Update on planning gain - April 2010

Update from the Council on the spending of the planning gain funds:


As you have noted, the first phase of the Lionthorn environmental improvements has been complete, with the planting of significant areas of new woodland and hedging. The planting of standard trees along the distributor road will follow, as will path works during the summer. This is being done through CSFT, and the value of the works totals around £210k, of which £100k came from the planning gain fund. This obviously represents good leverage of other funds.



The upgrade of the car parking area at Fox Covert is designed and costed nominally at £50k. There is a delay in getting the land transferred from Callendar Estate to the Council, which needs to happen before the works can proceed. However, we hope to go out to tender soon, and we’re also hopeful the cost will come in at lower than £50k.



Feasibility work on upgrading of the Policy Bing recreational area is ongoing, and is being led by our Community Services. I understand site investigation works have been carried out and these are being assessed. The key is getting costings so that we can confirm the extent of facilities that can be provided. We have provisionally allocated £150k to this project.



Work is also shortly to start on the last sections of the path from the Policy Bing down to the distributor road. This doesn’t involve any planning gain money, but is being done partly by ourselves and partly by Persimmon.



Nothing further has been done on the small scale improvements you have highlighted. In general terms, our internal implementation group agreed that we should hold back on the smaller projects until it was clear what the overall spend on the larger projects was. On the gorse bushes, if this is part of the ground maintained by the Greenbelt Co, then they should probably be doing this tidy up, without using the planning gain money. On the SUDs, I would advise speaking to our biodiversity staff about what enhancements might be possible/appropriate. In terms of the wall repairs, we would have to establish who owns and is responsible for the maintenance of this wall.



I had been hoping to do another newsletter for the community, but haven’t had the time as yet. Hopefully, I’ll get something out early summer. There is likely to be some kind of launch event once the environmental improvement project is complete.



Hope this helps.



Regards,

Alistair.



Alistair Shaw

Development Plan Co-ordinator

Falkirk Council Development Services

Abbotsford House

Falkirk