Crossgar homes row rumbles on

Crossgar homes row rumbles on

6 June 2012 - by David Telford

A HOUSING Association which has to date failed to develop a site in Crossgar has been asked to return more than £800,000 of public money.

Trinity Housing received a grant from the Housing Executive to develop the site at the Downpatrick Road in the village next door to the home of former Environment Minister Dermot Nesbitt.

Five years after submitting initial plans to build 12 homes at the half acre site, no houses have been built with Trinity now seeking planning permission for three homes at the site which cost almost £900,000.

The proposed development location — which includes a house and garden — was bought in July in 2007 by a property developer for £700,000 and subsequently sold to Trinity Housing for £885,000.

To date, the Housing Association has failed on seven occasions over five years to secure permission for the derelict site which Mr. Nesbitt has described as an “eyesore”

He continued: “This is a legacy of the property bubble that should not have happened because Trinity was trying to build that which good planning policy says shouldn’t be here.

“I am not opposed to social housing. What I am opposed to is that the development Trinity is proposing goes against all good planning. It has tried to get permission for the past five years and if it had been in any way cautious about what was the likelihood of getting permission, it would not have bought it in such a speculative manner.”

Mr. Nesbitt also argued Trinity’s application has been a major factor in delaying social housing provision in Crossgar.

When Trinity purchased the Downpatrick Road site it was successful in securing an Advanced Land Purchase (ALP) grant from the Housing Executive.

These grants were made available to allow Housing Associations to acquire land during the period of very high property prices to make sure they were not priced out of the market and, crucially, that the social housing building programme would continue.

But as a result of Trinity’s failure to develop social homes, the Housing Executive now says it wants the money back.

An Executive spokesman has confirmed to the Recorder that it has initiated the process required to recoup the grant monies paid to Trinity for 19 Downpatrick Road in Crossgar.

Trinity said it is “very easy to be judgmental today, but at that time the situation was entirely different.”

A spokesman continued: “This was in the property boom and to ensure the provision of social housing, the Department for Social Development put in this mechanism called advanced land purchase and we have complied with it fully.

“We would seriously question any sort of attempt to get the grant returned. We have not broken any rules, we have not done anything wrong.

“Yes, receiving planning permission has taken a good deal longer than expected, but we believe that is in the realms of politics.”

The Trinity spokesman said the Downpatrick Road site was bought by a private developer several months before completion of the sale to the Housing Association. He also said securing planning permission is not a requirement of the advanced land purchase agreement.