Estate Development Budget

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Estate Development Budget

What is the Estate Development Budget (EDB)?

Is there something that you’d like improved on your estate or in your block?  Have you got an idea that will enhance the quality of life of residents and benefit your community?  If you do then your project could be funded by the Estate Development Budget.

The Estate Development Budget is a tenant choice budget of over half a million pounds a year that delivers resident led improvements for an area. The EDB now includes EDB Quick bids, which is a pot of money allocated by resident representatives to fund smaller community projects that cost under £500.

Each idea is considered by a panel of residents and the projects agreed can really make a positive difference to a neighbourhood. See our list of EDB projects (pdf 160kb) for an update on the hundreds of projects that have already been agreed this year.

The EDB bids are now open for bids for 2014.

What can the EDB fund?

• Improvements to a council building or council owned land
• Improvements to community facilities or the local environment
• Something that enhances the quality of life for residents in the area
• Something that benefits the community (not just one household)

Got an idea?

• Contact your local residents association as they will be able to help you place a bid.
• If you don't have an association then the Resident Involvement Team can help you get started. You will need to talk to the people that will be affected by the project and check that they are in favour if it going ahead.

Making an EDB or EDB Quick bid

• Complete our online bid form and submit any supporting documentation such as photos separately to RIT@Brighton-Hove.gov.uk.
• Or download and complete our EDB application form (pdf 44kb) or our EDB Quick bid application form (pdf 43kb) and return to the Resident Involvement Team, 1st Floor, Housing Centre, Unit 1, Fairway Trading Estate, Eastergate Road, Brighton, BN2 4QL  quoting the details of your bid and when you submitted it.

Next Steps

• We'll check that the bid meets the EDB guidelines. (pdf 48kb) All eligible bids are then sent to the EDB project team who will estimate the cost of the project.
• EDB Quick Bids will then be decided on by residents at their monthly EDB panel meetings. You will be contacted with the decision once the panel has met.
• All other EDB bids will be collated and then shown to resident representatives by a video presentation or a coach trip around the neighbourhoods during March 2013.
• Resident representatives will then vote on all the bids at the Area Housing management Panels during April 2013

Successful community bids

Residents at Theobald House decided that they would submit an Estate Development Budget bid to refurbish their foyer.  They were so delighted with their smart new foyer that they held an ‘open house’ day in August 2011 to show it off. Chair of the Residents Association, Debbie Williams, said: “We couldn’t be happier, this is exactly how we wanted it to look – bright, fresh and inviting. The quality of materials and the high standard of finish is second to none.”

 

 

Poplar Close Residents Association may only cover 16 flats but residents have achieved a great deal with EDB funding. Along with friends and neighbours, Wendy, Des, Tony and many more, bid for a new bin store, sensor-safe internal lighting, spruced up fascia boards and a fresh coat of paint on their outside railings. Howard said "It is an advantage to be small - because there are only a few of us it is easy to contact each other."

How do EDB bids affect leaseholders?

The cost of Estate Development Budget work is passed on to leaseholders in their service charge in the same way as any other work.  However: 

• leaseholders only contribute to costs incurred in their building
• leaseholders can only incur costs if their lease allows for the charge
• the law states that the costs must be reasonably incurred.

This means that works to keep the building in repair such as flooring, painting or improvements like exterior lighting are normally passed on, but works to improve community facilities or the local environment are not.  For more information contact the Leasehold team at rtbleasehold@brighton-hove.gov.uk or on (01273) 293074, as they can give general advice on leaseholder charges before a bid is placed.