CATTLE market bosses have said taxpayers may have to pick up the £18m bill for moving a town centre auction mart to a rural site unless plans to build 330 houses in open countryside are approved.
Falling property prices and land values have left Darlington Farmers’ Auction Mart with a multi-million pound gap in funding a purposebuilt, out-of-town market.
Now, bosses say the only way to finance the move to Humbleton Farm, off the A68 near Heighington, is for councillors to approve plans for another 330 properties opposite The Northern Echo Darlington Arena, in Neasham Road.
The auction mart, which owns land there, was granted permission to create a 160- house estate two years ago, despite the site being outside the town’s development limits and on greenfield land.
Mart bosses say under an ancient charter, upheld by the House of Lords in 1992, Darlington Borough Council is obligated to provide Darlington with a cattle market.
They say the market has been under increasing pressure to move from people living nearby, who complain about noise, smells and volume of traffic.
This has culminated in the council serving the mart with a noise abatement notice, stating animals cannot be delivered or collected between 9pm and 7am – a restriction which the mart says will make the business unviable if it is upheld by magistrates.
Mart bosses also promised they would free the council of any financial obligation if permission for houses in Neasham Road was granted, meaning the mart could keep all the profits from selling the existing Clifton Road mart site.
Speaking to councillors and the public at a planning forum, Neil Mudie, from the mart, said: “Approval will mean the new agricultural centre will definitely be built.
It’s win-win situation for the community. The town centre problems will disappear and Darlington will have a modern and prestigious development.
“Without approval, and the funding which will follow, the project will fail – leaving the town with the ongoing environmental problems associated with the mart, and the council with an onerous and escalating environmental problem.”
But chairman Paul Baldwin questioned why the mart needed an equine centre, along with shops and services, and Councillor Gerald Lee asked whether the council had ever promised money to the mart over the sale of Clifton Road.
Mr Mudie said the mart itself would cost £18m, with the equine element using the same building. Planning officers promised councillors they would be able to see all financial documents before making a decision.
A council spokeswoman said the council had been legally obligated to serve the noise abatement notice once a nuisance had been identified.
“The council is obliged to provide a cattle mart in the borough and the aim of the abatement notice is to ensure it can operate in the best practical way at its site,” she said.
The planning application for homes is expected to be submitted in the next month.
Source: http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/local/darlington/9214324.Taxpayers_may_face_mart_moving_bill/
No comments:
Post a Comment