Herald Express (Torbay, Brixham & South Hams Edition)
£1.9m bill to reclaim land for housing
TORBAY’S ‘green lung’ could substantially shrink with the council set to do a deal with a countryside trust to take back control of land set aside for housing, or risk losing a £3 million government grant.
Councillors voted to pay £1.9m to get back 10 acres of land at Preston Down Road, Paignton, which it had leased to Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust. The lease still has more than 40 years to run, but it was one of the sites identified by the Government for a share of a £3m fund to get it ready for housing.
The land is among sites set aside for housing in the local plan, along with 45 acres at Little Blagdon Farm, at Collaton St Mary, also on lease to the trust. The council is set to agree giving the trust similar land in exchange for the farm.
The £3m grant was awarded to the authority in March on the condition the housing land was prepared for sale by March 2020.
If the deadline is missed, the money will have to go back.
TORBAY’S ‘green lung’ could substantially shrink with the council set to do a deal with a countryside trust to take back control of land set aside for housing, or risk losing a £3m government grant.
Councillors voted to pay £1.9 million to get back 10 acres of land at Preston Down Road, Paignton, which it had leased to Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust. The lease still has more than 40 years to run, but it was one of the sites identified by the Government for a share of a £3m fund to get it ready for housing. The land is among sites set aside for housing in the local plan, along with 45 acres at Little Blagdon Farm, at Collaton St Mary, also on lease to the trust.
The council is set to agree giving the trust similar land in exchange for the farm, and it is understood it will agree to pay for the new land to be readied for organic production. The £3m grant was awarded to the authority in March on the condition the housing land was prepared for sale by March 2020.
If the deadline is missed, the money will have to go back.
Talks have been going on this year about the two sites, but up to last Thursday’s council
The land on Preston Down Road meeting, the two sides had been unable to reach agreement.
Torbay mayor Gordon Oliver went to the council to ask for chief executive Steve Parrock to be given powers to start compulsory purchase as a last resort. Councillors rejected that plan, and decided instead to back a proposal from the Conservative group to do the deal on the basis of a £1.9m payment and land-swap. It is estimated the sites would provide 500 homes, including 150 affordable units.
Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust is a charity set up in the late 1990s to manage more than 1,700 acres of public open space leased to it by Torbay Council. The trust warned the council that going ahead with a CPO would damage their relationship and could even put the future of the trust at risk. It said a deal was close, but warned it would fight attempts to force it to surrender land.
Little Blagdon Farm was leased to the trust until 2059 to replace land given up at Occombe for Sutton Seeds. The lost of the farm would “severely damage” the trust’s farming operation and it wanted a suitable replacement.