Social Value Ideas for North Devon District Council

Housing acquisitions and tenders

The housing and community safety update set out multiple property acquisition and tender activities: all Local Authority Housing Fund round three properties had been purchased, round four would add fo…

“local authority housing fund round three we've now purchased all the properties um associated with that scheme and we've entered into a memorandum of …”

Healthy Homes capital borrowing

The committee considered borrowing just under £1.259 million to fund conversion and refurbishment works at 36 and 38 Oxford Grove and the former Royal Mail building in Ilfracombe, with a possible furt…

“Um in 2024 as members are aware um we secured 1.98 million from uh uh from government for the housing homes project and I know you're aware of its obj…”

North Devon Homes management agreement

Members approved in principle the creation of a management agreement and delegated authority to finalise housing management arrangements with North Devon Homes as the management agent for the council’…

“The last few months we've been working closely with North Demon Homes to provide the housing management services for the LAR. North Demon Homes are we…”

Reprocure architect for Healthy Homes

The architect on the Ilfracombe Healthy Homes project ceased trading, so officers must reprocure design support and review the impact on delivery. The new architect will need to work with the council'…

“Despite this positive milestone, unfortunate the architect seized trading and has at the beginning of January and the project team are now working thr…”

Housing delegations updated

The committee considered constitutional changes to expand officer delegated powers for the council’s new role as a registered provider of social housing and to support participation in Devon Home Choi…

“"so this report seeks approval to update the council's constitution specifically annex two to part three of the constitution which is where officer de…”

Healthy Homes funding gap

The committee heard that a £1.2 million capital programme variation was approved to bridge the funding gap for the healthy homes project at Oxford Grove and the Royal Mail building. Officers said Home…

“Um, and I just wondered >> is that a risk to the project? No. Is it small funding gap? No. It's not. >> Um, just absolutely. So Sarah J. Mckenley's ch…”

Resilient housing support

The committee reviewed the crisis and resilience fund and linked support services, including debt advice, financial capability, income maximisation, and a newly introduced benefits calculator that ide…

“And finally on the customer, the crisis and resilience fund went live from the 20th of April. Um, and that's slightly different to the household fund …”

Building control fee increase

The council approved an 8% increase in building control fees to address recruitment and retention pressures in the shared North Devon and Mid Devon Building Control service. The fee rise is intended t…

“So what we are looking for in terms of trying to bring some sustainability to the service is officers wish to minimize both that cost and also the rep…”

Levy software procurement planned

The team plans to procure building safety levy software, an external consultant to set up automated reports, and a plug-in to connect the levy system to the back-office IDOX platform. Mid Devon ICT wi…

““The plan um from the building control team is to purchase some building safety levy software um employee an external consultant to uh set up automate…”

Procure levy software platform

The partnership intends to procure a software system to automate building safety levy administration and reporting. The selected package from Exacom links spreadsheets, Uniform, the Delta reporting sy…

“Exaccom presented a software package to the building control management technical support team leader via an online seminar in April. The package prov…”

Levy admin workload risk

The building safety levy regime is expected to create significant administrative pressure, especially if exemptions have to be issued for small developments. Officers warned that manual processing of …

“Under the current proposed script under the current proposed scheme, the latest information conveyed by MC MHCRG is making it difficult to predict the…”

Push back on draft NPPF rural rules

Members expressed concern that the draft NPPF’s settlement-boundary approach, binary inside/outside rules, and limits on criteria-based policies could undermine rural settlement growth, small village …

“Now that definition of a settlement I was talking about um the new MPF throughout is really tied to this notion of a settlement and different rules, d…”

Presumption in favour triggered for traveller sites

Officers confirmed that the council cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of traveller pitches, so paragraph 11D of the NPPF is engaged and the presumption in favour of sustainable development applies…

“so as part of the the process of determining this application um I've discussed uh the application of our plan policy team to determine whe or whether…”

Submit funding bids for new system

Officers are to support expressions of interest from both councils for new system plan-making funding, with a commitment to work towards publishing the formal notice by 30 June 2026 and the gateway on…

“There’s an additional recommendation to those that are on uh page 11 of your report and that is to support the submission of an expression of interest…”

Tight plan-making timetable

Officers explained that the new national system requires a demanding 30-month plan-making programme, with a minimum four-month getting-ready phase, formal notice of commencement, gateway one self-asse…

“That does provide much more certainty to us though. Confirms a 30-month plan making program which we all expected and that program includes your plan …”