RESOLVED

That authority be delegated to the Shareholder Representative (the Director of Environment and Regeneration), in consultation with the Chair of the Merantun Development Ltd Sub-Committee, to approve the award of the Mertantun Development Ltd architectural design contract(s).

The Shareholder Representative, the Director of Environment and Regeneration, explained that the extraordinary meeting had been called due to the significant level of interest which had been received in the procurement for the architectural design contracts.  44 had expressed interest and 6 had already submitted tenders, and therefore to enable the company to progress at pace a delegation of authority was being requested to award the design contracts.  The procurement exercise was due to conclude just before Christmas and it was proposed that the decision would be made to enable the programme to proceed without delay in the new year, and the results of which would be reported back to the Sub-Committee in 2019.

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Housing and Transport welcomed the significant level of interest received and stressed that this was a key priority and it was important to act quickly to ensure the four sites identified in the Borough are developed.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for finance also welcomed the number which had expressed an interest in the design contracts.

The Leader asked whether Merton was the only Borough with such a property company.  The Shareholder Representative advised that over 100 local authorities were either setting up or had already set up property companies, so it was a tried and tested method to increase housing supply and address the financial challenge faced by local authorities.

The Leader thanked officers involved in driving forward the programme and also welcomed the level of interest received

RESOLVED

That authority be delegated to the Shareholder Representative (the Director of Environment and Regeneration), in consultation with the Chair of the Merantun Development Ltd Sub-Committee, to approve the award of the Mertantun Development Ltd architectural design contract(s).