Ashfords advises Northamptonshire County Council on its recent Housing Reprovision project

Ashfords LLP has recently advised Northamptonshire County Council (the "Council") on its latest housing stock transfers between: (i) Northamptonshire Teaching Primary Care Trust ("PCT"); (ii) the Council; and (iii) two registered social landlords ("RSLs"), designed to provide both flats and houses for the supported independent living of eighty-nine adults with learning disabilities (the "Project"). 

The Project forms the Northamptonshire element of the national campus closure plan following two Government White Papers₁  which called for the closure of such NHS schemes.

Ashfords advised the Council on the complex contractual arrangements together with State aid and procurement matters in order to facilitate the Government's £6.7 million grant funding (which was matched by other partners) to assist with the acquisition of suitable properties for the life of the Project.

The Project was particularly sensitive for the parties given the current state of the housing market and ambitious time pressures from the Government.  However, as housing is a key component of an individual's support network, these pressures had to be balanced at all times with the Council's key objective which was to ensure the delivery of a person-centered result supporting the requirements of the individual service users.

The Project will require a mixture of capital and revenue funding.  The grant from the Council will be applied by the RSLs toward the capital funding elements of the Project, which include the cost of the initial property acquisitions together with the development and/or refurbishment costs (as may be required).  It is envisaged that revenue funding for the running and maintenance costs of the homes will be made up of a combination of rent and service charge payable by the service users (which will largely be met by a combination of housing benefit and income support) together with private sector investment by the RSLs.

This structure should ensure that value for money is achieved for both the PCT and the Council (by using a mixture of private and public funding), whilst maintaining the person-centred service delivery thereby giving the most beneficial impact for the service users.

Elizabeth Gibson, Projects partner at Ashfords LLP, said: "The Project will mean that the Council's service users will benefit from up to £7million worth of individualised bespoke investment in their homes.  This demonstrates the continued importance of housing transfers as a tool for regeneration of social housing in England and Wales and the development of the social care network for people with learning disabilities."

Nick Willmore, Project Director at the Council said: "The creation of personalised services for individuals is a core priority for the Council and this Project has been a groundbreaking move to realise this objective. We have been very happy with the professional advice, support and responsiveness of Ashfords in developing these agreements at a time of testing market conditions".

The Project involved specialist solicitors from Ashfords' Projects and Property teams in its Exeter office, led by Elizabeth Gibson.

For further information or enquiries on this matter please contact Elizabeth Gibson on 01392 333802 or Brian Farrell on 01392 333834.

Ashfords LLP is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The information in this note is intended to be general information about English law only and not comprehensive. It is not to be relied on as legal advice nor as an alternative to taking professional advice relating to specific circumstances.  

_{1 "Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century", which stated that NHS residential campuses are not good places for people with learning disabilities to live and "Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: a new direction for community services", which stated that campuses should close by 2010.}