Developers

Highland Housing Fair / Expo – The wheels come off…

Jan 19th, 2011

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

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.

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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.

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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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Donald Trump presses ahead with $1.6bn golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland

Mar 11th, 2010

by Editor.

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Article By Anouk Lorie and Paul Gittings for CNN

March 11, 2010 11:24 a.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Billionaire Donald Trump has unveiled his plan for ‘world’s greatest golf course’
The project in Scotland will include 950 holiday homes, a hotel and village
Local residents have attempted to delay the project through litigation and planning process
Trump is bucking global trend with other similar projects mired in debt and delays

London, England (CNN) — Despite the financial downturn affecting property prices and construction projects around the world, bullish American billionaire Donald Trump remains committed to building what he has dubbed the “world’s greatest golf course” in Scotland after unveiling designs for the new complex.

Trump’s proposal includes 950 holiday homes, a hotel, an equestrian center, tennis courts and a residential village, on top of the championship golf course.

With latest official statistics showing unemployment in Scotland has risen to 7.6 percent, the move has been welcomed by the country’s government who are anxious to bring investment to the area.

A spokesman for the ruling Scottish Nationalist Party told CNN: “Ministers agreed with the public inquiry conclusion that there was significant economic and social benefit to be gained from the application by Trump International Golf Links Scotland to develop a golf resort at Balmedie.”

When I create anything – a building, private club or resort — it is the highest quality available in the world
–Donald Trump

The recent unveiling of the design masterplan for the resort comes at a time when similar projects around the world struggle for a positive return on investment.

The $1 billion “Tiger Woods Dubai” a golf resort originally planned for September 2009, has been delayed indefinitely with only eight holes been built so far.

Trump’s project, which has been marred by controversy and litigation since its inception in 2008, will cost a staggering $1.6 billion to complete.

Richard Gillis, editor of Platform Magazine, told CNN that: “Trump is betting that the market for the very top end has not been detrimentally affected by the recession and banking crisis.

“It will be interesting to see the effect of the Trump brand on sales, as it is untested as a means of selling golf outside of the U.S.”

But Trump, an avid golfer who already owns 13 courses around the world, is said to be confident his resort will be profitable within a decade.

“When I create anything – a building, private club or resort – it is the highest quality available in the world,” he stated.

“The project is in really good shape with no financial concerns,” the project’s executive vice president, Sarah Malone, told CNN.

She revealed Trump has recently bought another two courses in the United States.

However, to realize his vision, Trump will still need to acquire four plots of land owned by families on the Scottish coast, who have thus far been adamant in their refusal to sell their homes.

Last year a 15,000-strong petition, which included Hollywood actress Tilda Swinton, backed the four residents who face possible eviction.

But Malone insisted that the project would bring much-needed financial benefits to the region.”This would regenerate an area that needs to diversify its business. It will also create thousands of jobs,” she said.

Gillis is more skeptical. “The billion dollar figure, the thousands of jobs promised and the always unreliable ‘economic benefit’ arguments look like winning the day,” he said.

“I only hope that in return for giving up this stretch of their coastline the locals can at least make some money from the caper.

“Because given the level of green fees needed to make back Trump’s investment, very few of them will be playing the course,” he added.

Trump fought a long battle to gain planning approval for the course north of Aberdeen.

It was finally granted by the Scottish government in November 2008, who imposed a series of stringent conditions to protect the habitat of the area, but were swayed by arguments over job creation, with up to 6,000 forecasted, and regeneration.

Trump is due in Scotland in May to officially mark the start of construction work on his course and hopes to talk to local people about the project, his spokesperson told CNN.

Link to original CNN article

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Towns and Cities – UK Carbuncle awards 2010

Jan 25th, 2010

by Editor.

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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

by Editor.

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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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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.

3 comments

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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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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Massive Housing Threat to Bromsgrove Green Belt

Apr 11th, 2009

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The green belt borders of Bromsgrove are under huge pressure to take thousands more houses under plans being drawn up by regional bodies.

The Wythall and Beoley areas face the prospect of thousands of new houses being built on green belt land which traditionally has formed the border between Birmingham and Bromsgrove and Redditch and Bromsgrove.

The threat comes from the Government’s Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) which has been given the task of deciding where future houses will be built in the West Midlands having been informed by the now defunct West Midlands Regional Assembly as to how many new dwellings will be needed.

Their conclusions make disappointing reading for residents in the Wythall and Beoley areas who could find large new housing estates being built in their area with no democratic accountability for the decisions which have been taken.

Conservative Party MP, Julie Kirkbride is implacably opposed to these developments and will fight to protect Bromsgrove’s green borders.

Click here for more information and to register your concerns.

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Julie Kirkbride

Member of Parliament for Bromsgrove

Tel: 01527 872135 / Fax: 01527 575019 / House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.
Email: julie@juliekirkbride.com / Web: www.juliekirkbride.com

Julie was born in June 1960 and brought up in Halifax, the youngest of three children. Her father was a lorry driver who died when she was seven and her mother worked as a secretary at Rowntree Mackintosh’s. She went to local schools including the local grammar school, which at the time was known as The Highlands and is now the North Halifax High School, followed by Girton College, Cambridge to read economics and history. Whilst at university, she was Vice President of the Cambridge Union Society and active in Conservative politics.

Upon leaving university, she spent a year working for the House magazine in Parliament and then from 1982 to 1983 as a Rotary Foundation scholar studying journalism at the University of California in Berkeley. Between 1983 and 1986, she worked as a researcher for Yorkshire Television in Leeds, between 1986 and 1989 as a BBC News and Current Affairs researcher/producer in London, and from 1989 and 1992 as a producer/reporter for ITN’s Parliamentary Unit. In 1992, she became a political correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and in 1996 Social Affairs Editor on the Sunday Telegraph.

In November 1996, she was selected to fight the Bromsgrove seat which she won the following year. In August 1997, she married Andrew MacKay MP, the Conservative Member for Bracknell, and they have a son, Angus.

Julie Kirkbride’s Experience

Julie’s political career began when she joined the Young Conservatives in Halifax at the age of fourteen and she continued during her time at Cambridge University. When she started working for Yorkshire Television, and subsequently the BBC and ITN, she stopped an active political career due to the potential conflict of interests and likewise whilst she was a political correspondent for the Telegraph.

Her political career therefore resumed in November 1996 when she was selected for the Conservative held seat of Bromsgrove. As a Member of Parliament since May 1997, she has been a member of the Social Security Committee and now sits on the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee. She also sits as a member of the Commons Catering Committee. From November 2003 to September 2004, she was Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport.

Her interests in political issues range across the spectrum with perhaps her highest profile campaign so far being to encourage the Government to introduce single vaccinations alongside the MMR.

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Tulloch Homes announces new facilities for Milton of Leys

Apr 10th, 2009

by Editor.

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Residents say developer’s original pledges for community services have been greatly watered down

Tulloch Homes announces new facilities for Milton of Leys

By jonny muir Press and Journal

Published: 10/04/2009

Developer Tulloch Homes has revealed plans to build a care home, a church, a primary school and shops on land at Milton of Leys, south of Inverness, which would be the first community facilities in the area.

But residents there have accused the developer of watering down the long-awaited community facilities after it slashed the amount of open space and upped the number of houses.

At present, the nearest school or shop is four miles away, which has made Milton of Leys the butt of jokes as its only existing community facilities are a postbox and a £10,000 “bandstand”.

Despite welcoming Tulloch’s proposals, residents say they are bemused that plans for community facilities mooted a year ago have been scaled down.

A substantial area that was once earmarked for open space with play facilities, including £100,000 of play equipment, has shrunk to a small wedge of land on the site’s periphery, even though it would overlook homes.

It is now envisaged that play facilities and a recreation area will be created within the grounds of the school, prompting concerns that the facilities will not be accessible outwith school hours.

Milton of Leys Residents’ Association chairman Gavin Norton said: “As a growing community of 600 homes, we are thrilled that we are going to get a primary school, but it can’t be at the expense of losing other community facilities.”

Mr Norton said there was also frustration that Tulloch had increased the amount of land allocated for housing on the community site from 1.5acres 12 months ago to 2.5acres now.

Residents learned about the proposals in a letter from Tulloch saying that an application had been submitted to Highland Council seeking permission for a “district centre, including retail, residential, care home, children’s nursery, community facility and primary school”, but it was not until the residents’ association obtained detailed drawings that the full extent of the changes emerged.

Mr Norton said: “Tulloch has done nothing wrong. They have provided all they need to provide. But the first reaction of most people will be: ‘what one earth is going on’?”

Milton of Leys community councillor Barrie Haycock said: “It smacks of Tulloch trying to increase its profit margin by putting as many homes on the plot as possible.”

Inverness Crime Prevention Panel chairman Jim Ferguson said there were signs that antisocial behaviour in Milton of Leys was on the rise, making it vital that community facilities are provided on the estate.

Tullochs were not available for comment.

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Feltham Gravel Pits Hounslow

Mar 12th, 2009

by Hounslow38.

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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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Affordable Homes – Beware the Hidden Cost of Management Charges

Feb 17th, 2009

by Editor.

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The benefit of buying in to the “affordable homes” schemes trumpeted by Government, Councils, Developers and Housing Associations is often stated, but the downside of the hidden cost of potentially fast rising management cost fees is never fully explained.

As with Land Management companies, the shock of rapidly rising bills is only discovered long after the happy purchase event.

The failure of consumer protection legislation is once more exampled in this excellent Guardian article written by Miles Brignall.

How soaring charges soured the dream of ‘affordable’ homes

Fighting mad – the shared equity tenants who have suffered more than their share of pain. Miles Brignall hears a salutary tale

m.brignall@guardian.co.uk

Shane Conway and his neighbours have seen service charges rocket. Photograph: Frank Baron/Guardian

If you have been thinking about buying one of those “shared equity” homes that are aimed at struggling first-time buyers, you may reconsider after reading Shane Conway’s story.

Six years ago, the corporate manager was one of seven tenants who bought shared-equity flats in a newly built scheme in Greenford, west London – lured in part by the government-promoted dream of owning his own “affordable home”.

Today these tenants are facing demands for £1,100 per household, on top of the £2,000 a year they pay in service charges, to cover overspending by the housing association that is supposed to look after their interests.

They say the dream of homeownership has turned into a nightmare, and they fear being stuck in flats no one wants to buy. They blame “appalling mismanagement” by Shepherd’s Bush Housing Association (SBHA), which owns and manages 5,000 homes.

Conway’s story is perhaps typical. It started in 2003 when, with his brother, he bought a 75% share in a two-bedroom flat then valued at £185,000.

“It was a brand-new and very smart apartment block being offered through the government’s shared ownership scheme,” says Conway. “We had all saved for our deposits, and this was our first step on the property ladder. The scheme was advertised as a means of affordable housing, and we all agreed a monthly service charge of £90 to pay for the upkeep of the block through the housing association, Bush Homes, which later became Shepherd’s Bush Housing Association.”

Within months of his moving in, it became clear that the building had problems. “The housing association had also put council flat tenants into the block and a minority of them quickly went about vandalising the premises. We endured graffiti, damage to walls and doors, young children running wild and a woman with mental health problems who slashed her arms and bled heavily in the corridors.”

As a result, Conway says, the service charges started rising steadily and within two years hit £160 per month, or almost £2,000 per year.

The residents felt this figure rather made a mockery of the “affordable housing” tag and, distinctly unimpressed with the service they were getting for such high fees, got together to fight the increases. They took Bush Homes to the Leaseholders Valuation Tribunal in 2006, arguing the charges were excessive. The tribunal found in their favour and was critical of the association, saying the higher charges were unjustifiable because Bush Homes could not produce details of, or vouchers for, any repairs carried out.

“The judges also said that the absence of all receipts was ‘suspicious’ and ordered the association to pay each of us a partial refund on the services charges we had paid, and to cap the service charges for a period of one year at £119 a month,” says Conway.

However, as soon as the year ended, SBHA raised its service charges again, this time to £167 per month. The final straw came last October, when SBHA demanded that the tenants pay £1,149 each on top of what they had already paid for 2007-08, because it had overspent for the last financial year. The group, who had bought all of, or part shares in, their affordable homes found themselves paying up to £3,153 year.

“The whole thing is incredible,” says Conway. “I have friends in South Kensington who aren’t paying this much in service charges. We are apparently being asked to pay for the housing association’s incompetence. We are perfectly willing to pay charges that are fair and reasonable, but these are absurd. We have asked them to justify the figures and they won’t. They have treated us with utter disdain. I would advise anyone else thinking of buying a shared equity home to think carefully.”

Fellow resident Allison Clancy says: “The charges have gone crazy at a time we can least afford it. I’ve just gone back to work after maternity leave, and the whole thing has been very stressful. We were supposed to have a meeting with the bodies concerned last week and they didn’t turn up. We’ve asked for information and they’ve ignored us. How can you deal with people who behave like this?”

A spokeswoman for SBHA blamed the big increases on the privately run management company, Ringley, that controls most of the costs associated with the service charge. She said there had been an emergency lift door replacement, and that the association had failed to include water charges.

“We recognise that a request for payments of between £800 and £1,000 for under-recovery of service charges in 2007/08 is unwelcome. We are pursuing Ringley for clarification and proof of the charges, but we have a legal duty to collect it and then refund if necessary,” a statement said. “SBHA arranged a meeting between residents and Ringley on 13 January, but Ringley didn’t attend as planned. SBHA will continue to pursue Ringley.”

It said that the service charge would return to previous levels next year, but offered no explanation as to why many of its charges had risen so much, or why it had not acted sooner to try to reduce the tenants’ costs. Ringley said it was unaware of the planned meeting and that the increase in charges reflects problems with car park gates. “The early service charge levels were based on projected day-to-day running costs. This did not allow for the cost of future major works projects. We have estimated that the external decorations, programmed for 2010, will cost in the order of £65,000. From 2005 we phased in reserve fund collection gradually,” it said. It added that someone in a privately-owned flat in the same block and of similar size to Conway’s is paying a £1,700 service charge this year – substantially less than the £3,153 he is paying for the year.

Conway is unimpressed. “They have been blaming Ringley for five years, and the excuse doesn’t wash any more. My contract is with them, but they have failed us. I would caution anyone thinking of buying a shared equity home to take a long look at the housing association and how it’s managed before signing up.”

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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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Gordon Banks MP backs Mike Marriott in Menstrie Land Maintenance Battle

Jul 31st, 2008

by Editor.

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Government backs residents in land row

By Nicola Findlay

Image related to story, see caption or article text

Gordon Banks MP has been supporting residents in their dispute with Greenbelt.

CAMPAIGNERS on a Menstrie housing estate have welcomed support from the Scottish Government in their bid to oust land management company Greenbelt.

Angry residents say the company is not doing its job properly and recently 251 of the estate’s 300 residents signed a petition to get rid of Greenbelt.

However, the petition was rejected by the firm who said it would carry on to maintain the land around the estate, as was agreed with developer Gladedale.

But an email from the Scottish Government has now been sent to a homeowner on an estate in Livingston, also managed by Greenbelt, stating that under the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003 owners within an estate can “dismiss a manager and appoint another” without applying to a Lands Tribunal.

Mike Marriot, who is leading the Menstrie campaign, welcomed the support from the Scottish Government saying it proved the residents were well within their legal rights to submit their petition.

He said their ultimate goal was for Clackmannanshire Council to take over the maintenance of the land.

“We signed the petition in March and, since then, homeowners have been bombarded with letters and demands from Greenbelt Group, saying they don’t recognise this,” said Mike.

“We very much welcome the Scottish Government’s backing in this situation, and hope it will encourage both Gladedale and Greenbelt Group to see sense.”

The email also informed homeowners that Government guidance on the management of open spaces was republished last month and now no longer names Greenbelt Group as a suitable provider for the long-term care of open spaces in Scotland.

Gordon Banks MP has been supporting the residents in their dispute with Greenbelt and has been heading an All Party Working Group in Westminster looking at land management companies.

He said, “It is good news that the Scottish Executive confirmed that the action the residents took in their dispute with Greenbelt has been confirmed as the correct course of action.

“Up until now Greenbelt has tried to ignore the actions of the residents at Menstrie Mains and I hope that it will now take on board the strong legal footing on which the residents have based their campaign, and understand that they no longer want Greenbelt to supply land management services.

“I hope that both the Greenbelt and Gladedale can find a constructive way to bring this long standing problem to a solution which meets the aims and objectives of Menstrie residents.”

However, Greenbelt says that the information on the email from the Scottish Government is out-dated and that the Title Deeds Act is a complicated piece of legislation which residents do not necessarily understand the full implications of.

Managing director of Greenbelt, Alex Middleton, told the Advertiser that following the petition a circular was sent to all residents to give them help and guidance, and that Greenbelt has never purported to offer legal advice to residents but said they should seek independent legal advice.

He went on, “Greenbelt has never considered itself to be a manager of the land but, in fact, the owner of the land, which is a significant difference to what is being said by other parties.

“Soundbites have been taken from a very complicated piece of legislation which needs to be understood as a whole and is very technical.

“There is an agreement in place between ourselves and the developer and that will continue.

“We are obliged to manage and maintain the land and residents are obliged to contribute fully and equally.”

A spokesperson for Gladedale added, “We are aware of the issues between the residents and Greenbelt and are hopeful that an amicable solution can be reached between the two parties.”

Link to original article

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Lack of maintenance for outdoor areas angers Aberdeen fee-paying householders

Jul 30th, 2008

by Editor.

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Residents hit out over grass-cutting frequency

By Gillian Bell Press and Journal

Published: 30/07/2008

GROWING: Carol Kidd and son Calvin at a Kemnay path where the grass is sprouting. Kami Thomson

North-east residents claim they have paid an independent company thousands of pounds to maintain open spaces – but that work has not been done for “more than seven months”.

People at the Redcloak estate at Stonehaven are among thousands who are contractually obliged to pay Glasgow-based Greenbelt Group for services.

Last night, Greenbelt blamed contractors for the problem, saying it had explained issues to residents.

Householders at Newmachar have already complained that Greenbelt halved the frequency of its service, leaving them with “unkempt” public areas.

Ian Matthews, of Redcloak Park, Stonehaven, has paid Greenbelt an annual fee of around £90 to keep the open areas tidy.

Mr Matthews said there were around 100 houses on the estate, each of which paid a similar charge.

He claimed: “The residents of Redcloak have not had any maintenance at all this year.

“This lovely area has become an embarrassment. I have contacted them consistently since May but nobody ever gets back to me.”

Carol Kidd, who chairs the residents’ association at Kirkstyle Farm Estate, at Kemnay, claimed Greenbelt had not cut the grass there for more than six weeks.

“Even Place of Origin, which was opened by the Duke of Kent with great fanfare in 2006, has been allowed to go to ruin,” she added.

Mrs Kidd, of Wilson Place, said she contacted Greenbelt a number of weeks ago to ask why the work was not being done and received a letter blaming problems with the contractor, Inverness-based R. Sleigh Landscapes.

The contractor’s solicitor, Timothy Thomas, of Ledingham Chalmers, said Greenbelt owed his client, Henry Sleigh, a “very large sum”, thought to be about £100,000.

“We have been demanding payment for some months now and have been told by their solicitors that they have had cash-flow problems.

“They have said recently they are disputing some of the work done, but it is certainly not all.”

Greenbelt has now replaced Sleigh with another contractor, but the problems persist, according to Mrs Kidd. A number of other estates in the north-east are also thought to be having problems with Greenbelt, including at Provost Clemo Drive at Insch, the Hallforest estate at Kintore, Meadowlands at Westhill and Leddach Grange estate at Elrick.

People living in the Rosewell Park estate at Westhill and the Greenacres-Pitblae estate at Fraserburgh have also reported difficulties.

A website called Greenbelt Group Action has been set up by dissatisfied customers.

Greenbelt’s managing director Alex Middleton admitted one contractor had not been paid, but said it was because of a “performance issue, and it is quite right we should do that”.

“In one or two cases we have had problems with contractors and we have explained that to our customers,” he added.

He refused to offer the residents of Redcloak at Stonehaven a refund and said residents of Greenbelt-maintained estates were “contractually obliged” to pay.

“There is a need on one or two sites to improve,” he said, adding that it was a priority.

Mr Middleton seems to have his own particular unique definition of contractual law and frquently seems to demonstrate that he thinks his company can collect payments and not deliver the contracted services…
Editor

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UK Government Eco-towns plan ‘may be unlawful’

Jul 23rd, 2008

by Editor.

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Eco-towns of up to 20,000 people each are proposed

The government’s approach to delivering up to 10 eco-towns could be “unlawful”, councils have warned.

Ministers are to publish a planning policy statement to set out standards and potential locations in England.

But the Local Government Association said the proposals went against the principle of development through plans drawn up by local authorities.

This might show a wish to avoid “proper scrutiny”, it added. But the government said it “absolutely” disagreed.

‘Deeply flawed’

The eco-towns scheme aims to deliver settlements of 5,000 to 20,000 homes which are zero-carbon overall.

The government shortlisted 15 proposals for new settlements in April and has said up to 10 final approved bids will have to go through the planning process once they have been chosen later this year.

Lawyers John Steel QC and James Strachan, representing the LGA, said an existing planning policy statement covered the concept of providing housing in new settlements in an environmentally sustainable way.

‘ECO-TOWNS’ SHORTLIST

Bordon, Hampshire

Coltishall, Norfolk

Elsenham, Essex

Ford, West Sussex

Hanley Grange, Cambridgeshire

Imerys, nr St Austell, Cornwall

Leeds city region, West Yorkshire

Marston Vale and New Marston, Bedfordshire

Middle Quinton, Warwickshire

Pennbury, Leicestershire

Rossington, South Yorkshire

Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire

Weston Otmoor, Oxfordshire

Source: Department of Communities and Local Government

The plans: Site-by-site

There did not seem to be any justification for promoting eco-towns outside the existing rules, “other than the government’s wish to avoid the system due to the proper need for scrutiny, which takes time”, they added.

The LGA said the legal advice showed the government’s approach to eco-towns was “deeply flawed”.

Chairman Sir Simon Milton said the LGA was not opposed to the eco-towns as a way of meeting housing needs and combating climate change.

But he urged: “Ministers must talk to council leaders about adopting a new approach that will deliver development in places where councils and local people agree that eco-towns can work.

“Eco-towns must be delivered without bypassing the planning processes and ensure that new developments have good transport connections alongside the schools, health and leisure facilities which are needed to create places where people would want to live.”

Bidders for eco-towns at Manby, in Lincolnshire, and Curborough, Staffordshire, have pulled out, while part of a third bid at New Marston, in Bedfordshire, has also been withdrawn.

‘Stretching standards’

A Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: “We absolutely disagree with the LGA’s claims and believe this legal advice can only have been obtained on the basis of a misrepresentation of our policy.

“We have made it absolutely clear throughout that eco-towns will be different and will have higher environmental standards than a normal development and the applications will also have to be considered through the normal planning process.”

Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps said the legal advice would add weight to the argument that ministers had “effectively destroyed their own eco-town project”.

Liberal Democrat communities spokeswoman Julia Goldsworthy said: “What this government fails to understand is that centrally imposed solutions are doomed to failure.”

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Highland Housing Fair 2009 – Cancelled

Jul 23rd, 2008

by Editor.

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The worst kept secret of 2008 is now receiving press attention following continuing investigation by Planning Watch UK members.

At 9.05am Monday morning, Barrie Haycock, Planning Watch UK Chairman, contacted the Inverness Courier to make the newspaper aware of the latest turn of events following four years shambolic waste of tax payers money arising from the ego trips of those involved with the promotion of the Highland Housing Fair.

The action triggered frantic “pass the hot potato ” calls as Highland Council and Highland Housing Alliance frantically tried to put their “spin” on the latest twist of events, resulting in a statement being issued by beleagued Councillor Jean Urquhart, chairwoman of the Highland Housing Fair board, who finally admitted delaying the event was already looking like the most likely outcome, attempting to convince the enquiring reporter that the event would be delayed until 2010.

The news has since been reported on BBC websites, Moray Firth Radio and other media resources.

This latest twist of events was blamed on the “Credit Crunch” but it is thought that in reality there had been little financial support for the venture from Sponsors or firm sales of building plots concerned.

Susan Torrance, Chief Executive of Highland Housing Alliance had always claimed that the huge cost of promoting the event was adequatly covered by anticipated revenues from sponsors and sale of building plots, and public monies were not at risk.

It is thought that the organisers were so oblivious to reality that Event Insurance cover is unlikely to have been purchased leaving the huge investment of public monies totally exposed.

In November 2007, Mary Scanlon Conservative Party MSP forced Highland Council via a Freedom of Information request to reveal the extent of the costs incurred to date which were revealed to be around £1.92 Million and it is thought those costs have probably now increased to around £2.5 Million.

So the question is, will the event ever take place?

It was always claimed that the design expertise could influence developers in future years, but ignored the hard fact of life that major developers are only interested in maximising profitable return for any given parcel of land. Put simply, maximum build of the lowest cost box option to satisfy particular market end customer requirements.

The controlling factor will always be Government defined Building Regulations. Are they likely to change?
We don’t think that in the short term this is likely, so developers will continue to plough along regardless.

The irony is that not a single developer offered a suitable building site to Highland Housing Alliance for the event which demonstrates the importance that developers held for this proposed 100 odd unit development “passed off” as a Housing Fair.

All involved with the fiasco were forced to turn to a Green Wedge area of prime farmland and force through the planning consent. Tulloch Homes have been reported as profiting to the extent of £500,000 from the land transaction.

For the Fair to take place in 2010, building work would have to commence in the summer of 2009. Are developers likely to take a flyer on this given the downturn in the market?

We think highly unlikely, so just how are Highland Council and Highland Housing Alliance going to get out of this financial mess?

Watch this space…

Housing fair faces delay of 12 months

By Lorna Paterson – Inverness Courier

Published: 22 July, 2008

The site of the Highland Housing Fair at Balvonie Braes.

THE controversial Highland Housing Fair is facing another major blow — it is set to be delayed for a year.

The exhibition of sustainable housing, billed as the first of its kind in Scotland, had been scheduled to take place in August 2009 at Balvonie Braes in Inverness.

However, it emerged yesterday that growing financial pressures and a downturn in the housing market meant the event will not now be staged until 2010.

Architects and developers from the south were briefed on the latest developments in Perth last week, while developers from the Highlands will be informed on Friday at a meeting in Inverness.The board will then meet to make a final decision although Councillor Jean Urquhart, chairwoman of the Highland Housing Fair board, admitted delaying the event was already looking like the most likely outcome.

She confirmed some developers involved with the project were facing financial difficulty and rather than putting pressure on them, the board would be making the recommendation to its partners.

In the worst case scenario she anticipates the delay to be for 12 months.

However, an on-line architects’ website said there were fears the project, led by Highland Housing Alliance, would lose momentum, particularly if it was postponed for more than a year.

Barrie Haycock, chairman of campaign group Planning Watch UK, while criticising organisers for not forecasting the impact of a declining housing market, also remained sceptical over whether the fair would now go-ahead.

For the event to take place in 2010, he said, the new homes would still need to be built next year, but with experts predicting it to be two years before the housing market recovers he sees this as unlikely. “It was obvious that any downturn in the housing market would put the project at risk,” he said.

He claimed it had collectively landed the tax payer with an enormous bill out of the rush to force it through the planning process.

Inverness MP Danny Alexander said it was a reminder of what impact the global credit crunch was having on the Highlands. “This is very disappointing,” he said. “The fair would have made a great contribution to the Highlands in terms of leading new ideas on how homes can be developed.

Councillor Urquhart (Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh) explained there had been no public announcement about the delay because it was still in consultation with developers and architects.

The housing fair, on an area of green-wedge land, will showcase the best in housing design, innovation and technology.

It has been dogged with controversy with allegations over the conduct of planning officers and unacceptable land deals playing their part but Councillor Urquhart stressed the event would go ahead.

“It makes me angry that people see this as some kind of trumped up nonsense that doesn’t need to happen. There is absolutely no suggestion this will be a cancellation,” she added.

l.paterson@inverness-courier.co.uk

Wilson’s Weekly Wrap

27 Jun 2008

Highland Housing – Fair?

On the surface, things seem to be going not too badly at the moment for the Highland Housing Fair, given the perverse local opposition encountered at the outset of the project and the high drop out rate of developers who found innovation and profit on a single house plot to be incompatible concepts. Down at the coalface, however, a number of the selected architects are finding the going considerably tougher.

Time is flying, and deadlines for Building Warrant applications, for example, are being missed due to the shifting economic times in which we live. Several of the projects are still without either client or developer, never mind a contractor, and with building work for most projects scheduled to be on site by late Autumn, some critical decisions need to be made at a more strategic level if we are not to see a half-constructed built landscape when the Fair opens its doors to the public next August.

A number of the project designs are predicated on imported components such as massive timber panels, now made infinitely more expensive by the £’s poor showing against the €uro and without significant alteration at this late stage, the houses may simply fail to emerge. Obviously the credit crunch was not on anyone’s radar when the idea of the Fair was first mooted, but life is not as it was a year ago and the project sponsors need to radically – and rapidly – revise the business plan if the Fair is to be a success.

In Finland, the first Housing Fairs were publicly-funded with small towns competing for the privilege to build: the model used here presumed that developers could be encouraged to innovate (without subsidy) and even profit from the construction of a single housing unit, a questionable approach anyway given the concept’s first outing in Scotland.

Now that the tectonic plates of banking have shifted inexorably to a position of financial denial to housing developers, the Fair’s initiators at government and public agency level need to dig deep into their pockets to make sure the project does not become an architectural disaster zone: should the project fail, there will be no second chance to learn from the experience. And, be assured, as the various previously-interested parties cover their tracks, it will be the architects that will end up carrying the can for their supposedly un-fundable designs. The reputational damage to the profession just doesn’t bear thinking about.

Wilson’s Weekly Wrap

http://www.architecturescotland.co.uk/news/685/Wilson’s_Weekly_Wrap.html

4 Jul 2008

Highland Housing Fair, Part Two

It’s not often I get to see such immediate impact from something I’ve written and in truth it was probably more serendipity than prescience on my part, but following my ‘warning light’ comments last week about next year’s Highland Housing Fair in Inverness, the organisers seem to have taken my advice to heart and moved with commendable rapidity to postpone the event by a year. This is far from being a bad thing – the number of developers unable to raise bank finance for their individual projects was reaching a dangerously high level and the people responsible for the Fair have made the only prudent move possible in the circumstances. Far better to delay than to fail ignominiously and in any case the reasons for the postponement can be readily understood by all. What developer was going to proceed – even had they been able to secure the necessary funding – with construction at current Inverness price levels when the bottom is dropping out of the housing market and likely to pummel the post-Housing Fair sales values?

That said, invoking Plan B can only be seen as a necessarily reactive move and the need for a well thought through Plan C is now pressing. With a shade more time on the delivery side of the project, the need to reduce construction costs without diminishing the design quality of the individual houses needs some real creative thinking. Consideration could, for example, be given to the implementation of a professional sponsorship programme focused on in-kind provision of materials and products for all of the houses planned for the site. Hardly complicated, it is one of the few routes to overall cost reduction that are available in the current economic climate, but it will require co-coordinated – and speedy – action rather than allowing the projects to individually stand or fall. 2010 is not that far away.

Highland Housing Fair Postponed for a Year

4 Jul 2008

steven.raeburn@carnyx.com

The Highland Housing Fair, billed as the first event of its kind in Scotland to showcase house designs of the future, has been unexpectedly postponed.

The event, scheduled to kick off in Inverness in a year’s time, was intended to be a showpiece event where over 50 conceptual, sustainable houses would be on display, will now take place in August 2010.

The downturn in the property market, the poor prospects for the resale of the homes to be constructed, and a lack of finance have been blamed for the postponement.

“A recommendation will be made to the Highland Housing Fair board to delay the Fair from August 2009 to August 2010, in recognition of the economic climate and the shortage of finance available to realise the ambitions of the developers who are committed to the project,” the organisers said in a statement.

“The recommendation will be made at the meeting of the Highland Housing Fair board which will take place in August 2008.”

It had been planned that the houses constructed for the fair would be available to buy, to become a “living community” once the fair ended.

Writing exclusively for architecturescotland.co.uk, Peter Wilson speculated that fear of the declining property market may have prompted the postponement.

“Far better to delay than to fail ignominiously and in any case the reasons for the postponement can be readily understood by all,” he writes.

“What developer was going to proceed – even had they been able to secure the necessary funding – with construction at current Inverness price levels when the bottom is dropping out of the housing market and likely to pummel the post-Housing Fair sales values?”

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Construction Council to be established by CBI

Jul 12th, 2008

by Editor.

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The CBI has announced that it will be enhancing the role it undertakes on behalf of the construction industry.

Following discussions with the major construction companies, the CBI has agreed to set up a Construction Council chaired by John McDonough, chief executive of Carillion plc and vice chairman of the CBI’s Public Services Strategy Board.

The Council, which will represent contractors, house builders, civil engineers, component and product manufacturers, designers and support services, will begin its work in September.

The CBI’s director-general, Richard Lambert said: “The UK construction industry consists of over 250,000 firms, employing 2.1 million people in a wide variety of roles, and accounts for almost 9 per cent of GDP.

“Until now, this important industry has not had the single unified voice it deserves.

“The Construction Council will work closely with the major trade bodies to strengthen their efforts to represent the construction industry and ensure its concerns are clearly heard.”

John McDonough, who will lead the work of the new Council, added: “These are challenging times for the construction industry. While many companies continue to enjoy good markets in the UK and overseas, others, particularly those with exposure to the UK residential market, are facing challenging times.

“Setting up the new Construction Council is, therefore, particularly timely. The Council’s new strategic role at the heart of the CBI will enable the whole sector to benefit from the CBI’s unrivaled access at the highest levels in Whitehall, Westminster and Brussels.”
The Construction Council will be considering a broad range of issues including the economy, energy, land use planning, procurement, climate change and skills.

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