Slough Borough Council is considering the future of its loss making housing company after councillors were presented with two possible options to address long running concerns over its finances and management.
James Elliman Homes (JEH), a council owned housing company established in 2017 to purchase properties for the rental market, currently owes the council £51.7 million in loans used to acquire its housing portfolio.
The loans are due to be repaid between October 2028 and October 2029, but questions over the company’s financial performance have continued for several years.
At a Cabinet meeting on Monday, council leader cllr Wal Chahal said the company had been set up and managed poorly, leaving the authority with significant challenges to address. He said: “It has taken us quite a while to get under the covers to dig out all of the problems that it has, to now be on a path to recovery. It’s critical the money that was put in by the council and the residents is recovered going forward.”
An external review carried out by consultants Inner Circle examined five potential options for the company’s future. From those, two proposals have been shortlisted for further detailed business cases.
One option would involve a managed closure of James Elliman Homes, a process that could take up to two years. The review described this as the most obviously feasible option currently available.
Cllr Iftakhar Ahmed said the company had faced numerous problems and argued that closure should be pursued as a matter of urgency.
However, cllr Ejaz Ahmed stressed that no decision had yet been made and that councillors were only being asked to approve further investigation into the available options.
According to the report, James Elliman Homes currently owns the freehold or leasehold interests of 214 housing units, with some already leased back to the council for temporary accommodation purposes.
Peter Walsh, the council’s acting director of property, said more work was needed to understand the company’s assets before any final decision could be taken. “We need to understand the assets and at the moment we don’t understand them,” he said.
Will Tuckley described the report as an important step forward, saying: “This has not been a very happy picture for some time. I’m really pleased to see this report because I think what we’re trying to do strategically is set out a direction of travel in terms of the future of JEH.”
Mr Tuckley added that the council had struggled for some time to fully understand what had gone wrong at the company and said the review would help determine the next steps.
Article updated by Yashvi Jain
