Council short by £200k in unpaid payments from housing developers

The authority is preparing to take one developer to court over non-payment of £77,000, while the dissolution of another company has left the authority short by £113,000.

The cash is made up of missed Section 106 payments – a legal agreement between authorities and developers to contribute to the community.

A meeting of the council’s planning committee heard how officers have been chasing the payment of £77,000 for the development of the Ridgeway Craft Centre, in Main Road, Ridgeway, since 2017.

Team manager and solicitor Jim Fieldsend said: “The developer has denied all liability to pay the money under the Section 106 agreement therefore the matter has now been referred to court.”

He added that the authority is currently awaiting a court date.

Officers first requested the payment of £113,000 for the White House development, in Main Road, Morton, in 2016.

Mr Fieldsend explained that the matter had previously been discussed with members in a meeting last year.

He said: “It was explained the reason why we struggled to recover the money is that the developer is no longer in existence.”

“There was discussion about maybe chasing the individual homeowners, however I think members were very reluctant to go down that route.

“Therefore I think what is actually needed is a formal decision not to pursue the matter.”

A further missing payment of £9,000 for the Royal Hotel development, in Station Road, Eckington, was unaccounted for.

Councillor Mark Foster commented: “We have got the public looking at us with things like this.

“It’s important to keep on top of things.”

A report into all current Section 106 payments indicated the authority is currently sitting on a pot of £2.3million, which has been collected for use within the community.

Included in this is more than £291,000 in payments that need to be spent in the next 18 months.

The most pressing sum of money is £260,000, which is due to be spent on affordable housing by December 21 this year.

The committee voted in favour of having quarterly Section 106 updates in order to stay on top of progress.