County sitting on cash from builders (From Evesham Journal)

County sitting on cash from builders

11:23am Thursday 26th November 2009

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MORE than £30,000 given to Worcestershire County Council to spend as part of planning approvals in the Vale remains untouched.

The county council has almost £2.8 million of unspent ‘Section 106’ money – given to the council by developers as part of the conditions of planning applications.

The largest amount resting in the county council account from the Vale is a £25,000 contribution from German supermarket chain Lidl.

They gave the money to the council in May as part of the application to build their new store in Bengeworth, Evesham, which has been up and running for several months.

The county council also received a sum of £3,583 from a development at Baldwin’s Farm, Dorsington Road, Pebworth, and a total of £1,728 from a planning application at the Gordon Russell’s site in Back Lane in Broadway.

Whenever plans for a major development is agreed, the council receives extra money from developers to cover the impact on the surrounding area such as roads, footpaths or schools – this is known as Section 106 money.

There are a total of 98 projects across the county where this money has yet to be spent.

Tom Wells, chairman of the county’s overview and scrutiny committee, said: “It is normal for the council to give a commitment to spend the contribution within five or 10 years; failing which, it must be returned with the accrued interest. The money is not at any time available to support the county council’s budget for day-to-day running expenses or for purposes other than those strictly provided for in the relevant Section 106 agreement.”

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