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.
