Man ordered to pay nearly £100k to council after building dream home on Cathcart greenspace

A man has been ordered to pay an “excessive” £97,000 compensation by the council to build a dream home on greenspace among woodland in Cathcart.

Matt Bridgestock is fighting to pay £21,000 instead over the loss of greenspace after getting the go-ahead to construct a four bedroom two storey house with a balcony on derelict land.

He won permission to erect the property on the condition he pays the huge sum, as the council says 3,455 square metres of open green space is being lost on the site between 6 Brunton Terrace and 38 Brunton Street.

The architect tried to get the council to change the planning obligation – with a statement describing the cash demand as “excessive” and “unreasonable” and that the development would no longer be viable.

But the council refused saying: “The financial contribution of £97,860 is commensurate with the scale of development and is required in compensation for the loss of open space on site.”

A statement lodged on behalf of Mr Bridgestock said: “Self build mortgage providers have confirmed that no lender will loan against a Section 75, therefore this creates a significant cash flow issue.”

Now an appeal has been lodged with the Scottish Government against the obligation to pay the amount.

A statement submitted as part of the appeal on behalf of Mr Bridgestock argued “that no other application within the last five years has paid a Section 75 contribution of more than £3,400 per dwelling.” But the council said those sites don’t appear to be “directly comparable” with the proposed development.

The statement representing Mr Bridgestock added: “It is contended that the scale of contribution does not fairly and reasonably relate in scale to this single-dwelling development, and is dis-proportionately large.”

Mr Bridgestock’s agent said in a statement the council’s claim that all greenspace would be lost due to the development is “incorrect.” The agent stated only 700 square metres would be taken up by the house and garden – requiring a revised contribution of £21,000.

The statement said 2,346 square metres of woodland would be protected as a tree preservation order covers it. The land, which has had no public access for years, would remain private.

The council said the “applicant’s interpretation of the area of greenspace lost by development is considered to be incorrect.”

It said the whole site is “open space” and the full site would be under the applicant’s ownership and control – meaning the defined area of open space would be lost.

It added: “Public access to the site would be removed or restricted owing to the residential nature of the site.”

The council’s statement continued: “The proposed development would result in the re-categorisation of the woodland to create private garden ground, and the woodland would be associated with a private house.

“The council cannot accept compensation for partial loss of open space as the wider site is associated with the dwellinghouse.”

Responding to claims that ££97,860 is disproportionately large, the council said: “For a publicly useable category of open space the contribution is calculated as a rate of £300,000 per ha.

“For this site, this would be calculated on the basis that the woodland would be changed to private garden ground, resulting in the loss of 3455sqm (0.34 ha). This would mean that compensation in the region of £100,000 would be required. Following the appeal and subsequent negotiations around the obligation this was reduced to £97,860 to take account of the access road not forming part of the calculation.”

The Scottish Government reporter is currently considering the planning obligation appeal.