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Sovereign to enter JV with council

A major housing association is set to form a joint venture with a Berkshire council.

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Picture: Getty
Picture: Getty
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Sovereign to enter JV with council #ukhousing

Sovereign and West Berkshire Council to enter joint venture #ukhousing

Sovereign, which owns more than 56,000 homes across the South of England, will form a new company with West Berkshire Council if its board agrees to the move at its next meeting in July.

The Conservative-run authority approved the joint venture at a meeting of its executive last week.

If the plans go ahead, it will be the first time Sovereign has entered a joint venture with a council, having previously held similar arrangements with house builders such as Kier.

Sovereign-West Berkshire will be a new, separate entity owned 50:50 by the two partners.


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According to an officer’s report which went before the council’s leadership last Thursday, the joint venture “will acquire, fund, develop, sell and own (as applicable) a mixture of tenures with the primary aim of achieving the council’s housing objectives”.

It will purchase sites from Sovereign and the council at market or discounted values, with the council already agreeing that two sites be used to build an estimated 56 homes.

The company’s board will be made up of three Sovereign representatives and three West Berkshire Council representatives, likely senior officers.

Ben Denton, executive director for development and commercial at Sovereign, said: “This is an exciting, innovative approach, bringing together the skills, land and investment needed to help build the homes we need in West Berkshire more quickly.

“While we still need approval from our board, we share the same objectives as West Berkshire Council and it makes sense for us to work together more closely to achieve more than we could apart.”

Sovereign is headquartered in Newbury, West Berkshire, and is the largest social housing provider in the district.

It is currently developing two sites in the area through a joint venture with David Wilson Homes.

Hilary Cole, executive member for planning at West Berkshire Council, said: “This joint approach will give both us and Sovereign the flexibility that is key to meeting individual housing needs in West Berkshire by offering mixed-tenure housing using a combination of council and Sovereign land acquired specifically for housing purposes.

“By taking this flexible but strategic approach, we are confident that many more housing needs can be met sooner.”

West Berkshire Council has a target to build 1,000 new affordable homes in the area by 2020 but “does not have the means to progress this, at pace, and therefore needs to find a structure and partner for doing so”, the officer’s report said.

The council transferred its housing stock in 1989 to West Berkshire Housing Association, which is now Sovereign.

The joint venture is expected to be formally created in the autumn.

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