New Rugby Club approved

The proposed site over three fields at Menehay alongside Bickland Water Road, will include a clubhouse, proper training facilities and enable the rugby club to progress forward.

The proposed plan has caused considerable concern locally. Not only to residents near the Bickland Water site but also to those who claim the current rugby ground site in Dracaena Avenue should be retained for recreational purposes whether the rugby club move or not.

Two district authorities are involved in the overall scheme. The new site is within Kerrier and the old site within Carrick.

Kerrier were "mindful" of granting permission for the Menehay site last year but had to refer it to the Government Office of the South West.

On Monday, Mr Kevin Mosely for Kerrier said the Government office had decided to take no action and had referred it back to the district authority for a decision.

"Because Kerrier planning committee had already resolved to grant planning permission it now means a decision notice of approval can be issued. I understand it will go out today. There are conditions," he said.

It is not clear how soon it will be before the rugby club begin work on the new ground. A decision still has to be made about the future of the existing club site in Falmouth which is expected to part fund the development.

The current rugby club site known as the recreation ground comes under Carrick district council who lease the ground to the club. There are 20 years still to run.

It is earmarked for housing with 40 per cent of the properties being affordable homes.

Louise Dwelly, affordable housing manager for Carrick told the Packet it was likely the authority would now discuss ideas with a developer with a view to a plan being submitted. There was still a long way to go and a number of consultations would have to be held.

She said nothing would happen on the current site until the club moved but that move would partly finance the new rugby ground. The rugby club lease had a financial value and if planning was submitted for the recreation ground and granted there would be a legal obligation attached.

She said and when the project moved forward Carrick would be looking for a partner to work with. The whole scheme was a contentious one, she added. Carrick had received numerous letters questioning the use of the current rugby club site for housing. In an effort to answer all the points a detailed question and answer sheet had been sent out.

"We own the title on the land and there are no restrictive covenants," she said. But it could only be developed if recreational facilities were provided elsewhere.

A strong campaign has been launched to stop the recreation ground being turned over to housing and a petition signed by 4,000 has been prepared.

A list of questions from concerned residents together with answers from Carrick council are listed below. What do you think? Use the comment form at the foot of the page to let us know or e.mail:has editorial@packetseries.co.uk Falmouth Recreation Ground Project: Frequently Asked Questions Why is the Council doing this ?

The Council must take action to meet the community's identified needs and priorities. In consultation exercises and surveys, local people state that the most pressing priority is the need for affordable housing and this is why it is such an important priority for this Council. There are currently 740 households looking for affordable housing to rent in the town that we know about and a further 300 on our first time buyers register. There is a desperate need for affordable housing and very few opportunities to meet this need.

If the recreation ground is developed for housing, won't this mean a loss of open space for the town?

No. This is not the case. National and local Carrick policies mean that the recreation ground can only be redeveloped for another purpose if equivalent sports or recreational facilities of the same quality are reprovided elsewhere. The Menehey farm site which now has detailed planning permission will provide a new rugby facility which is not only of equivalent quality but will also provide additional playing and training areas and a club house which meets the needs of modern rugby including better changing facilities, disabled access etc.

In any event, the site is not currently public open space. The facility is a private club, used solely by the club and by others only with their permission. The new facilities will be a chance to increase community involvement in rugby and the number of youth and women's teams who use them.

As the town of Falmouth grows, the Council is also committed to ensuring that there are sufficient high quality services to meet the needs of the town. This project, and the closely related sports hub club project are opportunities to increase recreational and sporting facilities for the town.

The Council will also be using some of the sale proceeds to help deliver the sports hub club at the Falmouth school site which will enable additional pitches and facilities to be made available for the school and community use.

Any new housing development must also provide sufficient open space for local residents. This will mean that there will still be areas of open space and, if needed, play or recreational facilities on the redeveloped recreation ground site. This is likely to mean a greater level of public access than currently.

I have heard that the site has restrictions or covenants on it which prevent development. Is this true?

This is not the case. The Council hold the deeds for the site and is therefore fully conversant with their contents. It has also undertaken local searches. There are no restrictive covenants on the use of the site or preventing any future use. The site was not gifted to the Council but was purchased by it and continued to be mainly used as a sports ground. Nothing in the contract or deeds limits future use. Indeed, the recital to the deed states that the site was sold to the then local council as "pleasure grounds or such other purposes as the Corporation may determine".

Why is the Council giving public funds from the sale to a private rugby club?

The rugby club has a long leasehold on the recreation ground site, the Council is the freeholder. In law, a long lease has a monetary value. For example, if you live in a flat, the chances are that you are a leaseholder and you would expect to benefit from the proceeds from selling your home. The same legal rights apply to the rugby club. Relocation will, therefore, be funded from the club's own share of the site value. This has been assessed by an independent valuer, not employed by the Council.

The cost of relocation could not be funded from the site's current value as a rugby club. But would be funded from the increase in land value which would be generated from a residential planning permission. The vast majority of the rugby club's share of the proceeds will go straight into the development of new facilities and be ring fenced for this purpose. The Council will still continue to be the freeholder of the new facilities.

The Council has made a firm commitment that its own share of the site value will be reinvested in Falmouth, either to deliver affordable housing on the site and to make a financial contribution to sports facilities on the sports hubclub site.

How much housing would be built on the recreation ground site?

The project is at far too early a stage to give exact numbers. The number of homes will be determined by their size and the mix between, for example, flats and houses. We have a desperate need for family housing in Falmouth so this many mean that there are more houses with gardens rather than flats. If the site came forward for housing, the Council would use its land ownership and the planning process to make sure that a scheme of the right scale and quality was delivered. Based on the size of the site, we could estimate that between 80 and 130 homes might be provided. The design would need to take account of the size and scale of development surrounding the site.

Will 100% of the homes be affordable?

No, but there are a number of good reasons for this.

1. The site can only be developed if the rugby club facilities are reprovided. These new facilities must be funded through the sale of the site. This limits the amount of funding that can be used to provide affordable housing.

2. Affordable housing costs a lot of money to develop. This is because the government sets clear design standards it must comply with - for example higher levels of energy efficiency which can be very expensive. Also, making sure it is rented or sold at an affordable price has a cost. Building the whole site as affordable housing might cost in excess of £11 million. Having a mix of affordable housing and market housing would make it more financially viable. There will then be more funding to help deliver the affordable homes and keep them affordable.

3. The Council wants a high quality development that contributes to the town. Most people would agree that the best way to achieve this is to have a good mix of housing types and income groups in a neighbourhood, rather than a concentration of affordable housing.

So How Much Affordable Housing will there be?

On housing developments in Falmouth of 15 or more homes, the Council's starting point is to ask for 40% to be affordable. As this is public sector land, we would want to do better than this. How much better we do will depend on economics when we look at the cost of building both schemes. But it is likely to be between 40 and 50 percent.

What is affordable housing?

There are different kinds of affordable housing but in general they can be split into three groups: Social rented housing. This can be housing managed by housing associations and rented at very low rents. On average these are between £40 and £60 a week. There is no right to buy on these properties and they are retained at affordable rents for the future.

Shared ownership. This is often developed by a housing association. A family can buy as little as a 25% share in a new home and the balance is rented from the housing association. If a family's income / circumstances improve, they can buy additional shares until they own their home outright. The rent and mortgage payments would be much less than a conventional mortgage. If a household buys additional shares, this funding is recycled into the development of more affordable homes for the area.

Low cost housing to buy. This is private housing to buy but the developer is required to sell the property at far less than open market value, perhaps up to 50% less. This makes the initial purchase far more affordable but when the household want to sell their home, they can only sell it for the same proportion of market value. The prices vary and relate to local earnings. But for a two bedroom house, a working couple should currently pay no more than £93,000.

The new development would include a range of affordable housing including homes to rent and to buy as in the example above. All forms of affordable housing have robust mechanisms in place to ensure that they remain affordable. This can be through ownership - being owned by the Council or a housing association - or through covenants secured with the planning permission which limit the price at which the property can be sold in the future.

Is it worth going ahead if only 40 or 50 affordable homes are provided?

No one is claiming that this one site will solve Falmouth's affordable housing problems. But that is not a reason to do nothing. There will need to be a range of sites to meet housing needs in the future and this is only one. In any event, it may not seem a lot but it is very difficult to deliver any affordable housing in Falmouth despite the desperate need for more homes. Over the past two years only eight affordable homes have been completed in the town. Compare this with Truro and the other rural areas where on average we are building up to 100 annually. Carrick led a similar project in Truro at the former City Hospital site. This is producing almost 100 affordable homes from one site alone. We want to be able to do something similar to help the people in Falmouth.

It is important to remember that the existing sports facilities will not be lost at the expense of housing. New affordable homes will be built and new facilities provided. There won't be one without the other.

Aren't there any better sites?

Housing land is very expensive and the Council only has control over land in its ownership. The Council doesn't own much land but it has considered a number of other options before this site. The sites that could be brought forward for housing tend to be in private ownership and the land owner, if willing to sell at all, wants a much higher price than the Council could pay. There are far fewer opportunities in Falmouth anyway, because the town is restricted on two sides by the sea and the Kerrier border. Of the sites that are available outside the town, some could be allocated for housing in the future as part of the local development framework which replaces the local plan. But this will take several years even to be adopted and several years after then before some sites are developed. We are trying to respond to an urgent community need now. In addition, all of these sites are likely to be subject to similar objections and opposition from some quarters of the community.

Will the Community have a say about the kind of development that is proposed?

Yes. The community would be consulted in any event as part of the planning process. However, as the Council is involved in this scheme, we would look to do more. This is likely to involve consulting the public on the development brief for the site (a document which sets out what might be developed on the site and how it might be designed). This can be binding on the developer at the start of the planning process. On large sites of this kind, public exhibitions can also be held. This stage will include further assessment on traffic impact and accessibility to services. There will also be further opportunities created by the development to improve traffic flow along Tregenver Road and these can be considered as part of consultation around the brief.

What will happen next?

The Council and the rugby club will look for a developer partner who will work alongside them to draw up a draft development brief. This will then be circulated to a number of interested groups and the community for consultation. The partners will then commission architects and begin to draw up a detailed scheme to prepare for a planning application.