Council Leader demands tax payers money back

Save Spodden Valley campaigner wants Countryside Properties to pay up

The Leader of Rochdale Council, Councillor Alan Taylor has called for Countryside Properties and MMC to "cough up" for the Atkins Report, which investigated the contaminated land at the former TBA Site in Rochdale.  Rochdale Council estimate that the final cost of producing the report could be as high as £80,000.  In the letter; Councillor Taylor says that the report was commissioned solely to "...assess the adequacy of the studies carried out into ground contamination issues associated with your outline Planning Application to re-develop the former Turner Brothers Asbestos site at Rooley Moor Road."
 
Councillor Taylor said: "I am asking Countryside Properties and MMC to relieve this burden on the taxpayers of Rochdale.  In response to protesters asking for the money back they said that they have not been asked, so I am putting on record, as Leader of Rochdale Council the request.  The final, estimated figure of £80,000 is a huge amount of money to the people of Rochdale.  The decision to commission the report was absolutely the correct one and I applaud Paul Rowen MP, then Leader of the Council for making the bold decision to have this done.  The results speak for themselves and would hope that Countryside Properties and MMC now show commitment to the safe development of the site by meeting the costs of this independent report."
 
The reasons for the request are as follows:
 
There is significant public disquiet about the safety of the proposals and the way information about the site has been presented.  It was clearly imperative that the fullest possible information be obtained on these issues.
 
It is generally accepted that the submission on contamination issues with the original planning application was insufficient.  You [Countryside Properties amp; MMC Estates], as applicant, acknowledged this by providing supplementary information.  To provide a more appropriate submission would have involved you in significant further costs.
 
The report was needed only because of your application to develop the land.
 
You will gain a significant benefit from the report as it identifies the deficiencies in the application submission.
 
Paul Rowen MP said, "I await the decision of Countryside Properties with great interest and hope that they agree to this.  They have not behaved with great dignity in this ongoing problem and it was vital that the Council took this measure.  By paying this money, money paid for by the Tax Payer they can show a real commitment to the truth and the sensitive work that needs doing at this site before any development can take place."
 
Chairman of Rochdale Township - Councillor Elwyn Watkins said, "We are delighted to see the Council Leader calling for Council Tax Payers money back.  This report needed to be done and would hope that this burden is removed from the people in Rochdale.  As the Save Spodden Group rightly say this situation is 'bananas' and it's high time the developers accepted responsibility and coughed up."

Jason Addy, co-ordinator of the Save Spodden Valley campaign fully supports the call made by the Leader of the Council and our MP to get back the money that is owed to the taxpayers of Rochdale.
 
"Papers released thanks to Freedom of Information laws indicate that Countryside Properties have been involved at the asbestos factory site before the woodlands were destroyed in May 2004. This was despite suggestions made to us last year by directors and senior managers of Countryside Properties that they only became involved after tree felling had occured.
 
"It also took an Environmental Information Regulations request in January 2005 to obtain copies of contamination reports that had been conducted prior to the sale of the land. These reports then appeared as a supplemental document bundle in June 2005 some 6 months after the planning application had been lodged".
 
"This all goes to suggest that Countryside Properties are up to their necks in this".