What on earth is S106?

Parish councillors last night were strongly critical of government plans to offer developers scope to reduce what are called "section 106" agreements attached to new housing. These are aimed at helping  a community cope with the increasing demands imposed by large scale building.

For instance the Home Farm approval includes money and resources for education, health and transport in addition to a community building. Some people might say we could lose the community building (I'd say no) but the contributions for health and education are vital. 

So in the consultation going on at the moment about these proposals we are saying "Full 106". It isn't the bits and pieces of civic obligation that are holding up Persimmon but plain bad business practice and that is up to them to sort out.

On that, by the way, there is no news of "Persimmon-lite" a second planning application probably not involving the Goodman Land and Dension Land (which provides the access to Court Road.) Watch this space...patiently LOL

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Persimmon stop work on Home Farm

This is the front page story on the June Cranfield Express due out on Thursday. It is made available early in electronic format  thanks to the editor Peter Hinson.

Ceasefire on Home Farm 

Persimmon has announced it will

“temporarily cease work” on the main

(Home farm) site after mounting concerns

from residents about access to

Lodge Road and Court Road by construction

traffic.

The company, responding to an

enquiry by Cranfield Express stated:

“We fully appreciate that we have a

duty of care for the local community.

Therefore, due to the current situation

and concerns raised regarding

working hours and traffic, we have

made the decision to temporarily

cease work on the main site, after we

have implemented security and health

and safety measures. Work will only

re-commence when the relevant matters

are resolved and the local authority

is satisfied with our strategy to

continue. The county council (sic)

works to the existing highways will

continue to completion.”

A stakeholder meeting last month

was called off at the last minute with

no rearrangement date by Central

Beds. As a result, parish councillors

hosted an unofficial meeting to allow

residents to express their frustration.

They have reported lorries turning

up to work well before the 8 am starting

time for Lodge Road and the 9

am starting point for Court Road.

And complaints have continued that

Lodge Road is not properly washed

each night. The early starts include

Saturday morning. There was even

work on the site, on 29 April, a public

holiday.

Condition 31 of the outline planning

permission for Home Farm provides

the following working hours:

“Works of construction, including the

use of plant, vehicles and machinery

necessary for the implementation of

this consent, shall only take place

(other than as specifically approved

in writing by the Local Planning

Authority prior to any works being

undertaken) between 0800 hours and

1800 hours on Mondays to Fridays

inclusive, and 0800 hours to 1300

hours on Saturdays and not at all on

Sundays or Bank Holidays.”

Its also states that there should not

be any waiting on Lodge Road or

Court Road prior to the permitted

times.

At the same time issues have arisen

about Persimmon’s relationship with

Dennison who control land to the rear

of Maple Way, Willow Springs and

Plough Close. This is where the community

hall and the school playing

field will be constructed.

A representative of Dennison spoke

to the Parish council in April and the

approved minutes state: “PCllr Mrs

D Ball invited the representative from

Dennison Investment to speak regarding

the status of negotiations with

Persimmon regarding the Dennison

land. It would appear that

Persimmon has ‘jumped the gun’ and

building has commenced. Dennison

and Persimmon were in ‘good discussions’

until February of this year,

and then it stopped.

“The commencement of the build

has been stopped by CBC, and

Persimmon and Dennison

Investments are taking legal advice

on their dispute. Councillor Ken

Matthews stated that Central

Bedfordshire Council will not issue

outstanding reserved matters until the

dispute is settled, however certain

works are permitted. Central

Bedfordshire Council has also taken

legal advice, and it appears that

Persimmon may apply for permission

on the grounds of non-determination.

“The representative from Dennison

Investments suggested that Central

Bedfordshire Council must be strong

– and state that there will be no occupations

until the dispute is resolved.

With regard to the 106 monies, he

stated that there are tools that are present

in the legal agreement to make

Persimmon behave, and on the matter

of Martin Wright refusing to discuss

the 106 agreement on the

grounds that it is confidential.

Members were advised that Dennison

Investments did not consider it confidential

and is happy for Mr Wright

to discuss it with the Stakeholder

Group.”

Persimmon in their statement to

Cranfield Express responded to this

as follows: “Whilst we do not agree

with Dennison’s interpretation of the

current situation, we are committed

to working proactively and positively

with the local authority to see the successful

delivery of the Section 106

package which ultimately, will benefit

the local community.”

Parish Council 5 May 2010

We had Persimmon present to outline their proposals for the community building on Home Farm with library and pre-school add-ons. There were reps from the pre-school, lower school and cyclists (keen on the 106 agreement provision for a cycle track to the south of the airfield) present. The design has some potential although there may be issues about the current footprint's proximity to nearby houses. The current money will not permit the full construction of the pre-school but with planning permission in place they can apply for other grants more easily.

We also had a first look at the Persimmon application to build 129 houses on the 1A and 1B plots. The biggest issue at the moment is line between Maple Way and building site where there is an argument about the original boundary. Persimmon claim that residents have encroached on their land. While this is, in a sense, a private argument it does impact on whether houses Persimmon are proposing are too close to existing properties for planning purposes. There are rumours of footpaths moved and ditches filled in. Looking on paper or screen won't do it. We need to be tramping the fields to sort this one out.

So what happened to the health centre? It's a desperately-needed response to the growth in housing in Cranfield. 12 months ago it was all systems go and now it's supposedly on ice. There is money in the Home Farm 106 (planning gain agreement - I mustn't write jargon) and as the early planning for this goes ahead we need to be looking at health facilities again and finding out what the PCT's progress is on this.