Counting the cost of the Parkway dispute
West Berkshire Council still waiting to receive almost £1m of car parking revenue from developer
THE ‘scandal’ of affordable housing lying empty at Parkway may be a step closer to being resolved – but West Berkshire Council and developer Standard Life Investments (SLI) are still embroiled in a row over car parking revenue worth almost £1m.
Before construction began at the site, the council sold public land to SLI for £1 on the basis that a fee, believed to be between £250,000 and £300,000, was received in parking revenue each year.
However, the council has not yet received a single penny owing to its ongoing dispute with the developer over the affordable homes at Parkway.
The council said that before any money can be exchanged, a land transfer must take place between the two parties – but that this cannot be done until the agreement for the affordable homes is signed off.
This week, SLI contradicted that claim, saying that the car parking revenue was not linked to the affordable homes, and blamed the council for the delay.
In 2008, West Berkshire Council paid £900,000 of taxpayer’s money to SLI to ensure that 37 of the 147 homes being built at Parkway were affordable.
The 37 units were completed in early 2013, but are still unoccupied 32 months later, owing to SLI not appointing a social housing provider to manage them.
As a result, the council refused to transfer ownership of the land until the issue was resolved and also took the unprecedented step of blocking the sale of new private homes.
In August, SLI announced that it had finally exchanged contracts with One Housing Group – a leading developer and provider of homes and housing in London and the South East.
However, SLI still needs to “satisfy certain contractual obligations” that involve the completion of some minor works to the affordable units before they can be made available.
The developer admitted that this could take up to 16 weeks, meaning the homes may still not be occupied until early next year.
Once SLI has completed the contract for the affordable homes, the council says it will immediately stop blocking the sale of private homes.
The land transfer from West Berkshire Council to SLI can then take place and, as a result, the council will receive three years-worth of car parking income, worth in the region of £1m.
Council leader Gordon Lundie (Con, Lambourn Valley) said: “The land transfer will be triggered by the completion of the affordable homes contract, not the exchange.
“As soon as SLI do what they need to do, we can stop blocking the sale of private homes and complete the land transfer.
“They have got a chunk of money, a lot of money, they owe us in terms of car parking revenue.”
A spokesman for SLI said: “The land transfer was never technically connected to the exchange of contracts with One Housing Group.
“In fact, the land transfer documents have been agreed for some time and the transfer ought to have taken place shortly after Parkway opened.
“The council decided unilaterally to link the two, so that they could block the sale of private homes.
“The council has always had the ability to sign private leases and we very much hope that it will resume doing so very soon.
“We can neither compel the council to transfer the land, nor can we therefore provide a specific timescale within which this will happen.”
A spokesman for SLI previously said: “Under the terms of the contract we have with the council in respect of the car park, payments are only due once the deed (agreement) has been completed. The deed is contingent on a land transfer which the council has not yet facilitated.”
A spokeswoman for the council, Peta Stoddart-Crompton, said at the time: “Our solicitors are waiting for agreed plans from SLI which they (SLI) didn’t send last year.
“Therefore, it would appear that this delay lies with SLI and not with the council.”