Councils

Planning objection petition – River Lane, Leatherhead, Surrey

May 16th, 2011

The residents of River Lane, Leatherhead, Surrey, are in a legal battle over the inappropriate use of Green Belt land.

There has been a temporary gypsy and traveller site on the land for the past 8 years, having been granted temporary planning permission twice, under the grounds that Mole Valley District Council had the legal obligation to find an alternative site. The council failed to do so, having done no research at all until November 2010, and are now allowing the gypsy families to apply for permanent planning permission.

The site has been deemed by the Government Planning Inspector as “inappropriate development in the Green Belt” and it is paramount that this development is rejected in order to stop this becoming an example for the allowance of future similar developments.

This has been an ongoing battle for the last 8 years and it is coming to a conclusion this year, so PLEASE can you sign the petition and preserve the green belt of River Lane.

THIS IS A SERIOUS PLANNING ISSUE. THIS IS NOT AN ISSUE OF PREJUDICE. IT IS A LEGAL ISSUE.

THE LAND IS DESIGNATED GREEN BELT AND IT HAS BEEN AGREED BY THE PLANNING INSPECTOR THAT THE CURRENT SITUATION IS “INAPPRORIATE DEVELOPMENT IN THE GREEN BELT.”

The petition can be found at the following address: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/riverlaneleatherhead/

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us at claracuffe@aol.com

Thank you so much for your support,

The residents of River Lane

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Highland Housing Fair / Expo – The wheels come off…

Jan 19th, 2011

by Editor.

2 comments

Months after the Highland Housing Fair closed little has changed with the development in Inverness, Highlands, Scotland.

Properties remain incomplete, landscaping leaves a lot to be desired and roads wait for Tarmac.

Not surprisingly, properties remain unsold and given the current financial climate it remains to be seen how those who organised the shambles will repay the reputed cost of £6Million funded mainly by the long suffering tax payer.

We are now told a “sales drive” will take place later this year – at what cost and who is going to pay?

Quite frankly, those who promoted the benefits of the event should be jailed. Little concern was demonstrated as the costs of the fiasco rocketed and this at a time that the Directors of Highland Council were fully aware that the council had massively overspent and was largely running out of control.

The term “Development at any Cost” springs to mind. The NIMBY’S who insisted that the location was suitable and would benefit the region should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves – will they all be eventually taken to court? Only time will tell, but one thing is certain, when the full financial facts are forced out the information will generate massive criticism.

Those who campaigned against the event have proven to be very accurate with their thoughts about the issue, yet still Susan Torrance and her team of supporters are in denial.

The only winner is Tulloch Homes, reported to have made a cool £500,000 profit on the sale of the land involved to Highland Housing Alliance!

Earlier this year, it emerged that taxpayers handed Inverness building firm Tulloch Homes a profit when land on the outskirts of the city was sold to the organisers of the fair.

Tulloch Homes bought around 40 acres of agricultural land at Balvonie Braes for £850,000 and sold it with one extra acre nine months later to the council-funded Highland Housing Alliance for £1,350,000.

Barrie Haycock, chairman of Planning Watch UK, said he was outraged by the way the Balvonie Braes project had been handled.

“I think the whole affair is a complete disgrace and indicates the contempt which the Scottish Government and the Highland Council demonstrate to the community and the planning process in general,” he said.

It transpired hundreds of brochures — designed to attract government support — had to be destroyed because they contained inaccurate information relating to community facilities claimed to be in place, but not provided at Milton of Leys.

This latest twist has prompted furious opponents to demand sackings at the highest management level.

Editor

Housing Expo to mount sales drive in bid to recoup £6m

Published: 18 January, 2011, Inverness Courier

ORGANISERS of Scotland’s Housing Expo are preparing for a major event to help boost the sale of 24-eco homes so that £6 million of public money can be repaid.

Highland Housing Alliance, which led the expo project, has a deadline of April 2012 to sell the houses – some worth in excess of £300,000 – which are still on the market five months after the event closed.

The Expo, a development of 52 homes at Balvonie Braes in Inverness, showcasing sustainable and energy efficient design, was open to the public throughout August last year and attracted more than 30,000 visitors.

Yesterday it was revealed only one of the 24 homes built by the alliance has been sold but the organisation’s chief executive Susan Torrance is unperturbed.

Cash from each sale is to be returned to the public purse as part of an agreement with the Scottish Government, which underwrote the controversial housing scheme with £6 million of taxpayer’s money.

As part of the deal, if the alliance fails to sell the homes, they will be converted to affordable housing either through low-cost ownership or affordable rented accommodation.

Mrs Torrance remains confident all the homes will sell by the time the deadline comes around.

“I would be extremely surprised if it takes longer than 18 months,” she said.

“Not a lot of new houses are being built but people are still looking for new homes.”

Whilst sales have been slow she revealed there have been expressions of interest from buyers in all the homes with some proving more popular than others.

She went on to reveal plans for a major event in April which would properly launch and market the expo homes for sale.

Scotland’s Housing Expo at the city’s Balvonie Braes where 24 eco-homes remain unsold. Gary Anthony

The alliance is waiting until spring because some work, such as laying roads and landscaping, is still to take place and it wants the site to be completely finished.

Prolonged snow and ice over recent weeks has caused some delays to the work schedule.

“What we want to do is really show off the houses to their best in April when all the landscaping is complete,” said Mrs Torrance, explaining until recently some of the houses also still required work.

Ideas for the April launch, which will form part of the alliance’s marketing strategy, include staging a farmer’s market, fashion show, music event and competition giveaways at the site.

Mrs Torrance also revealed plans were in the pipeline to host a professionals’ day on 18th March for architects, developers and other interested parties who may have missed the exhibition in August.

“Since the expo we have had umpteen folk wanting to see around the site,” she said.

“This will be the last chance for folk to see around the houses.”

The remainder of the expo development is made up of a further 20 affordable homes, built for local housing associations, and eight private houses funded directly by developers to the tune of £2.3 million.

Albyn Housing Society has sold 10 of its 11 homes and O’Brien and Robertson are understood to have sold each of their plots.

Link to original article

Courier reader comments:

Wee jamie
The Expo was a scam from the very start.
I visited with an architect. His opinion – Houses – Rubbish.

Today, 13:37:59

Jack

The Expo site is never going to feel like a proper housing estate. The houses are too close together

Yesterday, 16:31:52

Mmm

I bought one of the Albyn houses and feel very lucky. It’s very energy efficient and a great opportunity for myself and partner to get on the property ladder in such difficult times. The site is far from complete and it does feel like we’re living in a show room. We have ‘visitors’ constantly peering through our windows which has become very tiresome. I don’t think people realise that there are families living on site now.

Today, 14:17:39

Stewie

It looks like the Expo is being EXPOsed as a bad idea!

Today, 09:14:25

Be specific

“Umpteen”?. Such a comment is almost as much use as the imaginary 30,000 plus figure that those responsible for this shambles are still touting. Any chance of some ACTUAL accounts related to the none Common Good Fund income generated before April? Take away the £60,000 grant and the double counted free children used to inflate the numbers and the Expo is exposed as a joke.

Today, 09:12:22

Jack

Prepare to be discussing this in 18 months. The public will NOT take out mortgages to purchase experiemental houses on a cramped experimental estate which will contain a number of social housing units. The resale value of these egotistical follies is being indicated by the fact that the only one sold to date was bought by someone with a financial involvement in the project.

Yesterday, 22:26:48

Another MoL Resident

To recover £6M they would need to average £222,222 PROFIT on each of the 27 houses to recoup the monies spent. Clearly the cost of construction and the running of the event has to be covered.
Will the public purse see all its money back?

Yesterday, 22:11:23

James

I wish Mrs Torrance the best of luck in selling these houses, but with £300,000 a person could buy a very nice house in Crown or down by the river, so it’s difficult to see how these houses at Balvonie will take preference to such houses which are also on the market, despite what Susan Torrance says. Hopefully, for the sake of the public purse, the properties sell.

Yesterday, 21:34:11

Denise

This is a disgrace of monumental proportions.

Yesterday, 18:41:21

Anon

Watch for the begging bowl going to the Common Good Fund once more.

Yesterday, 12:17:42

M.O.L. Resident.

Were all these extra openings and events part of the original plans for the Housing Expo? Or are we now expected to suffer more disruption with visitors parking on the side of the roads or better yet, on the actual pavements without any say at all. I remember the words “No extended opening” being used at the end of the actual show, this sounds very much to me like the Housing Expo is being reopened. Lets hope they can sell some of the houses and pay the taxpayers back the £6 million they owe.

Yesterday, 08:37:42

BMac

“…Yesterday it was revealed only one of the 24 homes built by the alliance has been sold but the organisation’s chief executive Susan Torrance is unperturbed…”It’s wonderful how unconcerned one can be when it’s public money.

Yesterday, 00:44:27

Bogbain

Good Luck! to Ms Torrance with her marketing scheme. If it is half as good as the one that she executed for David Sutherland whereby all the new home builders had to contribute to the cost of his Milton of Leys link road then her latest scheme should land in clover.
For the uninitiated. Mr Sutherland’s Tulloch builders could not build more than 600 homes at Milton of Leys without building a new link road. Part of a planning condition. Enter Susan Torrance, ex Tulloch director who fronted the housing fair development for the benefit of Suds. Suds had bought the Balvonie farm fields for way above the agricultural rate in the belief that HC planners would nod another development through the system.
But up sprang disenchanted Milton of Leys Tulloch Home buyers who joined forces with Bogbain and exposed anomalies in the Highland Council planners system.A new Highland Council planning committee was formed which owed Suds no favours, so that the whole housing fair farce got a rough ride in the media.
Can Susan now explain to taxpayers just how much each new housebuilder has had to contribute to the cost of Tulloch’s new Milton of Leys link road. The question has been asked many times before but Susan and Suds remain silent. And why not? Nice little bit of Inverness business.

2 days ago, 17:53:24

laxdale

one word albatross

Yesterday, 20:33:39

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Peverel ripping off more home owners – Daily Mail

Oct 27th, 2010

by Editor.

2 comments

Homeowners ripped off by managing agents charging sky-high fees

By Lauren Thompson
Last updated at 10:51 PM on 26th October 2010

A million homeowners in flats and retirement homes are being left at the mercy of managing agents who charge exorbitant service fees while providing poor maintenance.

These property owners are being exposed to a multi-million-pound rip-off by an unregulated industry.

They range from more vulnerable elderly residents in sheltered accommodation to wealthy businessmen in multi-million-pound riverside flats.

People power: Neil Healey successfully fought a two-year legal battle against Solitaire Property Management, now owned by Peverel, and got £156,000 in unfair service charges refunded to residents

Complaints include:

Overcharging.

Fees that rise inexplicably every year.

No explanation of what charges are for.

Managing agents using their own companies to provide hugely expensive insurance and maintenance services.

No regulation to protect people from shoddy practices.

Michelle Mitchell, of charity Age UK, says: ‘These companies have a free rein to ride roughshod over residents and hold them hostage to a range of unfair practices due to the sector’s lack of regulation.’

Some of the worst examples are seen in sheltered accommodation, where vulnerable older people can pay huge charges for wardens and alarm systems.

Age UK has serious concerns about managing agents failing to obtain competitive quotes and instead using subsidiaries of their own company to provide insurance and maintenance work. This, in turn, leads to unnecessarily high service charges.

More than two million people are thought to own leasehold properties, with just over half being those who bought former council homes under the Right to Buy scheme.

It can be difficult for residents, whether in sheltered accommodation or normal flats, to know if the same company runs their managing agent and the firms they use to provide services.

For example, the biggest player, Peverel Limited, owns dozens of managing agents, including OM Property Management, Solitaire Property Management and Pembertons Residential.

Peverel and its subsidiaries manage 200,000 leasehold properties across the country, from million-pound apartments in central London to modest retirement flats.

Peverel also owns Kingsborough Insurance Services, which arranges building and contents cover; Cirrus Communication Systems, which installs CCTV; and CarelineUK, which provides emergency alarms in retirement homes.

All of these are used to provide services in Peverel-managed properties — although Peverel says it carries out a ‘strict tendering process for all contracts’.

Residents have complained that insurance premiums, in particular, are kept artificially high because of large commission fees. For example, Kingsborough obtains buildings cover but only acts as a middleman bet-ween Peverel and Oval, the insurance broker.

In return, it adds commission fees of up to 33 per cent on insurance premiums and this cost is passed directly to residents.

A spokeswoman for Peverel says: ‘Kingsborough receives a commission from the insurer and Leasehold Valuation Tribunals have determined that this is reasonable.’

Residents at Stow Court in Cheltenham, a block of 44 flats managed by Solitaire (owned by Peverel), became so fed up with sky-high insurance that they got a quote from an independent broker to compare costs.

Solitaire had been charging them £7,057 per year — but similar cover could be obtained through local firm Lansdown Insurance Brokers for just £2,165 — saving a staggering £4,892.

A spokeswoman for Peverel says: ‘Oval compared the two premiums and found the alternative quotation provided substantially less cover. Oval was, however, able to reduce its premium to £4,062 — a 42 per cent reduction on the previous year.’

A group of angry residents have set up a website called The Truth About Solitaire (soon to be OM Property Management) & Peverel Group Companies (including Consensus Business Group Companies), which has a wealth of information for leaseholders wanting to take on their managing agent.

James Butler, of Landmark Leasehold Advisory Services, says: ‘Several pieces of legislation, including The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, make it a legal requirement for managing agents to openly tender contracts.

‘Sadly, some agents routinely flout the law by using firms owned by or linked to them to provide services. Ultimately, it is the residents who end up paying the increased costs.’
Charities such as Age UK have lobbied the Government for years to enforce regulation of managing agents and are confounded by the lack of protection for residents in leasehold properties.

Leaseholders can club together and boot out their managing agent under a process known as Right to Manage. The agent’s consent is not needed and there is no need for residents to prove mismanagement.’

It can be a lengthy and complicated process. Go to www.lease-advice.org for more information.

Bob Suvan and his neighbours exercised their Right to Manage a block of flats in Regent’s Park, central London. Mr Suvan was fed up with the way Peverel managed his three-bedroom flat and was being charged almost £5,000 per year in service charges.

So he set up a management company, BlocNet, and has reduced service charges in his building by 20 per cent. Find out more about leaseholds at www.thisismoney.co.uk/leasehold.

CASE STUDY

Neil Healey, 33, successfully fought a two-year legal battle against Solitaire Property Management, now owned by Peverel, and got £156,000 in unfair service charges refunded to residents.
Mr Healey (pictured) took the property giant to a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT), the dispute resolution service, on behalf of 165 apartments at City Heights development in Mapperley, Nottingham.
He was fed up of Peverel’s poor management and service charges of £1,600 per year on his two-bedroom apartment, as well as extras.
Mr Healey says: ‘From the minute I moved in, I had problems.’
And from January 1, 2011, the entire estate will be managed by Mr Healey’s new company, Mapperley Property Management.
A spokeswoman for Peverel says: ‘The LVT related to service charges levied by Solitaire Property Management between March 2004 and March 2009. Solitaire became part of the Peverel Group in mid-2008.’

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New Cairngorms National Park community decision due

Jun 11th, 2010

by Editor.

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The Cairngorms National Park is the largest park in BritainThe Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) is to consider a proposal to create a new community on the outskirts of Aviemore.

Park officials have recommended that the CNPA’s planning committee approves the project in principle.

Rothiemurchus Estate’s project would see 1,500 homes and business and community facilities built in phases at An Camas Mor, close to Coylumbridge.

The CNPA said it would be one of the “biggest developments in a generation”.

The Cairngorms National Park is the largest national park in Britain.

Duncan Bryden, CNPA planning committee convener, said the proposal required a rigorous examination.

He said: “This is the largest and most complex application to come before us – indeed it is the only proposal for a new community in a UK National Park.”

Objectors to the project include Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group.

It said the site was home to a large population of slender groundhopper, a rare invertebrate, and other species of wildlife.

The An Camas Mor project team sees the 259-acre (105-hectare) development as a solution to the area’s “chronic shortage” of housing, business and community facilities.

If approved, the scheme would be built in phases and completed by 2027.

Link to original BBC article

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Residential Planning Application on Amenity Site causes further local conflict

Apr 3rd, 2010

by Editor.

No comments yet

Tulloch Homes, Inverness, Scotland hit the headlines again over controversial plans to build residential properties on land allocated for community amenity purposes.

Some nine years after the first property was built on the large development, residents are still waiting for their first real amenity facility following years of campaigning. A solitary post box has been featured in a number of press articles and underpins the failure of Highland Council to build integrated serviced communities.

Properties were sold on the basis of provision of a Primary School, shops and other essential services.
Property owners who live on the periphery of Inverness have been forced, until recently, to drive three miles to get a bottle of milk or loaf of bread, yet the developer has seemed determined to achieve a residential planning precedent on land reserved for community purposes

Communities across the greater Inverness region are questioning the failure of Highland Council to provide jobs and infrastructure within new development after development covering thousands of new homes.

Homes for Heroes Ltd was set up on 15th Oct 2008 by Ken McMillan & Ewan McAuley.
The initial aim was to procure affordable housing for members of the Armed Forces while they are still serving.
The initiative is aimed at providing a home for when the serviceman actually leaves the service and so preventing them from being subjected to the “mercy of Council waiting lists”

A whole lot different to what Mr Sutherland is portraying when he implies the housing is required to house servicemen with disabilies!

Editor

Gavin Norton, Chair of Milton of Leys Residents Association said:

Residents are desperate to see community facilities at An Inverness development, but have grave concerns that the developer is putting profit above much needed amenity space for this growing community, as well as paying lip service to planning regulations.

“When outline planning permission was given residents expected any residential units on the site to be service flats above shops. Instead we have been bombarded with differing indicative housing layouts finally culminating in approx 12 properties being sold under the Homes for Heroes Scheme.”

“As a serviceman myself I fully support the Homes for Heroes scheme, however Milton of Leys is a vast site, and these units can easily be accommodated elsewhere rather than taking up valuable amenity open space”.

“A Nursery is being sought on land outside that zoned for amenity land on Green Open Space, it is clear the developer knows this but wants to press ahead regardless of the planning regulations to the contrary.

“Should permission be given we fear the precedents that would be set by allowing building on Green open space, as well as residential properties in future amenity areas”.

“Milton of Leys has precious few play areas for children, and as a result of reshuffling the site an area of 1.9 acres for play equipment already passed by Highland Council has been compressed into almost half its original size. Once again the community and the children lose out”

“Despite years of consultation and work on forums with elected members regarding what Residents wanted to see on the site it is becoming clear that we will get what we are given and have to be thankful for it”.

“The responsibility lies on Highland Councils Planning department to ensure communities as large as Milton of Leys maximise the little amenity space they have in the best way possible to the benefit of the residents, not the developer”.

Residents are desperate for facilities and it is clear the parties concerned are using that to their advantage.

Residents hit out at Tulloch over their Homes for Heroes ‘ploy’

locals say builders playing emotional card to get scheme support

Published: 03/04/2010

SPEAKING OUT: Chairman of the residents association Gavin Norton says all previous plans have been for houses for profit

The north’s largest developer has been accused of “playing the emotional card” to try to win support for a housing scheme for disabled and injured service personnel.

Tulloch Homes wants to include 12 properties under the Houses for Heroes scheme in its plans for amenity land at Milton of Leys on the south-east edge of Inverness.

Residents have consistently opposed the Inverness-based firm’s proposals to build houses on the land, which has also been earmarked for a care home, nursery, school and shops.

The latest plans drawn up by Tulloch include houses for armed forces veterans, a move residents claim is a “good ploy” to try to win over opponents and Highland Council.

Milton of Leys Residents Association chairman Gavin Norton said: “All previous incarnations of the plans have been for residential houses for profit, not for Houses for Heroes.

“We think they are playing the emotional card by using Houses for Heroes to garner support for a residential development.”

Residents say they are not opposed to ex-service personnel living in the 600-home development, but are campaigning for the houses to be built elsewhere on the estate.

Tulloch Homes chief executive David Sutherland said he was “taken aback” by the opposition and insisted his firm would “certainly not be backtracking” on its decision to allocate land for Houses for Heroes on the amenity site.

Milton of Leys resident Barrie Haycock, who is chairman of the campaign group Planning Watch, said: “I am supportive of building Houses for Heroes, but the issue in Milton of Leys is, now that the link road has been built, Tulloch can build another 300 properties up here, taking the estate up to the original planning consent of 900 homes.

“Houses for Heroes can be built in these areas. Tulloch is using the emotional playing card with this application.”

The Houses for Heroes scheme was established in 2008 after it emerged that 5,000 ex-service personnel were homeless in Britain.

Mr Sutherland said Houses for Heroes planned to build five homes in a first phase within two years.

He said: “We have donated the site for 12 homes at Milton of Leys to Houses for Heroes out of sympathy for young injured servicemen and women, many with young families.

“I’m completely taken aback that the residents’ association has an objection to us housing these people, who have been wounded or suffered disabilities in the service of their country. They should be very proud to have them in their community. In this respect, I certainly don’t think the view is at all representative of the majority of Milton of Leys residents.

“Locating these homes beside the neighbourhood centre meets the charity’s requirements. People with disabilities need to be close to shops and services as often they cannot drive.”

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Feltham Lakes – Concorde Village fiasco hits the headlines

Mar 17th, 2010

by Editor.

5 comments

Green Belt housing scheme promoted by footballers leaves investors in the red

Investors from the Far East have been left without a penny gain in four years after putting money into a “get rich quick” property scheme promoted by two former England football players.

By David Hencke – Telegraph.co.uk
Published: 9:00PM GMT 13 Mar 2010

A marketing campaign fronted by Bryan Robson, the former England captain, and Steve McMahon promised a 250 per cent return in three years if a gravel pit near Heathrow airport was developed for housing and leisure.

However, the site is on green belt land where housing development is banned.

While Profitable Group, the Singapore-based property company behind the scheme, has made at least £47 million from the deal, nothing has yet materialised at the site – not even a planning application to build a single house.

The two former footballers, now living in the Far East, used their celebrity status to market the scheme on television across south-east Asia in 2006.

Profitable changed the name of the tract of land from Lower Feltham Lakes to Concorde Village for the purposes of the marketing drive.

But no development can take place unless a planning inspector can be persuaded to overrule the site’s green belt status against the wishes of Hounslow council, the local planning authority, which firmly opposes building there.

A spokesman for the council said: “We would only develop green belt land if there were very special reasons. We see no special reasons for doing so on this site.”

Profitable, of which Mr McMahon is commercial director, has bought four sites in Britain for a few million pounds and divided them into thousands of tiny plots which have been offered to investors, bringing in tens of millions for the company.

The Feltham site was bought from Taylor Woodrow (now Taylor Wimpey) for £3.2 million, then resold in small plots at £8,000 to £13,000 each to overseas investors, a practice known as “landbanking”.

The sales raised something between £50 million and £55 million. Investors will realise the cash when and if the land is redeveloped.

To try to develop the Feltham site, the company has now brought in two British lobbying and consulting firms to market the scheme and draw up plans for the development.

Chelgate, a Westminster lobbying company, has sought to counter the council’s opposition by devising a public consultation procedure, including the staging of an exhibition with five different ideas to develop the site for housing and leisure, to which 5,500 households were invited.

Chelgate’s deputy chairman is Nick Wood-Dow, an adviser to David Cameron and deputy chairman of the Conservative party’s environment council.

The other company working for Profitable is DLP Planning in Sheffield, which is seeking to make changes to a London-wide land-use plan in a move that would increase Hounslow’s housing target, forcing the borough to accept more new homes within its borders. However, the final plan will not be drawn up until 2012.

Mr Robson told The Sunday Telegraph: “I was paid to do a commercial TV advert to be shown on Singapore TV five years ago for Profitable Plots.

“I have not done anything for them since and I was unaware of any controversy over development of the land.”

Profitable declined to take questions and instead asked Chelgate and DLP Planning to reply on its behalf. Chelgate confirmed that a television campaign featuring the footballers had been used to promote the deal. The advertisement is still on Profitable’s website.

A Chelgate spokesman said: “Circulation of a TV advertisement showing land at Feltham… as offering an estimated return of 250 per cent in three years, was aired for a short period in 2006… such advertising has long since been withdrawn. Investments have been sold on a minimum 7 to 10-year horizon.”

Chelgate also said the company would repay anybody who wanted to drop out of the scheme. Its spokesman added: “No investors in the Lower Feltham land have exercised their right to sell.”

Link to original Telegraph Article

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Towns and Cities – UK Carbuncle awards 2010

Jan 25th, 2010

by Editor.

1 comment

Inverness up for ugly award

The Highland capital is on a shortlist of the UK’s worst eyesores

Inverness has emerged as a surprise contender to be shamed as the country’s most dismal city in the inaugural UK Carbuncle awards.

The Highland capital could earn the dubious honour after a panel of UK architects and designers singled it out for its “monstrous” city centre design and “mushrooming suburban sprawl”.

The awards panel has also nominated Methil, in Fife, for the “hulking Soviet-style” power station that dominates its docks.

Until now, the awards have been open only to Scottish towns and cities, but this year a number of English locations are being suggested as possible winners, including Corby, in Northamptonshire,, Bradford, Sunderland and Salford.

Previous recipients of the unwanted gong include Glenrothes, Coatbridge and the two-time winner Cumbernauld.

As the competition now covers the UK, the title will be even less coveted.

“Inverness has been called the fastest-growing city in Europe but at what price?” said a spokesman for the Carbuncle Awards.

“It has been dubbed ‘Tulloch town’ by critics due to that developer’s dominance over an ever-mushrooming suburban sprawl.

“In addition, the historic centre has been blighted by box-like monstrosities dating back to the 1960s.”

The buildings that caused greatest offence to the panel of judges, which includes Wayne Hemingway, a fashion designer, are the twin concrete tower blocks that dominate the city’s skyline.

One of the edifices previously housed the headquarters of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) but has now been turned into flats. The other houses the offices of the Crofters Commission.

Both structures were exposed to international derision by the American travel writer Bill Bryson in his book Notes From a Small Island.

He described them as “two sensationally ugly modern office buildings that blot the town centre beyond any hope of redemption”.

“They weren’t just ugly and large, but so ill-designed that you could actually walk round them twice without ever finding the front entrance,” he wrote.

While Alex Graham, the deputy provost of Inverness, conceded that the city’s appearance was not perfect, he said it was ridiculous to single it out as one of the ugliest in the UK.

“It is unfortunate we have inherited some particularly unsightly buildings that were put up in the 1960s near the River Ness,” he said.

“Sadly they have spoiled what should be a terrific view of the city’s skyline.

“Despite this, Inverness is an attractive city with tremendous charm and we have recently spent £7m transforming the old town.

“The population has continued to grow throughout the recession and that just wouldn’t happen if it really was a dismal place to live.”

Professor James Hunter, a former chief executive of HIE, said that urban planners were to blame for the city’s poor appearance. “Inverness has the great natural advantage of having a dramatic, fast-flowing river going right through the middle of it,” he said.

“However, planners seemed to turn their back on it and even today not enough is being done to capitalise on it.”

Hunter, who is director of the UHI’s history department, described his former workplace and its sister building as “completely horrible and repulsive”.

While the judging panel said Methil had suffered from decades of deindustrialisation, Arthur Robertson, an SNP councillor in the Fife town, said measures were being taken to arrest its decline.

“The power plant is not the most attractive of buildings, but it is planned to be removed in the very near future,” he said. “We are working hard on regenerating the seafront and I’m confident the negative headlines will be reversed in years to come.”

John Glenday, of Urban Realm, the architectural magazine that runs the Carbuncle Awards, rebutted criticism that they were too negative, insisting that they were a “force for good and a real motivator for change”.

“Our agenda is not to kick a town when it’s down, but to offer constructive help and advice,” he said. “We want to help turn cities around and for them to use the Carbuncles as a springboard for future growth.”

Glenday also denied that the awards tended to single out poor communities.

“The point is to highlight locations which have potential that local leaders are failing to exploit,” he said.

“Truly depressing places are the ones stifled by a lack of attention, creativity and ambition.”

Members of public are being invited to nominate their contenders for the award. The winner will be decided by public vote later this year.

Salford, in Greater Manchester, was nominated for its “placelessness” and grim tower blocks, Corby for its mishandled attempts at regeneration and Sunderland for failing to stop a “steady drain” of facilities and people to nearby Newcastle.

Bradford was chosen after plans for a new shopping precinct were aborted, leaving a muddy cavity in the heart of the city centre.

Last year’s winner was the Fife new town of Glenrothes, which was lambasted for its “drab and dismal” centre and “woeful” 1980s shopping centre.

Link to original article – Timesonline

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Architects and designers include highland capital in nominations for 2010 carbuncle awards

Jan 25th, 2010

by Editor.

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Inverness in the running to become UK’s ugliest city

By Iain Ramage – Press and Journal

Published: 25/01/2010

The Highland capital is a contender to be named the UK’s ugliest city. A panel of architects and designers included Inverness in the nominations for the UK-wide Carbuncle Awards.

It makes the list for the “monstrous” design of the city centre and “mushrooming suburban sprawl”.

Cumbernauld, Glenrothes and Coatbridge are among past recipients of the award, which used to be restricted to Scotland.

People in Inverness greeted the nomination with a mixture of anger and acceptance last night.

An awards spokesman said the Highland capital had been dubbed “Tulloch town” by some critics due to the local developer’s dominance and highlighted earlier “box-like monstrosities” in the city centre.

There was a degree of acceptance of the criticism yesterday – but optimism that things would change.

City provost Jimmy Gray said: “The 1960s Bridge Street buildings are probably not the most attractive, but to say Inverness is anywhere near the ugliest in the UK is utter nonsense. Most people who visit think it’s an extremely attractive place.”

His deputy, Alex Graham, agreed, insisting Inverness was an attractive city with tremendous charm.

Local SNP councillor John Finnie was equally surprised.

He offered to escort panel members around the city to show them “the many wonderful historic sites” Inverness has to offer.

Labour councillor John Holden said the council had inherited a lot of poorly designed buildings but had attempted to redress that.

Barrie Haycock, of local pressure group Planning Watch, said it was only a matter of time before Inverness was singled out for such an award. He said: “Unfortunately, Highland Council seems to have adopted a policy of chasing planning gain monies rather than developing integrated communities for the benefit of those who choose to live in the area.”

He added that millions of pounds were spent on the Inverness Streetscape project while surrounding streets remained pockmarked with decaying buildings.

Inverness South community council member Liz Gilchrist added: “In the haste to make Inverness a city, it has been developed into a sprawling mass, losing its identity.”

Thomas Prag, another Lib Dem city councillor, disputed the carbuncle tag but urged planners and colleagues to be more imaginative.

He said: “A lot of estates were built in a hurry because the demand was there. But we’re beginning to put that right and the Housing Expo is a hugely positive sign that we now know better.”

Urban Realm, the architectural magazine behind the awards, promotes the event as “a force for good and a real motivator” to transform cities. The winner will be decided by public vote.

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Highland Housing Fair – Scotland’s Housing Expo – 2009 – 2010 – 2011 or Never?

Nov 18th, 2009

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Taxpayers may face Housing Expo bill in the event of cancellation

Council chief makes clear public will pick up the tab if event does not go ahead

By jonny muir – Press and Journal

Published: 16/11/2009

The taxpayer will pick up the tab if a multimillion-pound exhibition showcasing environmentally friendly homes is cancelled, it has emerged.

Scotland’s Housing Expo is due to be held at Balvonie Braes, Inverness, in August 2010, but contingency plans have been prepared in case the event is abandoned or delayed.

In a report to councillors, Geoff Robson, Highland Council’s head of environment and development, said cancellation would lead to the liquidation of the Expo company, with “any outstanding debts being met from public sector resources”.

Identified risks that could lead to postponement of the 55-home event, which has already been delayed by a year, include failure to complete houses on time, low ticket sales or insufficient sponsorship.

Expo board chairman Jean Urquhart yesterday predicted “success, not disaster” and said a risk assessment had to be prepared to “reassure all our partners in the event of disaster”.

She said the prospect of cancellation was “simply not being contemplated”, but conceded there was a chance that the homes might not all be completed in time.

Despite the assurance, there were calls at the weekend to scrap the event, believed to be costing about £5million, to avoid it becoming a “white elephant”.

Barrie Haycock, a member of Inverness South Community Council, said: “There would be uproar from everybody if the event had to be cancelled.

“That money could have built a new school in Milton of Leys.”

Questioning the Expo’s potential to generate a budgeted £180,000 in ticket sales, he added: “Where they think these people are going to come from – given that large annual exhibitions with free admission are held in Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and London – is a mystery to anyone who has an understanding of marketing.”

Liz Gilchrist, who sits on a community liaison group of councillors, Expo representatives, residents and ward managers, said organisers had been upbeat about the event’s prospects at their last meeting on October 14.

She said: “They were very positive and hoping to get the site up and running by April. The public sector is already peeved at cuts, and having to carry the can for this would rub salt in the wound.”

Inverness South councillor John Holden added: “There is a great danger of it not happening, and I fear the public purse will have to pay for what is someone’s badly thought-out dream.”

In a report to Wednesday’s planning, environment and development committee, Mr Robson said the Expo would be promoted by a 10-month travelling exhibition.

Budget forecasts indicate that, as well as generating £180,000 from ticket sales, the Expo must make £80,000 from sponsorship, £27,000 from parking charges and £20,000 from brochure sales.

The Expo, previously called the Highland Housing Fair, aims to showcase modern low-energy housing designs, stimulate the wider use of timber construction and promote the “creativity and quality of lifestyle” in the Highlands.

Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1484194#ixzz0XCmXpbQn

Planning Watch pictures of the forlorn and neglected site taken on 15th November 2009:

Entrance to the site

No evidence of house building commencement

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Companies House: Greenbelt Group Ltd – Status: Active – Proposal to Strike off

Nov 10th, 2009

by Editor.

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Greenbelt Group Ltd., face new threat, with Companies House public records now indicating that there is a proposal to strike off the company, presumed due to failure to file accounts.

Companies House records detailed below indicate that accounts should have been filed no later than 30th July 2009.

In a meeting attended by the Editor of Planning Watch UK, in a private capacity, with Neil Cameron of Tulloch Homes and Richard Hartland, Head of Planning, Highland Council, on Thursday last, Mr Middleton, Managing Director Greenbelt Group Ltd., continued to state that it was business as usual, giving no indication of the threat to the Greenbelt Group Ltd., company.

Thousands of home owners throughout the UK are tied to maintenance contracts with this company, put in place by developers and signed off by council planning authorites as “fit for purpose”, with both UK and Scottish Government continuing to refuse to put consumer protection regulations in place demanded by home owners.

Complaints have been made to Trading Standards, a number of Police Forces, numerous Members of Parliament, both MP’s and MSP’s and directly to the Minister for Community Safety, Fergus Ewing MSP.

In Scotland, the Scottish Government have indicated that they seem to think that the Maintenance industry concerned should regulate itself and the Office of Fair Trading continues to sit on the fence, despite receiving numerous complaints from many different areas of the UK.

Surely it is now time for MP’s and MSP’s to collectively take action to represent the electorate who have elected representataives to protect the interests of their communities?

Editor

Notes:

Fergus Ewing MSP – Scottish National Party

Fergus Ewing MSP – Scottish Government bio:

Fergus was first elected in 1999 as the MSP for Inverness East Nairn and Lochaber. He was re-elected in 2003 and again in the 2007 elections. Prior to being elected he ran his own law practice and developed SNP policy on small business as well as serving on the national executive of the SNP.

He is the son of Winnie, formerly the MSP for Highlands and Islands and MEP for Scotland, and brother of Annabelle, formerly MP for Perth.

His constituency is the second largest in Scotland, and is about 5 times larger than greater London which has around 90 MPs. Fergus campaigns on a wide variety of matters of vital importance to the area.
He seeks to represent everyone, irrespective of their own political views, and is keen to try to offer help to all constituents when they seek it.

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Herald Scotland:

Closure looms for land firm over late accounts

West Myerton housing development where Greenbelt was contracted to maintain the open spaces

Exclusive – Chris Watt – Published on 7 Nov 2009

A controversial land management firm embroiled in thousands of disputes across Scotland has been threatened with closure, The Herald has learned.

Glasgow-based Greenbelt Group Ltd has been warned by Companies House that it will be struck off if it doesn’t produce its overdue accounts.

The firm failed to file records for 2006-07 by the July 2009 deadline, and it could now have its assets seized and handed to the state if it doesn’t comply. The registrar has formally proposed to strike off the firm, freezing its bank accounts and transferring all assets to the Crown.

Greenbelt managing director Alex Middleton said the outstanding documentation had been sent to Companies House, but he claimed that “it may have been delayed by the postal dispute”.

Sources close to the company told The Herald that Greenbelt had faced problems with its auditors, one of whom had resigned its position after disagreements over accounts.

However, Mr Middleton strenuously denied the difficulties, and insisted: “There is no question of the company being struck off.”

Greenbelt has been subject to thousands of complaints from councils, businesses and homeowners since it was incorporated in 1999, and a UK-wide campaign group now lists complaints from more than 130 housing estates.

The firm, originally established in the public sector by bodies including Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and Scottish Enterprise, was recently criticised for its work at the Black Cart Water, near Glasgow Airport, where it was paid £170,000 to maintain the area as a whooper swan reserve.

Greenbelt has since sold the SSSI to a local farmer at profit, without passing on grant money.

The firm has also been accused of failing homeowners who are tied into contracts for it to manage shared areas on housing estates. Aberdeenshire Council received so many complaints about work paid for but not completed that it wrote to developers urging them not to use Greenbelt.

Article website link

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Greenbelt Group Action

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Companies House Search:

Company Details – Name & Registered Office:
GREENBELT GROUP LIMITED
ABBOTSFORD HOUSE
ABBOTSFORD PLACE
GLASGOW
G5 9SS
Company No. SC192378

Status: Active – Proposal to Strike off
Date of Incorporation: 04/01/1999
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC(03)):
9305 – Other service activities
Accounting Reference Date: 30/09
Last Accounts Made Up To: 30/09/2007 (SMALL)
Next Accounts Due: 30/07/2009 OVERDUE
Last Return Made Up To: 01/02/2009
Next Return Due: 01/03/2010
Last Members List: 01/02/2009

Previous Names:
Date of change:
8/04/2003
THE GREENBELT GROUP OF COMPANIES LIMITED
10/05/1999
COMLAW NO. 495 LIMITED

**************

General Companies House Information:

You could be penalised up to £5000 if you fail to send us your Annual Accounts by the due date.

And if you are late filing your Annual Return as well, your company may be struck off and you could face a criminal charge.

Winding up a company
A company may be wound up voluntarily if it cannot pay its creditors. It may also be wound up by order of the court on the petition of a creditor. In either case, relevant documents need to be sent to Companies House.

The following guidance is provided to help you understand how to wind up a company and the legal requirements that you must adhere to.

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Major new homes plan reconsidered – South West region of England

Sep 25th, 2009

by Editor.

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Some 29,623 homes would need to be built in the region annually

The government has announced it is to rethink controversial plans to build more than half a million new homes in the South West region of England.

The Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West (RSSSW) proposed 592,460 new homes to meet official predictions of housing needs for the next 20 years.

But the plans have met with significant opposition.

The government now says it wants to ensure the RSSSW is the “most sustainable way forward”.

Negative response

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Government Office for the South West (GOSW) had hoped to sign off the plan by June of this year.

But in May the High Court ruled it had not considered “reasonable alternatives” to some proposals in the South East of England.

And officials have acknowledged they have been influenced by the “unprecedented level” of opposition.

Some 35,000 responses were received during the RSSSW public consultation – the majority negative.

A GOSW statement said it would now carry out a new appraisal to ensure the current blueprints “represent the most sustainable way forward for the region”.

‘Partial victory’

Chris Pope, co-chairman of the Dundry Residents Action Group, which campaigns against building on greenbelt land in North Somerset, said: “In some ways I view this as a partial victory.

“We’ve always questioned the government’s figures.

“Their expectations of population growth seem extortionately high.

“But from our point of view, the problem has not gone away.”

The results are not expected to come in before early next year.

Ministers will then have to decide whether to scale down the South West’s housing targets.

Link to original BBC article

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Pollphail at Portavadie ‘Ghost village’ to be demolished

Jun 23rd, 2009

by Editor.

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A village built in Argyll to meet the demands of the UK oil boom of the 1970s but abandoned without ever being occupied is set for a new role.

Pollphail at Portavadie was to house workers needed to construct concrete oil rigs, but the plan was abandoned.

The site’s owner Alan Bradley said changes would start to be seen within a year as demolition clears the area for the first of 270 new properties.

The “ghost village” revamp has been in the planning process for nine years.

Mr Bradley said it could be five to 10 years before the redevelopment was completed.

Previous owners of the site on the Cowal Peninsula have included the failed bank, BCCI.

Craig Anderson
BBC Scotland

This is one of the most bizarre places I’ve visited in Scotland – and I’ve been to a few.

Keys still dangle on a board waiting for tenants who would never arrive. Coat hangers remain in cupboards and rusting washing machines stand idle, dreaming of their first spin cycle.

It’s easy to write off the whole Portavadie development as a madcap government white elephant.

Yet the early 1970s were pioneering days for the fledgling UK oil industry and the government of the day would have been heavily criticised had it failed to grasp the nettle and provide construction facilities.

Had industry preferences been different, Portavadie might have become as important as Ardersier, Nigg and Methil, where thousands of workers built oil rigs and platforms for a generation.

With a top quality marina now open and plans to redevelop Pollphail village, some of that hoped-for prosperity may now be arriving by a different route.

The village – big enough to house 500 people – was built along with a dry dock as the UK government rushed to cash in on North Sea oil.

Similar yards were created at Nigg in Easter Ross and Whiteness, near Ardersier, in the Highlands.

Argyll and Bute councillor Bruce Marshall said the potential work for Portavadie dried up before the workers could arrive on site.

He said: “The houses were built, but the whole thing fell through and concrete oil rigs were no longer the flavour of the month.

“For the past 35 years these houses have been inhabited by sheep and bats and just fallen into disrepair.”

The dry dock, meanwhile, has been turned into a marina.

Local photographer Philippa Elliott has documented the derelict site in a series of photographs.

Her images include a rack of door keys hanging disused and rusting washing machines.

She said some locals believed Pollphail was actually built as a military base on par with Faslane on the Clyde, but other suggestions for what the site was to be used for differ “depending on who you talked to”.

Putting it to use for the construction of concrete rigs was always the last idea offered, the photographer said.

Efforts are also being made to breathe new life into the yards in the Highlands.

Government ministers have been urged to take a greater interest in efforts to put Nigg back into business.

Renewable energy

Highland Council has asked Enterprise Minister Jim Mather to chair a meeting discussing the future of Nigg.

It has also pressed Secretary of State Jim Murphy to encourage the UK Government to become involved.

Potential roles for the site include using it in the construction of renewable energy devices.

At Whiteness, situated on the shores of the Moray Firth, 2,000 homes are planned along with recreation, leisure and fitness facilities.

A marina for yachts and other craft would also be built.

The site’s life as a construction yard ended in 2002 when owners J Ray McDermott closed it down following almost 30 years of activity.

At its height, there were more than 3,000 workers employed there.

BBC article link

Secret Scotland

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Greenbelt Group – Policy on open spaces unresolved

Jun 19th, 2009

by Editor.

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Mixed response on maintenance move

Policy on open spaces unresolved

By Leanna MacLarty – Press and Journal

EFFORTS by Aberdeenshire Council to prevent a land maintenance company from gaining control of public open spaces has received a mixed response from housing developers.

The local authority wrote to all big developers in the north-east asking them to reconsider transferring land to the Greenbelt Group.

Councillors backed the move after the private firm received a string of complaints from Aberdeenshire residents about the quality of work being carried out.

Housing firms were asked to reconsider any agreement with the Greenbelt firm and discuss management of the land with the council instead.

Only seven of the 19 firms responded to the council, members of the infrastructure services committee heard yesterday.

One unnamed developer was happy to opt for local authority control but another raised concerns about the level of red tape and lack of resources that may be involved.

Councillors agreed that policy on the management of open space should be included in the upcoming local development plan which is currently out for consultation.

The local authority will have the opportunity to bid for maintenance contracts for public open spaces.

If a developer chooses not to work with the council, a bond must be lodged against satisfactory completion of landscaping work.

A letter from Greenbelt managing director Alex Middleton acknowledged a problem with services last year and says that issues have been rectified.

“There is a group of residents intent on fighting Greenbelt but there is also a majority of residents satisfied with our arrangement,” he continues.

“Some of the land which has been in question does not even belong to Greenbelt and therefore Greenbelt is wrongly being accused of not undertaking its responsibilities.”

Head of planning and environmental services Christine Gore rejected the firm’s concerns about the “anti-competitive nature” of the council’s efforts.

“All we are saying is the council should be given the opportunity to bid for the work,” she said.

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1269566

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Probe call over North Lanarkshire council land deal

Jun 16th, 2009

by Editor.

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The land at the centre of the controversy

The land at the centre of the affair currently has a golf course on it

A council is set to launch an internal inquiry amid fears that millions of pounds have been lost through insider trading over a land deal.

North Lanarkshire Council sold 84 acres of land near Cumbernauld.

But the day after the new owners assumed control, the land was rezoned for housing, causing its value to soar.

In a confidential report obtained by BBC Scotland, the council said there had been a lack of transparency over property deals it had conducted.

The land involved in the controversial deal, which lies close to Palacerigg Country Park, was originally zoned for leisure use and currently has a golf driving range and nine hole course on it.

A company called Multi Link Leisure had been leasing it from the council under an agreement that included an option to buy.

The company opted to exercise the right to buy on 8 October 2008 – before the land was rezoned for housing under the council’s Local Plan the following day.

BBC Scotland understands the value of the land is now estimated at between £5m and £10m.

The affair led to fears that someone in the council may have passed information informing Multi Link Leisure that the land was about to rezoned.

The deal is now at the centre of a legal battle after the council attempted to either have it struck down or renegotiated.

As a result of the Palacerigg deal, the council commissioned a review group to look at number of other land deals involving the council.

The review group’s report said: “Concerns were raised about the ability to identify a clear audit trail for some decisions and recommendations being made and which officers were involved at each stage”.

It also called for a review of both the people and procedures involved in the Property Services Department, and added: “This review should be carried out as a matter of urgency”.

A spokesman for North Lanarkshire Council said it would be “inappropriate to comment” because of the ongoing legal action.

Multi Link Leisure, which has their registered office at a lawyer’s firm on Douglas Street in Glasgow, did not respond to telephone calls or e-mails from BBC Scotland.

Link to BBC article

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Donald Trump using bully tactics, claims Aberdeenshire estate resident

Jun 15th, 2009

by Editor.

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Homeowner refuses to sell to make way for tycoon’s golf resort

By Gillian Bell – Press and Journal

DEFIANT David Milne is refusing to sell his Hermit Point home to the Trump Organisation.
The angry homeowner lives in the middle of Donald Trump’s Aberdeenshire estate and has accused the tycoon of using “bullying” tactics.

David Milne, 44, who lives at Hermit Point, is a former coastguard lookout at Menie Links, which has views of the billionaire’s north-east empire.

The house and land is one of a number of plots Mr Trump has said he needs to produce the “best possible design” for the £1billion project.

The Trump Organisation recently submitted a planning application to add five privately-owned plots to his golf resort, which includes Mr Milne’s house and land.

He said: “He’s been a real pain in many ways, the most recent one is this application for planning permission on my land. It may be legally acceptable to apply for planning permission on someone else’s land, and in certain cases it’s understandable.”

But he said the move, coupled with the potential use of compulsory purchase – raised by Aberdeenshire Council in a briefing note to members – is “immoral, unethical and a bullying tactic”.

He said he has had “practically no contact” with the organisation, apart from a “derisory” offer for his home in 2007 for a sum which would have bought him a “two-bedroom flat in Dyce”, and a recent letter to tell him the organisation was applying for planning permission for his land, which said if he wanted to sell he was to phone.

But the HSE consultant insisted last night he would not sell to Mr Trump “under any circumstances”. He said he has invested 17 years of his life in Hermit Point, which he converted from a former coastguard station into his home, which he shares with his wife, Moira.

The Menie resort project director Neil Hobday said he has sent Mr Milne an invitation to talk to the team and stressed the door was “always open”. He dismissed claims the Trump Organisation was using immoral, unethical and bullying tactics as “inaccurate on all counts”.

And he added: “The mechanism for compulsory purchase exists but we very much hope we won’t get to that.”

Mr Trump’s aide, George Sorial, said Mr Milne’s assertions were “disingenuous” and talk of compulsory purchase “very premature”. “We did make offers in the past, which were based on market value,” added Mr Sorial.

The council has said it would expect applicants to have exhausted “every possible opportunity open to them” before it would require to consider compulsory purchase powers.

The golf resort would include two championship golf courses, a hotel, 500 homes and 950 holiday homes north of the beach on the Menie Estate.

Editors comment:

Councillors who voted for this Trump development need to seriously consider how they can justify representing the interests of the community in this planning fiasco – a sign of the times…

Bottom line… It will be interesting to see just how much economic benefit will result to local residents and businesses from this development.

No doubt any profits will be used elsewhere in the globe and not for the direct benefit of Scotland or Scottish tax payers.

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Campaign Success – Go Ape drops Pollok Park, Glasgow, treetop park plans

Jun 13th, 2009

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The plans would have seen treetop walkways and zip slides

Campaigners succeed as controversial plans to build a treetop adventure playground in Pollok Park in Glasgow abandoned.

The Go Ape facility was given the go-ahead by dotty Glasgow councillors last year, despite a large campaign against it.

Now the firm behind the adventure course in the park’s north wood, behind the Burrell Collection, is pulling out.

Glasgow City Council has called it a “major disappointment” but the Save Pollok Park group said it was delighted with the move.

The proposed Go Ape adventure play area would have seen platforms and zip slides placed in the trees near the Burrell Collection.

Our main objective was to secure an additional attraction for park users

Robert Booth
Glasgow City Council

In March 2008, members of the planning committee at Glasgow City Council voted in favour of the plan after a special meeting and visit to the site.

Despite a continued campaign from objectors, the Scottish National Party Government decided it would not issue any restriction or call in the plan.

The scheme was referred to Scottish ministers because the council had a financial interest in the scheme.

Go Ape are understood to have now decided the venture would be too expensive to pursue.

Inquiry call

Robert Booth, Glasgow City Council’s executive director of land services, said: “Obviously we regret Go Ape’s decision not to proceed with their facility at Pollok Park.

“Our main objective was to secure an additional attraction for park users at no cost or financial risk to the council.”

Save Pollok Park campaign said it was “delighted” with the decision of Go Ape to abandon its plans.

A spokesman added: “However, the council’s failure to consult and respond to the real legal and operational issues resulted in over two years of unnecessary work and a waste of taxpayers’ money which could have been avoided.”

“We call for a detailed inquiry into the council’s futile posturing and mishandling of the Go Ape affair.”

Campaign Information Background:

We are a group of park users and many others (over 5000 signatures) who are concerned about Glasgow City Council’s proposal to give a 21 years lease covering a large part of the North Wood of Pollok Park to Adventure Forest Ltd to develop a “GO APE ” facility

Go Ape and Glasgow Council are bogged down in a legal mess

It is now established that Pollok Park ( and Knowehead Lodge ) are part of the Common Good and they will haveto go to court to remove them

This will cost either Glasgow Council tax payers or Go Ape tens of thousands of pounds – and legal precedents are such that it is likely they will lose (and the case could take several years)

The NTS has not yet given its required consent for the proposals as they presently stand. The dicussions to use Knowehead Lodge have got nowhere

There is no chance of a lease being signed in time for the Go Ape proposed start date of 2010. If one is signed now it will be subject to a legal challenge

It is clear that Glasgow Councillors (and Go Ape) contiune to be misled by Land Services

We suspect they are all now trying to find a way to wriggle out of this without accepting that they have made a total mess – no doubt they will try to put the blame on the 5000 objetors and those of us who have been telling them since 2007 that they got it wrong in the first place

Oposition to Go Ape’s agressive tactics and flouting of local agreements is growing across UK

Go Ape and Glagow Council thought we would just go away- but we have shown that we undestand the legal status of Pollok Park better than them – and contiuue to win round many politicians at local and national level through our reasoned arguments and independent legal opinions . We are stronger than ever .

The Council , Go Ape and its PR company have produced no counter arguments or evidence to what we have been saying – in fact Go Ape tried to libel us in the press (Oct 2008) - a tactic which back fired as nobody believed them and made Glasgow people even more angry

So watch this space

UNDER PRESURE GLASGOW COUNCIL HAS FINALLY CONCEDED THAT POLLOK PARK BELONGS TO US – IT PART OF THE COMMON GOOD

IT CANNOT BE LEASED WITHOUT A COURT ORDER AND ANY INCOME BELONGS TO THE COMMON GOOD AND NOT COUNCIL SERVICES

WE SAY THAT AS IT WAS A GIFT TO US IN PERPETUITY WE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY FOR THE USE OF ANY PART OF IT

It is now officially established that the Park belongs to us – we have a right to use it freely without hindrance or cost as the people of Glasgow have been doing for over half a century - it is inalienable. Depite this the Council and Go Ape are still pursuing the idea of fencing off areas ( for example the land on the right of this photo identified as the Go Ape ” training area” ) and charging us £25 to go into it

I have been using the Pollok Park since I was knee high, and have been out running and walking in the park early morning very frequently over the last few weeks, and have been regularly spotting groups of six to eight deer grazing in the very spot that Go Ape propose to masacre. These deer have probably already been trapped within the park due to motorway and continuing developments around the park, but if Go Ape were to go ahead these deer will have a substantial amount of their habitat taken away. I can’t describe what an amazing site it is to see these deer and it elates me every time to see such beautiful wildlife so close to home. I am very much saddened by the fact that Glasgow Council disregard such an asset to the park and just want to fill their greedy pockets by collaborating with whoever it takes, they seem to have no shame.
I am 32 years young and would like to have enjoyed this park just the way it is, it’s a ‘little piece of peace’ just moments away from the hustle and bustle of the secular world

We exposed Glasgow Council’s flawed public consultation process, their cavalier treatment towards the National Trust for Scotland and that the Council and Go Ape’s statements that they would only come to Pollok Park if the people of Glasgow wanted them as a con

We exposed the the fact that Councillors were misled when they approved the proposal in 2007 – because they were not told of the legal agreement in place which mean that NTS consent is needed to certain developments – nor were they told that Pollok Park is Common Good Land – it cannot be alianated and anyway the projected commercial deal to raise money for Council services is a non-starter

We exposed the “offer ” by Go Ape of 450 free places to Glasgow schoolchildren as a con – head teachers were not asked if they would agree to the health and safety requirements or to virtually shutting schools down to enable enough teachers to accompany the pupils- we did ask and we have not found one school who said they would take up the “offer”

We have exposed the poverty of the planning application- the lack of public toilets, no parking survey was done, no study of the flora to be affected was done, the less than truthful assertion that ” we would have to look up to notice anything at all ” the visual and noise pollution of the fences and zip wires in an area of national landscape importance . Despite this 14 Councillors voted through the application – but now the Council has recognised the flaws and is trying to get round them – see News and Updates

We rallied over 5000 signatures , held public meetings of 700+ and a vigil of 1000 people . We have shown that we are not a small group of “NIMBYs but people from all over Glasgow and beyond who value the gift to the “Nation and the Citizens of Glasgow “ that is Pollok Park and are determined to safeguard it as it was intended even if the Council seems to have abandoned its obligations under the terms of the original gift

We have supported other campaigns in UK fighting GoApe proposals in equally unsuitable sites and exposed that they cannot be trusted – eg they have illegally felled trees in Chorley

Save Pollok Park supporters in Feb 2008 on the occasion of Pollok Park being awarded “European Best Park”

1000 people turned out to a silent vigil – to mark the site of the Go Ape development (we could only mark part of it) - here is the proposed site of a 120 metre mechanical slide across an area created by the Maxwell family in the 18th century, described by Scottish Natural Heritage as of National Landcape importance, home to several roe deer, and gifted to the city ” to be preserved in its orginal state. Go Ape says ” we will have to look up to notice anything at all”

See News and Updates for result of a debate with Glasgow Scouts and young people from Greater Pollok

See News and Updates for news of a campaign similar to SPP in Lancashire

See News and Updates

Find out why this will make the Council’s attempt to use money from Go Ape for Land Services unlawful - and what you can do about it - Go to The Common Good section of this website

Another successful public meeting on 28th October heard expert views affirm that Pollok Park is part of the Common Good of Glasgow and confirm our views on the Legal Agreements – See News and Updates for Details

Almost 300 people attended the meeting on 28th October at Pollokshaws Burgh Hall- they unanimously endorsed 2 new resolutions

A separate meeting was also held on 28th Oct to start the setting up of a Friends of Pollok Park

The National Trust for Scotland has publicly re- affirmed its opposition to the present proposal for the Go Ape development although at persent it remains neutral on possible alternative suitable sites in Pollok Park - Go to news and Updates for Details

An Archaeological dig has just finished on the Go Ape Site – see News and Updates for more details

A lovely view of Pollok illustrating why people feel that we need to conserve it as was intended in the gift to the people of Glasgow – as a country estate – and not an urban theme park - sent in by supporter Christopher S. Walton (thanks)

Cick on this Link to Gerry Fletcher’s website which has additional photos and videos (with sound ) of the Park and of some of Save Pollok Park’s actions to date

http://www.gerflet.co.uk/savepollokpark2008/

A packed meeting of 200 people vowed to continue to challenge the proposal . Representatives of 4 political parties were there- all of whom gave their support – Nicola Surgeon, the constituency MSP spoke as did Jackson Carlow MSP and Patrick Harvie MSP. Others were Robert Brown MSP and Bashir Ahmed MSP. Glasgow Councillors Danny Alderslowe and Paul Colsehill also spoke and Cllrs David Meikle , George Roberts and Margo Clark were there in support of the next stage which is to persuade Scottish Ministers to call in the application and overturn the Glasgow Council planning decision

THE REAL FIGHT TO SAVE OUR PARKS HAS JUST BEGUN – our main strength is in our numbers- already over 5000 petition signatures Can we all be wrong?

To find out more about what is proposed go to The Development
To find why we think it is a bad deal for Glasgow go to The Proposed Lease
To find out about why Pollok is unique go to Historic Pollok
To see photos of Go Ape and of the areas of the Park it will affect go to Photos- Go Ape/Park
News and Updates includes some new and older pieces of news of the campaign

Here is a mock up of a the Zip wire going across the Glade – a Conservation Area and designed landscape of national importance (Historic Scotland)-and yet Go Ape says it will have little impact and ” we will have to look up to notice anything at all” - are these people serious?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD3FFT-Qt1Q

http://www.vimeo.com/1232652

A soundtracked slide show of the Planning Commmitte’s visit to the Park on 25th March – thanks to Geery Fletcher (and Joan Baez – make sure you turn your speakers on)

http://cid-07bf495138080875.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/SPP/080414%20Save%20Country%20Park%20%202008%20by%20Gerry%20Fletcher.wmv

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
Put ‘em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see em
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got-till its gone
Joni Mitchell – Big Yellow Taxi- written in 1970 but the message is timeless

Pollok Park was gifted by the Maxwell family in 1969 “for the enjoyment of the citizens of Glasgow” and the “enhancement of the beauty of the neighbourhood” This development will restrict the use and enjoyment of parts of North Wood to ordinary users, walkers etc

It will cost £25 per adult and £20 for a teenager to use – that is not the meaning of the word “Gift”

There are agreements in place form 1939 and 1969 with the Maxwell family and National Trust – they have to be consulted and if they say no – then the Council cannot do this. Representatives of the family and the National Trust have formally objected – so why has the Council told the Company to put in a planning application?

The red lines mark are the activity areas with some fenced off bits adn zip wires – but the planning application area is the whole area within the yellow line – there is no guarantee that these sites may not move over the next 21 years – and we believe there is evidence that the sound of users and zip wires will carry across much of it. The blue dots mark the 2 new buildings – the Burrell Museum is botttom right- this area is 30% of North Wood and 50% of North wood outside the mountain bike track area

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An Camas Mòr – A new town by Aviemore which could eventually become home to up to 4,000 people is a “done deal”.

Jun 10th, 2009

by Editor.

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Fears over ‘done deal’ town

June, 2009

CLAIMS have been made that plans for a new town by Aviemore which could eventually become home to up to 4,000 people is a “done deal”.

The remark made by Mr Robert Maund, chairman of the Scottish Campaign for National Parks, came a day after the Scottish Government revealed An Camas Mòr had been chosen as one of 11 “exemplar” low-carbon communities of the future backed by £400,000 of public money.

Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Nicola Sturgeon said the communities would lead the way in the drive to make Scotland greener and healthier.

Mr Maund highlighted his concern that the cart was being put before the horse at the public inquiry into the Cairngorms National Park Local Plan.

It allocates land for the first phase of the new community on Rothiemurchus Estate which is expected to comprise 1,500 homes by 2028.

Mr Maund said: “I was concerned when I read about Nicola Sturgeon announcing that – it could compromise this hearing and the outcome of it.

“Here we have a Local Plan which is the subject of a hearing with nothing approved, we have a planning application for the development come in a couple of days ago and pretty much the same day the Minister stands up and says this is one of 11 schemes the government is putting £400,000 into to further the aims of the Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative.

“I wonder if I should just go home and do some gardening and put in an application for costs.

“At every level judgements seem to be being made in advance of the Reporter’s recommendations to the park authority.

“It is as if it is a done deal and that would be very worrying for the planning process and for the democratic process.”

Mr Maund asked for “some kind of reassurance” from Reporter Jill Moody leading the hearing on An Camas Mòr that Ms Sturgeon’s announcement would not colour proceedings.

She responded: “I can say in absolute honesty that I have not a clue about any announcement by Nicola Sturgeon.”

Ms Moody said that her involvement was “absolutely objective” and she would be applying “normal planning judgement”.

The SSCI encourages the creation of places which are designed and built to last, where a high quality of life can be achieved and which demonstrate how to reduce ecological footprints.

Other winning exemplar projects include Craigmillar, Edinburgh, PARC Craigmillar; Lochgelly, Fife, Fife Council; Maryhill Locks, Glasgow, Glasgow Canal Regeneration Partnership and Tornagrain, near Inverness, Moray Estates Commenting on them, Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Government was committed to creating an enduring legacy of high quality, distinctive new places.

“The projects selected include innovative design and building principles but they also promote environmental solutions which communities across Scotland can adopt.

“It is vital for our long term economic and social success that we create communities which provide new homes in the right place, of the right type and which contribute to reducing energy demand and impact on the environment.”

Moving Aviemore across the River Spey was first mooted at a meeting of the village’s community council in 1989.

Speaking at the public inquiry on Thursday, Mr Don McKee, the national park’s head of planning, said: “The park authority has acknowledged that An Camas Mòr is different. It is a new community in a national park and presents both a challenge and an opportunity.”

Explaining the need for the site to be allocated for housing, he said: “We are trying to respect the character of the established communities. We have reached a point where we can no longer add infinitum to the volume of housing. It is increasingly difficult to justify.”

He added that An Camas Mòr could be developed in a co-ordinated way: “This will relieve some of the pressure on other communities but we will be looking at them on an on-going basis to ensure that they remain viable.”

However, Dr Gus Jones, chairman of the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group, claimed An Camas Mòr was unsustainable and would seriously damage the natural heritage. “This development within a National Scenic Area has long been viewed as unacceptable,” he said after the hearing. “Apparent ministerial support seems to be based on wishful thinking that ignores widespread opposition.

“Realistically the last thing the Cairngorms National Park needs is another flawed and over-ambitious development, especially one riding roughshod over landscape, conservation and significant community interests.

Mr Johnnie Grant, owner of Rothiemurchus Estate and applicant for the development, said An Camas Mòr was subject to an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and well-supported by planning policy.

He commented: “As there are more than 1,000 pages of detailed work to be understood and the proposal is to be tested against pages of planning policies it is very far fetched to describe it as a ‘done deal’.

“There is an immense amount of work to be carried out by a wide range of hard working, qualified and experienced public officials. “Furthermore the granting of outline consent would be only the start of the consent process.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said of the “done deal” claims: “The awarding of the SSCI status to a project by the Scottish Government is completely separate from the process of planning approval.

“The Scottish Government is supportive of the SSCI exemplar projects in their vision to create sustainable communities.

“All proposals have to go through the relevant planning process and SSCI exemplar status does not in any way influence or compromise this process or the considerations of the local authority.”

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Rob Gibson MSP calls for talks with HIE over £100,000 controversy

May 22nd, 2009

by Editor.

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TROUBLED business development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) must review its procedures if an internal investigation finds rules were broken when approving £100,000 of work to its chairman’s own company, according to an SNP politician.

Rob Gibson has called for a meeting with HIE bosses as soon as possible to discuss the controversy surrounding the probe into 15 contracts awarded to chairman William Roe’s Edinburgh-based firm, Rocket Science.

The results of an internal audit, overseen by Audit Scotland, are due to be delivered next month, but Mr Gibson wants MSPs to be allowed to discuss the matter with top officials now.

“The sooner the better, because we can always have another one when they publish the results,” said the Highlands and Islands MSP.

“Transparency is everything and a meeting with MSPs at an early stage would be a useful idea.

“They need to follow the rules and if they aren’t adequate to avoid conflicts of interest then it’s time to review those rules.

“The first of which is for MSPs to actually meet officials at Highlands and Islands Enterprise and discuss the rules with them because this crisis has arisen.”

Mr Gibson has also backed calls for HIE to change its policy and make board meetings public again, after halting open meetings in June 2007.

An HIE spokeswoman pledged it will publish a report on the audit findings on its website when it delivers its response to results next month.

“The audit committee will examine the report and make recommendations on any follow-up actions which members decide may be necessary,” she added.

MSP calls for talks with HIE over £100,000 controversy

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Feltham Gravel Pits Hounslow

Mar 12th, 2009

by Hounslow38.

9 comments

Plans to redevelop former gravel pits in Feltham and build up to 1,000 new homes on Green Belt land have received a mixed response from residents.

The results of a public consultation into the ambitious proposals for the Lower Feltham Lakes site, in Chertsey Road, have finally been released.

This story appeared 11th March 2009 in the Hounslow Chronicle

Story Continues

This is a Land Banking site of Green Belt and Nature Conservancy land which used to be a gravel pit. A company called Profitable Plots in Singapore bought the site in 2006. confusingly the company that offers the site now is called Profitable Group also based out of Singapore. Previously in marketing the site was called Concorde Village Hounslow but seems to have been renamed in this article to Lower Feltham Lakes. Profitable Group have chopped the site into 9000 plots and are offering the plots to investors in Asia and Canada. You can see the Singapore TV advert for the land plots here. In the advert they are estimating a 250% return in 3 years for investors.

Presumably this survey and press effort is designed either to influence the local authority in Hounslow or convince investors in Asia that progress is being made. There is nothing in the article about what the Hounslow Planning Authority thinks.

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Dunfermline Building Society backs Highland Housing Fair

Mar 11th, 2009

by Editor.

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So the Dunfermline Building Society emerges as probably the sole sponsor of this fiasco which is thought to have cost the tax payer some £3Million so far.

The farce recently attracted headline TV and Press comment following the approach to MSP’s at Holyrood Parliament for funding guarantees off the back of a grossly misleading brochure produced by its organisers claiming that substantial community facilities were in place when in actual fact the only community facility for the existing development of around 600 properties was a single post box.

Time for Housing Fair chairwoman Jean Urquhart to face up to the reality that the whole process has been flawed from start to finish and provides no community benefit whatsoever.

A building society has offered £15,000 to support a controversial show of innovative housing.

Stone House, designed by NORD Architects

The fair organisers claim The Development is being organised to showcase innovative designs

Scotland’s Housing Expo – The Highland Housing Fair is to be held at Balvonie Braes, Inverness, in 2010.

Dunfermline Building Society’s offer of sponsorship was announced at the latest meeting of the fair’s board of directors in Inverness.

Complaints about how Highland Council handled the project were rejected by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

In April 2008, two members of the public raised concerns with the SPSO about how outline planning was dealt with.

They said there had been inadequate consultation and permission for the site should not have been granted.

The SPSO declined to uphold 11 complaints and concerns about the council’s handling of the application.

Housing Fair chairwoman Jean Urquhart said: “This is a great indication of the kind of support within the private sector for such a ground-breaking project.

“Dunfermline Building Society are one of the first to come forward showing great foresight to give money and support to the Housing Expo.”

BBC original article link

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Highland Housing Fair – Local Community Totally Misled

Jan 23rd, 2009

by Editor.

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Housing fair brochure branded ‘fabrication of reality’

HUNDREDS of glossy brochures promoting a controversial housing project on the outskirts of Inverness are to be destroyed after it was discovered they contained misleading information.

By Val Sweeney – Inverness Courier

Copies of the 26-page booklet, showcasing the Highland Housing Fair, were distributed at the Scottish Parliament in a move by the organisers to secure £4.75 million of public money for the event, due to be held next year at Balvonie Braes.

The brochure clearly stated that the site was chosen because it is close to Milton of Leys which has a primary school, church hall, local shops and public house, surgery, day care facilities and playing field.

However, after angry local residents and community leaders pointed out that the only community facility in the area is a postbox, housing fair organisers were forced to acknowledge their error.

A spokesman said that 500 copies were printed in time for a reception held at the parliament on 13th January.

Some had been handed out to those present, including MSPs, but the rest will now be withdrawn and destroyed.

“There was no intention to mislead anyone,” the spokesman said. “It was an error made in the haste of getting the booklet ready for the reception. The error in the booklet will be corrected for future print runs.”

Barrie Haycock, a local resident and chairman of Planning Watch UK, described the document, which contains the Highland Council logo, as “greatly misleading”.

“It is a complete fabrication of reality,” he said. “There are no community facilities with the exception of a postbox at Milton of Leys.

“It is an absolute disgrace that Highland Council could put its name to a document which is misleading to any person who takes the time and trouble to read it.”

The brochure at the centre of the controversy. Alasdair Allen

Bob Roberts, chairman of the Inverness South Community Council, was equally bemused by the publication, which states: “The site is well-located next to the Milton of Leys local centre which is easily accessible on foot.”

The council gave an additional £40,000 to the housing fair’s board last year. The money was to be used for a range of things including ticket and brochure printing plus advertising and promotion of the fair.

“Is this what they are using the money for?” Mr Roberts queried.

“I am absolutely outraged at this. The community at Milton of Leys has been totally misled by this. We have been promised these facilities for years and years and still they never appear — yet they seem to say they exist in this publication. We would love them to exist.”

Such was the concern about the lack of facilities in the rapidly-expanding suburb that a steering group, including Highland councillors, community councillors and other community representatives, was set up last year. A wish-list of priorities included a school and a multi-purpose community hall with sports facilities.

The housing fair, based on a Finnish model, is due to showcase 55 eco-homes which will be sold afterwards. The event, billed as the first of its kind in Scotland, had been due to be held in August but was postponed until 2010 due to the economic climate.

v.sweeney@inverness-courier.co.uk

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Highland Housing Fair – Brochure described as “absolute fiction”

Jan 23rd, 2009

by Editor.

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A new dawn for the Housing Fair at Milton of Leys looks increasingly unlikely. Gary Anthony

Is sun setting on housing fair?

By Val Sweeney – Inverness Courier

A CONTROVERSIAL housing project scheduled to take place in Inverness next year could be in doubt as all the funding is not yet in place.

The Highland Housing Fair, which is due to showcase more than 50 eco-friendly homes at Balvonie Braes, has already been postponed until 2010 due to the economic climate.

But unless the Scottish Government now agrees to underwrite the project to the tune of £4.75 million, and persuades banks to provide development funding, it is unclear how the event will proceed at all.

It comes amid further disarray after it transpired hundreds of brochures — designed to attract government support — are to be destroyed because they contain inaccurate information. And with time running out for work to start, this latest twist has prompted furious opponents to demand sackings at the highest management level.

The financial difficulties facing the housing fair are contained in the minutes of a meeting of the Scottish parliamentary cross party group on architecture and the built environment at which there was a presentation by housing fair representatives including the board’s chairman, Councillor Jean Urquhart, and Susan Torrance, chief executive of the Highland Housing Alliance.

The December meeting also included discussion on the economic requirements for the fair to proceed.

Although the cost of the affordable houses will be met from housing association grants, the current economic climate has resulted in a reluctance from banks to fund individual private developers.

“Currently, plan A is to ask the Scottish Government to underwrite the costs and encourage the private finance sector to support the developers,” the minutes state. “No official application has been submitted to the government in this respect at present. It was not clear how the fair would proceed without this support.”

The minutes also summarise comments made by Ms Torrance. “The key message from her team is that they need some serious influence and support to persuade the banks to provide the development funding and allow the project to proceed,” it is reported.

Yesterday, however, she insisted the housing fair was going ahead and that infrastructure was already in place. “We are not applying for public money,” she said. “We are asking the government to steady the nerves of the banks.”

But opponents of the project, which has been dogged by controversy from the start, think the government should not support it, while some queried whether it would now go ahead. There was also continuing anger about a brochure showcasing the event which wrongly claimed the nearby Milton of Leys area had an array of shops, a school, pubs, church and sports facilities.

Councillor John Holden (Inverness South) described the brochure as “absolute fiction”.

“Heads should roll over this,” he declared. “This has to go to the top of the tree in relation to the Highland Housing Fair.”

He said the event, which was to be developed on designated green belt land, was tainted from day one. “I can never see a situation where I personally would support one more penny going to the housing fair,” he said. “I can never see it taking off.”

Mary Scanlon, Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP, who was present at last month’s parliamentary presentation, also questioned the management of the project.

“They have not worked with the community and their recent charm offensive at the Scottish Parliament was based on a brochure of lies and untruths,” she said. “I think the management of this project is rapidly losing credibility and trust from funders.

“The management of this housing fair is highly regrettable because I have not met anyone who does not support the idea of the housing fair of environmentally-friendly sustainable houses.”

v.sweeney@inverness-courier.co.uk

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Highland Housing Fair hits the headlines again for the distribution of grossly misleading information

Jan 19th, 2009

by Editor.

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Highland Housing Fair – Brochure endorsed by Highland Council ‘exaggerated’ facilities

A brochure promoting the area’s “facilities”, including a church hall and a public house, was distributed to MSPs

An area whose only amenity is a post box has been billed as a thriving Highland community in a brochure aimed at securing cash for a housing project.

Organisers of the Highland Housing Fair have been accused of “talking up” the facilities at Milton of Leys, near Inverness, to secure cash from MSPs.

A pamphlet for the event in nearby Balvonie Braes appears to say the area has shops, a pub and a school.

The people behind the brochure said it was meant to show the area’s potential.

But local residents said the brochure was misleading.

Eco-homes

The housing fair is due to showcase more than 50 designs for eco-homes.

There are to be built on the Balvonie site and later sold.

The event had been due to be held in August but has been postponed until 2010 due to the economic climate.

A brochure showcasing the event was displayed at the Scottish Parliament last week in a move to raise £4.75m of public money to help potential developers concerned about the downturn in the housing market.

Barrie Haycock, a local resident and chairman of Planning Watch UK, said the organisers had made an outrageous mistake in the brochure.

He was sent the document in the post and noticed the error as he flicked through the pages.

The only facility at Milton of Leys is a single post box

Barrie Haycock

Mr Haycock said: “The recorded information in the document appears to be a complete and utter fabrication.

“The only facility at Milton of Leys is a single post box and perhaps it would be fair to say that there are a couple of pieces of play equipment, that is the top and bottom of it.

“No primary school, no church hall, no local shops or public house, no surgery and day care facilities and no playing field – so how Highland Council can justify their quest for financial support for the venture is just beyond belief.”

Fiona Porteous from the Highland Housing Alliance, the co-ordinator of the Highland Housing Fair, said the aim of the publication had been to highlight the current and future benefits of the Balvonie Braes area as the location for the fair.

She added it had never been their intention to overstate what community facilities were available locally at the moment.

A series of complaints about how Highland Council has handled the housing project were rejected by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) in April 2008.

Two members of the public raised concerns with the SPSO about how outline planning was dealt with. They said there had been inadequate consultation and permission for the site should not have been granted.

The SPSO declined to uphold 11 complaints and concerns about the council’s handling of the application.

However, the project still faces scrutiny over the use of public money.

BBC web link

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West Lothian Council Sleaze charge alleged

Jan 5th, 2009

by Editor.

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Sleaze charge rocks West Lothian Council

Dec 24 2008 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

AN award winning council is in turmoil as allegations of corruption and sleaze threaten to tear it apart.

Council leader Peter Johnston faces calls for his resignation after Councillor Gordon Beurskens was reported to police over his role in an £8 million planning application for a mixed development scheme at Whitrigg, Whitburn.

Councillor Beurskens, who helps prop up the SNP administration, was working as a consultant for Aftondale Ltd, the firm who lodged the application, while sitting on the local authority’s development committee.

Councillors on the committee must show impartiality on planning applications but the Action to Save St John’s councillor is at the centre of a row regarding a financial interest in the plan being approved.

Despite the plan being rejected by planning officials the proposal was pushed through by councillors at a meeting last month with the casting vote coming from SNP committee chairman Jim Dickson. Councillor Dickson has since stood down from his post pending an independent inquiry.

Graeme Morrice, Labour group leader on the council, claims the allegations of wrong-doing go straight to the heart of the administration. He has called on Councillor Johnston to step down while the police and Standards Commission investigate.

But the council leader called the complaints a politically motivated campaign from the Labour party to discredit his administration.

He added that he was unaware of any substance to the allegations, which will also be investigated in an independent inquiry.

Councillor Johnston continued: “I think it’s important to recognise that the council has no evidence whatsoever to substantiate the claims made by Labour councillors in relation to irregularities by Councillor Beurskens.

“The council has, quite rightly I think, passed them on to the police for them to investigate.

“I would expect any responsible political party to wait for the results of the inquiry before celebrating.

“I am confident that the matters will be fully investigated and he will be completely exonerated.

“The results will be fully published and we will do that in an open and transparent manner and there will be no hiding anything.

“I think the political administration will come out of this clear and clean.”

It has also been revealed that council leader Peter Johnston was copied into e-mails sent to planning staff by Councillor Beurskens in his capacity as a consultant on the Whitrigg plans.

In some he uses choice and threatening language and in one he wrote it would take him “two minutes to change the complexion of a council”.

Councillor Johnston added: “I can’t condone his use of language in the e-mails. It wasn’t appropriate for council officers to be addressed in this way.

“We want the officers working in an environment that they are completely comfortable with.

“I think everyone will learn lessons from this. One of them will be that officers are to be treated with respect and not as political footballs.”

Labour leader, Councillor Morrice, said the council leader couldn’t distance himself from the actions of those members of his administration.

He added: “These actions go to the heart of the administration. It has now been revealed that Councillor Johnston was aware of these alleged wrong doings and did nothing about it. He is therefore complicit.

“Public confidence in the planning system is essential and people need to know that they can trust those who are taking the decisions.

“Before the SNP, Conservative and single issue local hospital councillors took over control of the council from Labour at the election, West Lothian Council was regarded as one of the best politically managed and highly regarded local authorities in Britain.

“Today, this reputation has been left in tatters.”

As the Courier went to press, Councillor Beurskens was unavailable for comment.

A West Lothian Council spokesman commented: “A serious complaint about a planning issue was made to the council. Given the nature of the allegation we have asked the police to investigate. As this is now an on-going enquiry it is not appropriate to comment further.”

Link to original article

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Tax Payers Alliance – Council Spending Uncovered: Councils spend average of £1 million a year on publicity

Dec 13th, 2008

by Editor.

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In December 2007, the TaxPayers Alliance produced the first ever examination of the growth of town hall spending on publicity over the last decade, which is itemised in the annual accounts of the 450-plus local authorities in the UK. It found that councils had doubled their spending on publicity, creating a £450 million publicity machine, at the same time as doubling council tax. A year later, in the midst of the economic crisis, the first paper in the new Council Spending Uncovered series updates the data for the last financial year.

The report, released today, shows that the average local authority spends almost £1 million (£971,985) on publicity. There are 6 local authorities spending more than £5 million on publicity and the 20 councils spending the most money on publicity accumulated an over £100 million bill. However, it’s not all bad news. At least 217 councils have decreased spending on publicity, collectively cutting over £25 million from their budgets and proving that councils can cut unnecessary spending. To read the full report, please click here.

The media coverage is coming in thick and fast, and so far includes:

The Sun, £430m for UK councils’ PR

Teletext, £430m for council publicity

Daily Express, Town Hall spin doctors wasting £430m of our money on propaganda

BBC News Online, Council ‘spin budgets’ condemned

Daily Telegraph, Councils spend £1m each on spin and publicity

The Mirror, £430m bill to promote town halls

ConservativeHome, Mark Wallace: Councils spend £1 million each on PR

Hull Daily Mail, £4.5m spent by council on ‘propaganda’

Belfast Telegraph, Councils shell out £4m for publicity in a year

Liverpool Daily Post, £7.5m bill for council publicity

Birmingham Post, Taxpayers slam councils for millions spent on spin

Western Mail, Big council bill to make penny drop

Watford Observer, County council ‘spin’ budget revealed

Evening Standard, Councils spending £65m on public relations in year

Ealing Times, Ealing’s PR spend in top ten per cent

South Wales Echo, South Wales councils spent at total of £4.3m on publicity last year

Kent Messenger, Publicity costs reined in – but KCC still among the big spenders

St Alban’s & Harpenden Review, Council’s PR spend revealed

Boston Standard, Lincolnshire council named in top 10 publicity spenders

Brand Republic, Pressure group slams councils’ adspend

LocalGov.co.uk, Group slams councils £1M publicity bill

Politics.co.uk, Average council spends £1 million on advertising

Southern Daily Echo, Hampshire’s Councils £12m bill for publicity

Wigan Evening Post, Cost of council publicity has gone up 77%

TPA spokesmen also appeared on BBC London, BBC Radio Humberside, BBC Radio Essex, ITV Central, ITV North East, BBC Radio Solent, Time FM and Town 102 FM

Gordon Brown responds to the TPA

You may remember TPA Campaign Manager Susie Squire’s ‘Ask the PM’ question, which was included in the bulletin a few weeks ago.

Thanks to all your votes, Gordon has answered – well, sort of. He posted this last night.

Susie is in the process of compiling a video response, but you may have noticed there are a few things he has neglected to mention. Yes, depsite that winning smile Gordon, you can’t get anything past us! Even by official estimates, our current debt stands at £633 billion. But, when you include such off balance-sheet costs as PFI debt created under Brown (£110 billion), the Nuclear Decomissioning bill (£73 billion), Public Sector Pensions (£1,071 billion) and Network Rail (£20 billion) our debt adds up to a whopping £1.9 trillion, or 129% of GDP.

Crucially, Mr Brown doesn’t answer Susie’s question. Ultimately, Britain’s economic picture, as shown by the above figures, is bad enough. But what about going forward? The picture is bleak. Alistair Darling announced in the recent pre Budget report that a gigantic £512 billion will be added to this our nation’s debt. This will amount to more money (taking into account RPI inflation) than we borrowed to win World War 1. This is terrifying, as it will double official debt to £1 trillion, and push up the cost of servicing our debt from £30.8 billion to £40 billion. The longer term implications of this are higher interest rates – markets will decide we are not such a safe economic bet any more, sterling will devalue further, and everyone will feel even worse off than they do now.

But the real question is: why all this borrowing in the first place? Because the other side of this equation is that public spending has gone through the roof under Brown. And if we constantly have to feed this government’s addiction to a big state and a bloated, costly public sector, we won’t ever be able to stop the steam train of debt.

A bittersweet victory for the ‘No’ campaign

It was announced this afternoon that the people of Greater Manchester voted in force against the proposed congestion charge, with the 53.2% (1,030,000) turnout voting overwhelmingly against this additional road tax.

No less than 79% of those who voted wanted to reject the charge, and no more than 28% voted yes in one any local authority area. This landslide victory marks the death of the Manchester TIF bid and has hopefully discouraged other areas - not least the West Midlands councils - from further pursuing this unpopular scheme.

Yet, though our congratulations go out to the No campaign, it is worth noting that this is a very bittersweet victory with huge amounts already having been spent on a project that was disliked from its inception. Though families in Greater Manchester will no longer have to pay the hefty £1,200 per year that a congestion charge would mean, a startling £34million has already been spent consulting, debating, drawing-up and promoting the TIF bid according to the Drivers Alliance, all funded by ordinary taxpayers. It just makes it worse that the very residents whove paid for this road pricing ambition seem to have been dead against it from the start, and in the end this £34million bought 218,860 yes votes thats £155 each.

This money has been frittered away by those with a blind commitment to the congestion charge, encouraged by those who stood to benefit. Perhaps, at this very moment the proponents of road charging are busy wondering how to bring its spectre back to life with a different guise and new spin and, if they manage a successful resuscitation, lets hope our councils recognise it for what it is and remember this Manchester vote.

Letters to follow up our reports

As you will have seen in the papers, on the radio or local TV today, our report on local council publicity spending has hit the headlines. But we need your help to follow up our reports with short, sharp letters to your local paper making the points that councils spend and waste too much of our money. TPA activist Bruce Lawson emailed in a letter he got in the Shropshire Star to promote our Public Sector Rich List 2008. You can read his letter here. If you get any letters printed in your local paper, do let us know. Weve already seen here the publicity our supporters can get when they write into their local papers.

2009 Action Days

Were busy compiling a list of leafleting and petition days across the country for 2009. If youd like us to have an action day in your area with other TPA supporters and campaigners, email our grassroots coordinator Tim Aker and well organise an action day near you.

In response to last weeks bulletin we have action days already booked for 2009. The dates and venues are:
Swanage 6 February and 30 April
Shipley 6 June
If youd like to come to these campaign days, please email Tim.

Bristol and South West TPA branch established

Last Saturday our Bristol branch met to formally set up a branch to monitor Bristol council and, for the time being, other councils in the South West. If youd like to get involved please email our organiser James Barlow. You can keep up with the campaign by visiting their blog.

A council is not a bank

We found this week that Lancashire County Council has been using taxpayers money to lend to other councils in the UK. Today TPA activist Steve Atkinson found through a Freedom of Information request that Cumbria County Council has £112 million deposited in foreign and domestic banks. You can ask Lancashire County Councils leader why theyre lending to other councils instead of cutting tax here.

Stoke Council rejects TPA offer to find savings

TPA supporter and Stoke councillor Gavin Webb recently tabled a motion at Stoke Councils full council meeting inviting the TPA to come in and find savings in the council budget. Sadly, the motion failed Stokes councillors are clearly happy with politics as usual and higher taxes for all. You can read our blog on the debate and Gavins comments here.

Best of the blogs

Campaign: Leek TPA Action Day attracts attention
Campaign: The us and them Olympics
Better Government: Fiddling with Human Rights Law
Better Government: Ageing Britain
Burning our Money: Servicing The Government’s Debt
Non-job of the Week: Non-job of the week

www.taxpayersalliance.com

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