Questions asked over £25k planning contribution demand for two Haggs homes
Planning permission for two houses has been put on hold after a demand from Falkirk Council for a planning contribution of more than £25,000 was said to be “excessive”.
Planning officers recommended that permission be granted to Sandy Brown to build two houses on land to the north of 4 Garngrew Cottage, Garngrew Road, Haggs.
But this would be subject to Mr Brown paying contributions of more than £21,000 to education, £4000 for improvements to roads and £2800 to improve open space – as well as providing 15 per cent affordable housing.
At a meeting of Falkirk Council’s planning committee on Wednesday), local councillor Brian McCabe criticised the amount of time it has taken for the application to proceed – pointing out it is now 22 months since permission was first requested.
He also thought the contributions being requested were excessive for just two houses and said would make the entire project impossible for the developer.
Mr McCabe compared the council’s demands to “a fat, obese child who just can’t resist reaching for another cake”.
But Falkirk Council officers said that the two houses should be considered as part of a bigger development that could see around 30 new homes being built on the site.
An application for a further 19 homes is also with the council and a further application for 14 houses is expected to follow.
The second application has been made by Hamilton Brown Developments where Mr Brown is a company director.
Officers said it was vital to take into account the total number of houses that would be built rather than treating them as separate projects that would not meet the threshold for contributions.
But Mr Brown’s agent, Dan Henderson, also addressed the meeting saying that the handling reports were “fundamentally flawed, lack balance and are not fit for purpose”.
In particular, he said it was “disgraceful” not to include the district valuer’s recommendation that the two-house development would not be profitable enough to demand contributions.
The council has to consider the viability of a site so that building work is not started and then left unfinished.
But Mr Henderson said that there was a difference between a sites being viable and a site making a profit and pointed out that Mr Brown was operating on a much smaller scale than other developers, who typically need a profit margin of around 15-20 per cent.
One of the proposed houses is a home for Mr Brown himself and members heard that he has already started the work.
The agent said the developer is willing to pay the requested amount for roads, including £4,179.92 towards the cost of the A803/M80 slip road junction upgrades at Haggs/Banknock and £273.65 towards the cost of the Denny Eastern Access Road (DEAR).
But he has baulked at the £21,000 that was being asked for education – £11,286.96 for Bankier Primary School, £5,989.94 for Denny High School and £4,018.96 for nursery education.
Councillor Alf Young said he did not feel comfortable at making a decision with information missing and he requested a continuation so that they can see the full report from the district valuer and visit the site.
This was agreed by the committee.
The application for the 19 new homes on the site will also be considered at a future meeting.