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05
Aug
Brierley Homes to honour Kirkby Malzeard £131,000 community payment after backlash
Brierley Homes has said it will honour a community payment to Kirkby Malzeard after a fierce backlash from local residents.
The company, which is owned by North Yorkshire Council, was granted planning permission for the 33-house Laverton Oaks development in Kirkby Malzeard on the condition that it contributed £131,000 towards sports facilities, community areas and the village hall.
But the council said it was no longer viable for the company to pay the full amount and it planned to submit a planning application to amend the contribution, which is known as a 'commuted sum'.
The move led to claims from Kirkby Malzeard, Laverton and Dallowgill Parish Council that the authority was “sitting on both sides of the negotiating table” on the matter.
A petition was also set up calling on Brierley Homes to pay what the community was owed in full.
Brierley Homes.
In a statement today (August 5), Brierley Homes has confirmed that it will honour the payment to the parish council.
It added that it was also working with Broadacres Housing Association to provide more affordable homes on Laverton Oaks, but this may still require an amendment to the section 106 agreement.
A spokesperson for the company said:
We have listened carefully to concerns and feedback from the local community, those expressed by local members and members of the executive, and we are pleased to confirm that we will honour the payment of £131,000 to the parish council and will not be seeking to reduce or remove that payment. We will commit to providing the funds to be spent under the conditions agreed.
We are also working hard with our housing provider Broadacres to find the route to providing more affordable homes on site. This may mean we still need to vary the 106 agreement.
As a housebuilding business, we remain absolutely committed to providing more affordable homes, but we also need to be pragmatic and ensure we take an approach which reflects budgets and the housing market.
Cllr Felicity Cunliffe-Lister, a Liberal Democrat who represents Masham and Fountains divison on the council, said the decision will help to provide certainty for people in the village.
She said:
This is a really positive outcome for Kirkby Malzeard, and a victory for the local community, who made it clear that this commitment simply had to be honoured. I’m pleased that Brierley Homes has listened, and confirmed it will pay the £131,000 in full to the parish council.
From the outset, Liberal Democrat councillors have worked alongside residents and the parish council to press for this agreement to be upheld. This funding was promised as part of the development and it is only right that local people receive the assured investment.
While there are still important questions around the affordable housing element of the scheme, today’s announcement provides certainty over funding that will directly benefit the village.
We’ll continue to work constructively to ensure Kirkby Malzeard received the community investment it has been promised, along with the affordable homes it needs.
Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire Council, pictured in January 2024.
The move to consider amending the community payment provoked a strong response from the local community.
Cllr Pippa Manson, chair of Kirkby Malzeard, Laverton and Dallowgill Parish Council, wrote to Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire Council, on the matter last month.
Cllr Manson urged Cllr Les to reassure the parish council that it would receive the community contributions that it was expecting.
She said:
We are most concerned that North Yorkshire Council is effectively sitting on both sides of the negotiating table. North Yorkshire Council owns Brierley Homes and it acts as the planning authority responsible for making sure that planning obligations are delivered.
Can we be reassured that Kirkby Malzeard will fairly receive the Section 106 funding it is expecting?
However, speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service in July, Cllr Les that the trigger point in which Brierley Homes had to pay the community funding had not yet been reached so the company did not yet owe anything.
He said:
Brierley Homes has found that the site conditions and other matters are more expensive than was first anticipated so that is having an impact on the project costs.
Like any other developer, one of their options is to ask the council if it would alter the terms of the conditions, and that’s what it’s done, but it would then have to go to a planning committee for them to agree it.
Brierley Homes was established in 2017 to make money to fund council services.
But is currently propped up by a £27 million taxpayer loan.
The company has been criticised on multiple occasions by councillors for being reliant on council loans to help its cashflow issues.
The 33-home Laverton Oaks site in Kirkby Malzeard is among its current developments.
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