Exempt Appendices 1 and 2, respectively);

2)    that an overall Total
Scheme Cost for Site 4 of £2,138,948 and Site 5 of
£4,192,434 (with Total Scheme Costs to include land purchase,
build contract, internal/on-costs and project contingencies etc.),
be approved; and

3)    that authority be
delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Director
of Finance and the Director of Adults Community Services, to
determine the future use of the sites and in doing so, to approve
additional capital expenditure up to 15% of the overall scheme cost
that provides adaptation or enhancement of the proposed scheme to
facilitate the housing of a specific cohort of Adult Social Care
Need in either site that will result in additional revenue savings
to the Council.

Torbay Council was
experiencing a period of heightened demand for Temporary
Accommodation (TA) by households that found themselves in urgent
need of housing assistance.  Providing
TA was expensive for any Council; without a consistent supply of
new properties being delivered demand for support increases along
with the Council’s cost of providing such emergency
assistance.  In 2025, the Council
trialled a new approach to both reduce the pressure on our TA stock
and to reduce our associated revenue losses.  The Council acquired two blocks of flats in
Paignton and Torquay funded by borrowing and Homes England grant,
to enable their use as social housing. 
All homes were let to households that had until that point, been
living in Council provided TA, including some care experienced
young people.  This was successful, it
reduced pressure on our limited TA stock and provided considerable
beneficial outcomes for our vulnerable households.  Significantly, it also reduced the Council’s
TA expenditure.  It was the intention of
the Council to replicate the success from this trial at future
sites.

There were
a number of alternative options set out
in the submitted report, however the
recommended option was option 3. 

Option 3 proposed
proceeding with the acquisition and development of Site 4 to
provide 10 no. 1-bedroom flats. This would increase supply and help
reduce TA demand but potentially misses an opportunity to deliver
something more bespoke for a specialised cohort.  Option 3 also proposed the acquisition and
delivery of Site 5; again, helping to improve the housing supply.
 In this instance, it is not anticipated
that the Site 5 would be suitable for a supported housing scheme,
and so the proposal for site 5 was limited to providing social
housing in the first instance to households currently living in TA
provided by the Council.

This approach
proactively addresses an identified need for homes and aligns with
the ambitions within the emerging Torbay Local Plan in respect of
increasing the amount of affordable housing delivered in
Torbay.  Redevelopment would improve the
local environment and reduce the risk of the sites remaining vacant
or becoming subject to deterioration or anti-social
behaviour.  In addition, the schemes
would contribute positively towards the Council’s housing
delivery targets and strategic housing priorities by increasing
supply.  Whilst the proposals require
capital investment and the management of development risks, these
were considered proportionate and manageable when balanced against
the long-term benefits that the schemes provided.

The decision will come
into force and may be implemented on 3 August 2026 unless the
call-in procedure is triggered (as set out in the Standing Orders
in relation to Overview and Scrutiny).

The Accommodation
Repurposing Programme (ARP) had been created to address the
shortfall of new housing supply in Torbay, by seeking to repurpose
vacant or unviable former hotels (and other brownfield land), to
reduce the number of homes that had to be built on greenfield
sites.  Homes delivered through this
programme were all built and delivered as social housing by the
Council (at social rents), for households local to Torbay.

It was proposed that
the Council acquired and builds Sites 4 and 5 of the programme.  Site 4 was a
moderate building, most recently utilised as care facility, but
previously having operated as a hotel (and originally as a large
private house), which can be converted into 10 self-contained
homes.  Site 5 was a large, formerly
successful hotel, which closed in 2024 following several years of
financial decline and rising costs, which converts into 19
self-contained homes.  Both sites had been offered to the Council for the ARP,
by a local small, medium enterprise (SME) development and
construction firm and can be brought forward quickly for
redevelopment for social housing through land and build
“package deals”.  In this
delivery mechanism, a developer would secure a development
opportunity and at their risk would obtain the necessary consents
required to deliver the project.  The
Council purchases the land from the developer and simultaneously
enters into a JCT Design and Build contract to deliver the built
scheme, following grant of an acceptable planning consent, securing
an appropriate allocation of Homes England grant funding, and
following satisfactory completion of all necessary Due Diligence for the project (in respect
of the land purchase and the build contract).  All homes would be provided as social housing and
let through Devon Home Choice to suitable and eligible applicants
with a local connection to Torbay.

At the meeting
Councillor Tyerman proposed and Councillor Bye seconded a motion
that was agreed unanimously by the Cabinet, as set out above.