Curo old application still valid

Nov 16, 2022

There seemed to be some confusion about whether Curo had made a start to the development. 

There was a document that appeared on the council planning site that looked like a refusal to discharge a condition.

The original planning application was won when they appealed. They then had two years in which to make a start. They did so by digging a concrete trench which they say is the end wall foundation of one of the houses. They then wrote to B&NES enclosing a photo and a description of what they had done, saying that "a material start in delivering the approved development has been made at the site"

I wrote to the planning office to ask them if, as far as they were concerned if this was all actually correct. I got a reply today, from Sam Mason, the senior planning officer.

She stated:

I can confirm that a satisfactory start to the development on site has commenced and as such the application 12/05477/OUT
is considered extant.
The applicant attempted to discharge 3 of the outline application under application 20/01322/COND however compliance conditions cannot be discharged. As such while the Council were satisfied that development had commenced, the Council were technically unable to formally discharge the condition through the applied process, hence why the application 20/01322/COND refers to ‘Refusal’.

So as far as the council are concerned, Curo can still go ahead with the old proposed 89 house development. Questions remain though. They were given planning permission in April 2018. Why did they not start building that year? One plausible theory is that once they had the go ahead, they started trying to get contractors. They were unable to do so, possibly due to the extreme difficulty of the slope and geography of the site. Or maybe everyone was just busy?

They then realised that unless they made a start, then the application would lapse so they snuck in and poured some concrete. Then its all quiet until they pop up with a brand new application, for 51 homes. We think that there was a good reason that they never started tthe 89 home scheme: it was not doable after they tried to get contractors in to build it. Or at least not doable within their budget. So they started again. 

It seems highly unlikely that the new application will be flat out turned down. Itt may ask for modifications though and request further investigation into drainage and other matters.

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