The bosses of Bristol City Council’s housing company defended their business plan amid concerns that it lacks details about finances and dates for when homes will be built. Goram Homes managing director Stephen Baker said the firm had been “very pessimistic” in its annual forecasts because of uncertainties in the economy but that this year would “continue to see growth” in the number of projects in its “pipeline” of 16 sites.
Finance director Chris Arnold told a council meeting that the business plan’s “very prudent, cautious approach” was based on expected profits from only four of its developments, while including costs to get planning permission and finalise deals for all the proposals. And chairman Aman Dalvi said Goram’s board were “guardians of public sector money” which all came from the local authority so it needed to be spent properly to ensure the company did “not create a problem for the council in the future”.
The plan was discussed by City Hall’s overview & scrutiny management board on Tuesday, February 14, days after a redacted version was temporarily made public that revealed the housing firm has not told development partners it forecasts delays to hundreds of new homes. During the meeting, opposition Conservative Cllr Geoff Gollop said: “I can see that a great deal of work has gone into this report and the words in it have been incredibly well crafted but I don’t apologise for being an old-fashioned accountant who thinks that business plans should really be all about the figures.
Read more: Document shows council's housing company expects delays to almost half of its projects
“Previously we saw numbers of completions by year – now we don’t. 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. You ought to have an indication of last year’s trading against last year's budget and this year’s trading against this year’s budget.
“That background and explanation isn’t there but what we glean is that completions are being delayed based on what was being forecast before. During the discussions we had last time Goram brought figures to us, members were concerned over whether the delivery was capable of being on the timeline outlined.
“We were assured it was, now it looks as though it wasn’t. The problem in terms of the business plan is that each year there is a delay, the overheads remain in place but there is no profit to cover them, so the period of time over which payback comes is that much longer.
“There is nothing that gives me any indication that there can be any certainty on that.” 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 haven’t sought to deny anything regarding our completions because, as we point out in our business plan, our first project to hit site is One Lockleaze and that has yet to complete any homes.
“There has been no attempt to conceal any completions on site. We have been very clear that there have been no completions of homes yet for Goram Homes.”
Mr Dalvi said: “I would like to stress that we understand that the principal shareholder of Goram Homes is Bristol City Council – we are owned by Bristol City Council and the funding we get is from Bristol City Council. Because it’s public sector money, 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.
“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. Our board is always mindful of those values in the way it makes decisions.”
Mr Arnold said: “The cumulative profit for Goram turns positive in 2025/26 and that is consistent with our business plan presented last year.”
Read next:
List of Bristol City Council-owned sites set for more than 3,100 new homes
Bristol city centre car park could be built on with 70 flats planned
Council gives Hengrove Park to its own housebuilding company to deliver 1,400 new homes
POLITICS: To keep up to date with latest Bristol politics news, and discuss thoughts with other residents, join our Bristol politics news and discussion here. You can also sign up to our politics newsletter here .
Click here for the latest headlines from in and around Bristol.
