Goram Homes management defends Bristol business plan

Goram Homes plans to build on 16 sites across Bristol, including some bordering the city's harbourside

A council's housing company has been accused of producing a business plan that fails to outline when new homes will be built.

The plan by Goram Homes, owned by Bristol City Council, also lacks financial detail, one councillor said.

Managing director Stephen Baker said forecasts by the firm had been "very pessimistic" because of economic uncertainty.

But he said 2023 would "continue to see growth" at its 16 sites.

The plan was discussed by the council's overview and scrutiny management board on 14 February, a few days after a report was temporarily made public on the council website, and then replaced with a redacted version.

The full report which was taken down included a table listing new projected start and completion dates that - the report says - was intentionally excluded from the main business plan because Goram is "forecasting the delivery of homes at a slower rate than we are advising our partners is required".

A 150-home on the Baltic Wharf site is part of Goram Homes' plan

However, while the housing firm admits in the since-redacted section it "does not wish to concern our partners that projects can't proceed at pace", it also confirms Goram remains "committed to delivering new homes at pace across our pipeline".

There is no suggestion the developments it hopes to complete over the next decade, totalling more than 3,000 homes, are at risk.

Figures are 'missing'

During the 14 February meeting, opposition Conservative Cllr Geoff Gollop said: "I don't apologise for being an old-fashioned accountant who thinks that business plans should really be all about the figures.

"Previously we saw numbers of completions by year - now we don't.

Senior Goram Homes staff (from left) Chris Arnold, Steve Baker and Aman Dalvi attended the meeting

"This reads as a housing company of substance and yet, when I read through, it confirms that there haven't been any completions at all. That is an issue that shouldn't be hidden away.

""It seems extraordinary that we are not actually admitting where we are, what has been built to date and what the costs are and what has been generated - what has been generated isn't from any completed houses because there aren't any completed.

"I want to see more openness about where we are and see figures that make sense."

'Prudent approach'

Mr Baker replied: "The business plan sets out fairly clearly in our programme the progress that each of our projects is tracking through.

"We have re-based our forecasts based on where we find ourselves in the current economic climate and we have been very pessimistic in our forecasts and this year's business plan because the world has changed substantially from when we produced our business plan, which is the current year, so we have taken a very prudent approach.

"We have been very clear that there have been no completions of homes yet for Goram Homes."

Goram chairman Aman Dalvi said there was an onus on the company to be prudent because it was a council-owned firm.

"Our board are the guardians of public sector money, so we have to make sure that money is spent properly and is spent in doing what we need to do which is to produce housing and within that to provide affordable housing," he said.

"We want to ensure our risk is mitigated, that we don't create a problem for the council in the future and that we produce the housing that we've said we would and provide a commercial return."

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