Transition to Unitary 2 - A Gift at £10 million?
Derwentside’s “Transition Plan” proposes transferring land valued at £10 million to Derwentside Homes.
As the plan makes clear, the council has already agreed in principle to transferring land worth £2.4 million to Derwentside Homes. I voted in favour of this, accepting the argument that since Derwentside Homes had already bid for a grant of just over £2m to build affordable homes on it and would themselves have to invest a further it, it would provide a route to rapid expansion in the provision of affordable housing. The council’s argument is that this “transfer at nil value” - a gift to you and me - will generate expenditure of £8.3m within the district.
I am much less happy about transferring another £7.6 million’s worth with no evidence of similar investment being imminently available. Whilst it might result in further affordable housing at some point in the future, it would also tie the land up in the hands of just one housing provider with limited resources to develop it, and would inevitably remove the flexibility of the unitary council to use the land in other initiatives and ways to create affordable housing.
We need to be very careful that in a desire to preserve a “legacy” within Derwentside we don’t cut off our nose to spite our face.
I’d be really interested to hear your views on this proposal.
have your say
