Russell Homes, the developer who is building 265 houses and a link road on protected land in Grotton, Oldham have failed to pay £115,000 as part of the planning conditions.
The payment was agreed with the Council and is called Section 106 money. The payment is meant to be used by the Council to improve the local area to offset the impact of building so many new houses and was due on day one of building works – that work started this week. The missing payment was discovered by Liberal Democrat Councillor for Grotton, Springhead and Lees, Mark Kenyon.
He said: “The community, as a whole, doesn’t want this development, yet it was forced upon us. Considering the amount of money that Russell Homes will make on all these new houses, £115,000 is a drop in the ocean. The bare minimum that Russell Homes could do would be to pay on time. I’ve little hope they’ll observe any of the other planning conditions without careful monitoring which my team and I are prepared to do.
“I’ve written to Russell Homes asking for our money and reminding them that interest is payable on late payments.”