BODMIN Town Council is set to issue a strong objection to a bid by a housing developer to get out of paying £348,798 towards infrastructure.

Wainhomes recently obtained planning permission to build 58 open market dwellings on land to the east of Pandarosa Farm on St Lawrence Road in Bodmin, has applied to Cornwall Council seeking to remove its obligation to pay £348,748 towards the town’s health and education infrastructure.

The developer stated in the application that doing so makes the project ‘unviable’ – which in the context of housing developments means that it is likely to deliver a profit of under 17.5 per cent.

It submitted a report by consultants Vickery Holman that states that the scheme as-is with the financial obligations would mean that the developer would not achieve a sufficient profit to make the scheme viable.

Prior to this latest application, it had successfully argued that a requirement for affordable housing would make the development unviable due to its requirement to provide land for a primary school.

If the obligation to pay the contributions was maintained, it would deliver a profit of around 10 per cent, whereas if the obligation was removed the profit becomes 13.13 per cent, which Vickery Holman’s analysis stated would improve the situation.

In comparison to a normal planning meeting, there was a sizeable public attendance with the vast majority of those interested the Pandarosa application.

Geoff Lebbon, a nearby resident said: “If Wainhomes felt that this development was not viable, why did they sign a contractual legal document having already been advised of the financial contribution they would need to accept?

“Bodmin Town Council and Cornwall Council must play hardball, and Wainhomes must not be allowed to get away with this flagrant attempt to tear up a fully binding agreement.”

Christine Howard, who has led a long campaign against proposals by the developer to build over 500 houses on land at Halgavor Moor, said that her concerns weren’t related to the application that she is best associated as campaigning against but for the wider town if approved.

Phil Cooper, a former mayor of the town was also in attendance at the meeting, said: “I would like to congratulate the people here tonight on using their democratic voice, and I would like to congratulate Christine (Howard) and Jack (Stevenson). Throughout the development, it has been approved and ultimately, the town council can’t stop it but I urge the council to continue insisting that the terms and conditions agreed as part of the approval are met, continue to raise the point and if necessary, embarrass them as much as possible.

“There’s been plenty of past experience of planners being caught out by developers, and it is important that doesn’t happen this time.”

Cllr Liz Ahearn was vociferous in her objections, stating: “I would say that they have built enough houses in this town to make enough profit for this to be a more than viable project and if they seem unviable, perhaps they should cease the development, reinstate the Cornish stone hedge, re-seed the field and move on.

“It is not for the people of Bodmin to suffer the consequences and I object to releasing them of the obligation to remove this payment.

“If you pay rent, or take out a mortgage, you commit to paying those. You can’t then decide you don’t want to make that payment, so you don’t pay it, and in my mind, if this goes through it deprives people of Bodmin.”

Referring to issues with a road built on a nearby development by Wainhomes, which has had repeated issues with its construction and difficulties with it being adopted as a public highway, Cllr Ahearn added: “We’ve had issues with infrastructure before, with the road that was built by the developer on Boundary Road as a primary example. I urge Bodmin Town Council to strongly object to this application.”

Bodmin Town Council also agreed on a written motion by Cllr Jeremy Cooper who said in his email to Cllr Andy Coppin, the chair of the planning committee at the council: “I wish to propose that the Bodmin Town Council planning committee consider resolving to write an open letter, to the Bodmin Cornwall Council Ward Members, the Leader of Cornwall Council, the North Cornwall MP and the Secretary of State, objecting to this blatant disregard for the local community by endearing to circumvent obligations to improve local infrastructure while profiteering form the said community.”

Also present at the meeting was Bodmin’s mayor, Cllr Mike Barbery and the deputy mayor, Cllr Pete Skea.

Cllr Barbery said: “I would like to ask why the people of Bodmin should suffer so a developer should make more profit? Section 106 funding is there for the people of Bodmin, to support the town when new developments arrive, so this is something I definitely cannot support.”

Cllr Skea said: “I hear the points of the members of the public and ultimately, it doesn’t matter what we as the Bodmin Town Council planning committee say, we can only say that we either want it, or really don’t want it, and have to give the reasons why we don’t want it. But at the end of the day, we’re only consultees and Cornwall Council can just ignore what we say and overturn our wishes.

“I contacted the Cornwall Councillor twice by email when the Pandarosa development came on the agenda previously, but our invitations for their attendance at our planning meeting was declined.

“In a nutshell, if we supported this scheme, we would be letting residents down, and ultimately, for that reason we have no other option but to not support this proposal.”

Bodmin Town Council resolved to object to the application and write the open letter.

MP Ben Maguire was asked for his opinion on the issue in light of the concerns raised by residents prior to the meeting but has yet to supply a comment.

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Wainhomes were also approached for comment.