Executive Decisions Made by the Cabinet Member for Homes Regeneration and Planning on 20 July 2017
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LONDON BOROUGH OF CROYDON To: Croydon Council website Access Croydon & Town Hall Reception STATEMENT OF EXECUTIVE DECISIONS MADE BY THE CABINET MEMBER FOR HOMES REGENERATION AND PLANNING ON 20 JULY 2017 This statement is produced in accordance with Regulation 13 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012. The following apply to the decisions listed below: Reasons for these decisions: are contained in the attached Part A report Other options considered and rejected: are contained in the attached Part A report Details of conflicts of Interest declared by the Cabinet Member: none Note of dispensation granted by the head of paid service in relation to a declared conflict of interest by that Member: none The Leader of the Council has delegated to the Cabinet Member the power to make the executive decisions set out below: CABINET MEMBER’S DECISION REFERENCE NO. 2417HRP Decision title: Delivering the Croydon Growth Zone The Leader of the Council has delegated to the Deputy Leader (Statutory) and Cabinet Member for Homes Regeneration and Planning (Reference 2417LR) the power to make the decisions set out below. RESOLVED: Having carefully read and considered the attached Part A report and the requirements of the Council’s public sector equality duty in relation to the issues detailed in the body of the report, the Deputy Leader (Statutory) and Cabinet Member for Homes Regeneration and Planning to 1. Approve the governance arrangements to oversee the development and implementation of the Growth Zone delivery plan and; 2. Approve the public realm programme for 2017/18. 1 REPORT TO: Councillor Alison Butler Statutory Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Homes, Regeneration and Planning SUBJECT: Delivering the Croydon Growth Zone LEAD OFFICER: Shifa Mustafa Executive Director – Place Lee Parker – Director of Growth CABINET MEMBER: Councillor Alison Butler Statutory Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Homes, Regeneration and Planning WARDS: All wards CORPORATE PRIORITY/POLICY CONTEXT AMBITIOUS FOR CROYDON AND WHY WE ARE DOING THIS? The proposals presented in this report provide for the infrastructure that enables development and economic growth in Croydon leading to: • 23,594 new jobs • a further 5,097 jobs during construction phase • at least 10,000 new homes • the wholesale renewal of the retail core ensuring the metropolitan centre is an attractive place to live, work and invest. CROYDON’S COMMUNITY STRATEGY 2016-21 • The proposals presented in this report will help deliver key outcomes from Croydon’s Community Strategy 2016-21: • Outcome 1 – A great place to learn, work and live • Outcome 2 – A place of opportunity for everyone • Outcome 3 – A place with a vibrant and connected community and voluntary sector CROYDON LOCAL PLAN AND OPPORTUNITY AREA PLANNING FRAMEWORK (OAPF) The proposals seek to deliver the overall objectives of the Croydon Local Plan and OAPF. FINANCIAL IMPACT The Council received a £7m grant from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). The grant is intended to fund the costs of any borrowing in the first 3/5 years of the programme before the business rates uplift. The funding mechanism was approved by Cabinet in July 2016 and the Mayor of London in September 2016, and will ring-fence 50% of growth in business rates from April 2018 for up to 25 years in the designated area from the local government finance system. This income will be used to pay for the required infrastructure as set out in the report. 1 The cost of the infrastructure projects is currently being assessed and further cabinet reports seeking expenditure based on specific themes will follow in 2017/18 once the business cases have been completed. These themes include: transport, public realm, decentralised energy, smart cities and social infrastructure. KEY DECISION REFERENCE NO.: Not a key decision The Leader of the Council has delegated to the Cabinet Member for Homes, Regeneration and Planning the power to make the decisions set out in the recommendations below: 1. RECOMMENDATIONS 1.1 Approve the governance arrangements to oversee the development and implementation of the Growth Zone delivery plan and; 1.2 Approve the public realm programme for 2017/18 (paragraph 3.22) 2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2.1 Significant work has been undertaken to develop a range of infrastructure schemes that will enable and sustain growth. The Cabinet, in July 2016 and the Mayor of London in September 2016 approved the designation of a Growth Zone in central Croydon that will be exempt from the local government finance system and debt finance provided by the Council to fund the necessary infrastructure. 2.2 Croydon’s growth is already evident and is now one of the prime areas of London where people choose to live, work, visit and invest. To ensure this change is sustainable, and that the benefit to Croydon residents is maximised a range of infrastructure improvements have been identified by London Borough of Croydon (LBC), working with key stakeholders including Transport for London (TfL), the Greater London Authority (GLA), Network Rail and developers. The Growth Zone programme will act as both a catalyst to further growth and to accommodate the demands of a significantly increased population. 2.3 The Croydon Growth Zone is a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) model which harnesses business rates growth to enable borrowing to fund infrastructure. Central government have also provided a £7m revenue grant to fund the early borrowing required, prior to significant business rate growth. In this way, around £310m of additional investment in infrastructure can be released. • This investment will enable major regeneration benefits to both new and existing residents and businesses including: ▪ 23,594 new jobs with a further 5,097 jobs created during the construction phase ▪ at least 10,000 new homes of different tenures ▪ the wholesale renewal of the retail core 2.4 This report sets outs the progress on producing the Growth Zone delivery plan including an outline of the infrastructure projects that are being developed. This 2 report also sets out the proposed governance arrangements and a timescale for implementation including a programme of temporary public realm projects to be delivered in 2017/18. 3. DETAIL Background 3.1 In early 2014 LBC, the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Transport for London (TfL) agreed to jointly commission a Development Infrastructure Funding (DIF) Study for the Croydon Opportunity Area (COA) to help facilitate more homes and jobs and understand infrastructure needs. This study identified a series of infrastructure projects in the COA and it was estimated that the public sector support to drive this change amounted to around £1bn (the study purposefully excluded the upgrading of the Brighton Mainline and this is vital to regional growth and success, not just that of Croydon). This led to the development of the Growth Zone model as a means of meeting this funding challenge. 3.2 From inception, the Growth Zone was developed as a collaborative approach with the GLA and TfL to secure Central Government investment in the form of fiscal devolution and/or grant funding in Croydon. It has developed into a business rate retention scheme based on a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) model over a designated area in Central Croydon. In essence, it proposes to borrow to fund infrastructure projects which are essential to growth, with the costs of borrowing repaid by future uplift in the business rates base. 3.3 The Growth Zone will run until approximately 2043 and it will fund a number of phases of infrastructure delivery, although the focus is on the first five years in order to coincide with major development activity in the pipeline. This will minimise disruption, enable growth to occur earlier and bring forward the benefits of the town centre regeneration. It will may also help to repay the loan earlier than the 20-25 years envisaged through accelerating the business rate uplift, therefore reducing the financial risk on the Council. 3.4 The jobs and housing outcomes are just one element of a wider development programme which aims to recreate Croydon as a truly modern, sustainable metropolitan town centre. The Growth Zone will also provide clear additionality in terms of the early and accelerated delivery of homes and jobs that would not occur without this initiative. It provides certainty to developers, investors and residents regarding the delivery of major infrastructure projects which is likely to accelerate discretionary development. In turn, these benefits positively affect the whole of Croydon given the jobs and opportunities that are created. Development of the programme 3.5 LBC, working with stakeholders, identified a list of 39 critical infrastructure projects that would enhance the Growth Zone and enable development to be brought forward in a timely manner and, alongside other contributions, mitigate the impact of growth planned in the COA. The total cost of these projects is close to £500m to be financed via a loan and funding to be comprised of GLA, TfL and LBC capital funding, planning obligations or other third party contributions. Alongside this 3 work, financial modelling was undertaken to align the development trajectory, infrastructure delivery programme and proposed structure of the loan. 3.6 To ensure these projects contributed to growth and could be delivered on time and within the estimated budget, multi-disciplinary consultants were appointed in November 2016. Outline business cases have been developed and further liaison with stakeholders to create a delivery plan, with the main focus being on the next five years to align with major developments. 3.7 The 39 projects have each been reviewed with several being removed from the programme, some being repackaged and others added, notably walking and cycling schemes, Fiveways Junction and technology/smart city related projects. In addition, a major review of the social infrastructure projects has been undertaken with several new projects proposed.