SBC’s Shameful Deeds/Covenants Dealings

SBC’s Shameful Deeds/Covenants Dealings

Guest Author JOHN MOOK takes a close look at SBC’s handling of s.106 monies intended for the benefit of the Filey community – shades of last March’s s.106 debacle.

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Background

I refer readers to the:

• Mill Meadows Estate (Land off Muston Road, Filey) SBC Planning & Development Committee approved on Thursday 17^th February 2011. Plan 10/01893/RM.

This proposed development is for 300 dwellings; 120 affordable homes and 180 homes for the open market.

The development is about half finished, or just over. The developer ran into financial difficulties shortly after building the affordable homes. Areas of Mill Meadows are now a silent, ghostly building site.

The 120 affordable homes units have been completed with the aid of the affordable homes programme managed by the Housing Communities Agency (HCA). The developer received government contributions for affordable homes of approximately £2.5 million.

Some of the remaining 180 open market homes have been completed but not very many.

The question now is will they ever be built? Will the estate be completed?

Residents who have invested their hard earned money into properties on Mill Meadows are not happy about the unfinished roads, unfinished development and the views onto stacks of bricks and metal fences around large areas of an incomplete housing estate.

• Original Section 106 Agreements – Document 07-00547-OL – Dated 13^th November 2007.

Ref: The First Schedule

Infant & Nursery School, Filey  – s.106 Agreed Full Contribution £34,350.

1. 1 Not to allow the occupation of more than 100 dwellings until £11,450 of the Infant and Nursery School contribution has been paid to the County Council

Filey Junior School – s.106 Agreed Full Contribution £274,500.

2. 4 Not to allow the occupation of more than 100 dwellings until £91,600 of the Filey Junior School contributions has been paid to the County Council.

Multi-Use Games Area – s.106 Agreed Full Contribution £15,520.

3. 1 Not to allow the occupation of more than 60% of the Open Market dwellings until the multi use games area contribution has been paid to the borough Council.

Local Health Contribution – s.106 Agreed full contribution £50,000.

4. 1 Not to allow the occupation of more than 60% of the Open Market dwellings until the local health contribution has been paid to the Borough Council.

This equates to a total of agreed deed/covenant Section 106 contributions of £324,870.

So, assessing the 1^st stage of the original agreements, £103,050 should have been paid in s.106 contributions.

• Revised Section 106 Contributions – 07-00547-OL – Supplement Dated 13^th January 2014.

Ref: The Second Schedule

Agreement 492536 – Covenants, Restrictions and Obligations in the Deeds.

Rescinding and supplementary agreements on the original s.106 Agreements on the Mill Meadows Development:

(E) The Original agreement on Filey Junior School the parties SBC, NYCC and The Developer agree to rescind the £274,500 full amount and the Infant & Junior School’s Contributions to be reduced from £34,350 to £27,192 a discount of £7,158 on the previous agreement.

So the developer gets a sweetener discount of £281,958.

Or, to look at it another way, the community of Filey Town loses from the previously agreed Section 106 monies a total of £281.958 – money that would have been spent for the benefit of the community.

The new agreed s.106 Contributions from this development are now:

£27,192.00 – Filey Infant and Junior School

£50,000.00 – Filey Local Health Contributions

£15,520.00 – Multi Use Games Area, Mill Meadows

£92,712.00 – TOTAL

Conclusion

To date, the total amount of Section 106 contributions that has thus far been collected from this development is £9,000 – the payment to NYCC – and is currently unspent.

This raises uncomfortable questions of due diligence. There are significant failures in planning and financial oversight by Officers of the Council.

The Planners and Developers sell the community the benefits of new development in their area with promises of Section 106 Contributions to be later spent for the benefit of that community’s residents. In this case it was originally  £324,870.

What can Filey do with £9,000 – this equates to 2.7% of the original agreement?

Or 9.7% of the revised £92,712 total.

However you want to look at it, Filey Town and its residents have been short-changed.

It’s shameful. It’s just not good enough.