Builder disputing how much should be given to school in homes development
PLANS to build homes on empty Swadlincote fields are set to be approved – despite arguments over cash to be given to a nearby school.
The houses are earmarked for land to the rear of Common Side and north of Penkridge Road, Church Gresley.
However, there are wrangles over whether the developer should donate more than £106,000 to The Pingle Academy, in Coronation Street, Swadlincote. An applicant listed as “R Carter” has applied to South Derbyshire District Council for permission to build the homes.
Derbyshire County Council said it will agree to the proposal if a developer contribution of £106,027.64 is paid towards additional education facilities at Pingle. But the applicant disagrees with the wording of the spend criteria and the calculation used to set out the pupil places required.
The county council had said that the development of 14 homes would generate four secondary school places. It said The Pingle Academy had capacity for 1,376 pupils, with 1,286 pupils currently on roll.
The number of pupils on roll is projected to increase to 1,505 during the next five years. The county council says that means the school “would not have sufficient capacity to accommodate the four secondary phase (with post-16) pupils arising from the proposed development”.
Now a planning committee hearing will take place on Tuesday, November 15 to decide whether to allow the plans. They have already been recommended for approval by planning officers, on the condition the developer contributes the money within six months of getting the green light.
The proposal is for the erection of 14 homes, including three-bed semidetached and two-bed terraced properties. An access driveway and parking area is also part of the plans.
District council planning officers have concluded in their report to the committee: “The level of contribution required is fair and reasonable in scale and kind and is determined using multipliers provided by the Department for Education based on their analysis of building costs per pupil adjusted to reflect regional variations in costs. These multipliers are revised annually in line with building cost inflation using the Building Cost Information Service All in Tender Price Index.”