Issue - meetings

Committee is asked to:

1)    Note the Annual Report as part of the presentation to the Committee by the Board of Directors of Knowle Green Estates Limited (KGE)

2)    Give consideration to future Council representation on the Board following the Chief Finance Officer of the Council stepping down from the Board; and

3)    Give consideration as to how the Council wishes to see KGE move forward as set out in paragraph 1.4 of the report

Committee resolved to:

1.    Note the Annual Report of Knowle Green Estates Ltd; and

2.    Set up a Task & Finish Group to consider the future Council representation on the Board following the Chief Finance Officer of the council stepping down and to consider how the Council wishes to move Knowle Green Estates forward.

The Committee received a presentation from Darren Levy, Anne Fillis and Councillor Nichols who are Board directors for Knowle Green Estates Ltd (KGE).

The Committee were advised that KGE currently had net assets of £5.6m and that it was forecast to be generating a profit within 10 years but due to the recent acquisition of additional properties it was hoped that this should be reduced to 3-4 years.

The Directors advised the Committee that the Council’s Section 151 Officer would be relinquishing his position on the KGE Board due to a potential conflict of interest.

The Board Directors were asked how many families were currently being housed in properties owned by KGE. The Committee was advised that KGE currently had 179 properties and that full details of how many tenants and their make-up would be circulated to the committee members.

The Committee were advised that KGE would not be able to achieve the target of 600 affordable housing units that it had been working towards.

It was proposed by Councillor Nichols and seconded by Councillor Bateson  that a Task & Finish Group of members would be set up to consider future Council representation on the KGE Board and to look at how best to move the company forward and would report back to this Committee. The Task & Finish  Group would consist of 7 members and would be politically proportionate and would be made up of members of this Committee with at least one member that was also on the Community Wellbeing and Housing Committee. The Committee were advised that the Democratic Services Manager would circulate the proportionality calculations to all Group Leaders for them to provide nominations for their seats on the group. The Terms of Reference for this Task & Finish Group would be presented at the next meeting of this Committee for approval.