HCA announces innovative partnership deal with Norwich City Council
16 June 2009
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National housing and regeneration body, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has announced plans for an innovative long-term partnership deal with Norwich City Council, as one of the outcomes from its new business process, the Single Conversation.
Speaking today at the CIH Conference in Harrogate, Terry Fuller, HCA Regional Director for the East of England, outlined details of the strategic partnering agreement, that will result in innovative approaches to joint working, creating a supply of new homes and jobs over a 12-year period.
Under the deal, the HCA will invest £7.5m into the city, while Norwich City Council will invest a number of sites amounting to circa 1300 homes around the city that will be jointly developed. The surplus that comes out of these sites could reach between £60-80m over the next 12 years, and will be reinvested jointly into more regeneration schemes in the city. The initiative has been progressed with advice from consultant Richard Jones at EC Harris.
The strategic objectives for the Partnership have been agreed as follows.
a. To accelerate the delivery of affordable homes
b. To increase the supply of private homes
c. To improve the quality of existing homes
d. To maximise the opportunities for local employment
e. To deliver early outputs
f. To create sustainable communities
g. To deliver strategic regeneration projects within Norwich, such as eco-retrofit programmes or estate renewal
Terry Fuller said: “We have been in dialogue with Norwich City Council for the past four months, as part of our Single Conversation, and I now believe we have an outstanding deal on the table. I want to thank the hard work and commitment of the Norwich and HCA staff in bringing this together so quickly. This initiative has the potential to deliver a wide range of benefits to the City and its people for decades to come. It’s is about reimagining the way we deliver - creating local homes, local jobs and sustainable communities for the future, and demonstrates what the HCA and local authorities can do in partnership together.”
Leader of Norwich City Council Steve Morphew added: “This is exactly the kind of news Norwich needs - new homes people can afford to rent and buy, real long term investment in our city that will lead to jobs and prosperity and major influence over the quality of our environment. This is an historic partnership between two public sector organisations that will use public assets and lever in private money. The unique benefits that all the money and any profits made remains to be invested in Norwich is a stunning shot in the arm for the city.”
The Partnership will ensure that local communities are engaged in plans for new developments and that these meet the HCA’s current and future standards of design – both contributing to the achievement of shared objectives relating to homes, jobs and communities. It is hoped that there will be job opportunities created straight away through the construction and supply chain, and this partnership will be linked to local job creation and employment opportunities, as well as supporting the local construction industry.
Chief Executive of the HCA, Sir Bob Kerslake, commented: “The deal announced today with Norwich shows that despite the current economic climate we’re making significant progress towards the Single Conversation way of doing business; something which we’re working to see replicated in other regions of the country in the coming months. As a place-based approach, it will take the vision and ambitions of local authorities and help them achieve their plans for regeneration and growth through a shared investment agreement. Through this process, the HCA will act as the bridge between local ambition and national targets.”
It is anticipated that the partners in Norwich will sign the contract on specific sites and schemes by early autumn 2009.
Guidance for partners and HCA regional teams on how the Single Conversation will work in practice was launched on 12 May 2009.
Ends
For further information please contact:
Homes and Communities Agency
Helen Stoddart on 020 7881 1054 or email helen.stoddart@hca.gsx.gov.uk
Norwich City Council
Amy Lyall on 01603 212167 or email amy.lyall@norwich.gov.uk
Notes to editors
The HCA is the single, national housing and regeneration agency for England. We bring together the development and regeneration expertise of English Partnerships, investment functions of the Housing Corporation, and the Academy for Sustainable Communities, with major delivery programmes of Communities and Local Government.
Our role is to create opportunity for people to live in high quality, sustainable places. We provide funding for affordable housing, bring land back into productive use and improve quality of life by raising standards for the physical and social environment.
Over the current three financial years the HCA controls a budget of £17.3bn.
The Single Conversation will cover strategy, investment, capacity and delivery. The agreed outcomes for an area will be formalised in a Local Investment Agreement, which sets out the HCA’s proposed investment for an area.