Geri McLeary, Aylesbury Project Manager
Minutes:
Geri McLeary, Aylesbury Programme Director, updated the meeting on a 20 year plan to regenerate the Aylesbury Estate. He explained how the programme would be funded in a variety of ways, including: selling land to developers to provide social, intermediate and private housing; developing partnerships with registered providers to provide social, intermediate and private housing and using the Government’s Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to provide social, intermediate and private housing. However, the £181 million available through the PFI is insufficient to complete the scope of the original bid to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) based on developing phases 2 & 3 of the Aylesbury Area Action Plan. In order to make the scheme more affordable to the council the PFI monies would be applied to several other sites on the estate (parts of Phase 1 & 3). If the HCA agrees to this change and approves the council business case for the work then the work would commence in 2014 with the first homes completed by 2016.
Geri took questions from the floor relating to: the decision to demolish existing flats to build new ones, the future of the Homes and Community Agency, improvements made to flats which would eventually be demolished and the level of private housing in the redevelopment.
In response Geri explained that: the council had considered refurbishing the existing flats but the business case for re-building the estate confirmed that it delivered better value for money for the council and tenants. HCA activities in London are likely to be transferred to the Greater London Authority (GLA); the flats to which improvements had been made where in Phase 4 of the Aylesbury Regeneration Programme and not due developed for many years and because the council has a responsibility to ensure those homes meet the decent homes standard improvement works needed to be carried out. Geri also explained that the council was committed to providing affordable housing and this would be through tenancy and shared ownership.