Nottingham councillors have delayed their decision to approve a new apartment block and a number of houses over money concerns. Plans for the vacant site next to a tower block in Sneinton have been a long time coming and a developer was hoping to move forward after a period of dormancy until it deemed building on the site to be "technically unviable."
The Burrows Court 19-storey tower, off Windmill Lane, was built in 1967 and underwent a surprise refurbishment in 2019 as part of the first phase of the regeneration of the area. Initial improvement works were approved in 2013, and the second phase of the development was to build a new apartment block and homes on the surrounding land.
Plans submitted on behalf of developer Landmark Capital Investment had been recommended by planning officers to be approved by councillors at the next Nottingham City Council planning committee meeting. The meeting took place on Wednesday, April 20, but the final approval was postponed over a number of issues.
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It was revealed the developer would be offering a "reduced" Section 106 contribution, money from which is given by a developer to assist in community projects, open space improvements and affordable housing, in return for the approval of a scheme. Councillor AJ Matsiko, who represents Sherwood for Labour, said what was being offered left him "disappointed".
For such a development the developer would be expected to provide a total contribution of £592,916, comprising of affordable housing (£491,422), open space enhancement (£97,564) and cash towards employment and training (£3,930). However the developer conducted viability assessments, which have only just been released, stating the scheme is "technically unviable", meaning it is "justifiable to reduce the contributions to allow the development to be delivered."
Therefore the developer has instead offered £167,300, which comprises of £136,234 towards affordable housing, £27,136 to open spaces and £3,930 for employment. Speaking of the issue councillor Matsiko said: "Essentially the Section 106 offers a £421,000 loss in terms of what we are getting, but my main point was that we had agreed at a committee a long time ago that assurances from officers that we would have Section 106 viability assessments before the committee. It was probably over a year ago now.
"The point was we have not had a chance to assess that ourselves as well as the committee. I am very disappointed that nearly half a million has been lost in Section 106 contributions."
Concerns were then raised by councillor Pavlos Kotsonis, who represents Lenton and Wollaton East, over whether or not the scheme really is deliverable. He added: "How confident are we, that if we approve this today, that it is a viable scheme? That it is going to happen?"
Planning officers replied to say they could be "no more confident" that this scheme will come to fruition than any other development which gets approval. However a final decision was ultimately postponed to allow the committee more time to look into the Section 106 issues and concerns over the scheme's viability.
The item will return at the next planning meeting pending further negotiations.
