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<u>BURTON MAIL </u>(UK) 13 December 06 Rehousing newts costs council £45k (Keith Bull)
Councillors have hit out at the £45,000 ($CDN 102K, $US 88K, Euro 67K) costs of saving a colony of newts under threat from a housing development.
Parish councillors are unhappy that the cash has been spent from their share of money allocated to provide community facilities to compensate for the building of hundreds of new homes in Hilton.
The figure emerged after councillors studied a balance sheet from South Derbyshire District Council showing how "Section 106" money generated by the development of Hilton’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) site had been spent.
To one side of the site, at The Mease, 1,400 houses are being built by a host of developers, generating £450,000 for the district council to spend on the village.
Industrial units were originally planned on the other side, but a change of use to residential development has seen developer Wimpey Homes begin building 279 houses.
Before Wimpey started work on the site, the rare and endangered great crested newts were re-homed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust experts, with the cost raising eyebrows among community leaders.
The number of houses being built has led to fears about how the village’s infrastructure will cope, with councillors worried about how schooling and doctors' surgeries will be affected.
However, Section 106 money totalling £3 million, secured as a type of compensation cash from developers now building on the land, is being spent on a new leisure centre earmarked to be built at John Port School in Etwall.
Although recognising that the project is a worthy scheme, parish councillors feel that Hilton should have been handed a more equal split of the money.
Just £500,000 has been earmarked to be spent on Hilton, and that money has been eaten into by moving the newts.
In total, £110,000 from the amount expected to be spent on Hilton remains, which community leaders feel is inadequate to carry out the village plan, which includes a £1 million extension of the village hall.
Parish council chairman Lis Kolkman said: "There is more than enough houses being built but the village does not have the infrastructure to cope. Mistakes have been made in the past with infrastructure and they are being made again.
"It is costing an awful lot to rehouse newts, which could be spent helping the situation. It is surely the developer’s responsibility to pay for something like that.
"We think there should be more communication between the parish and district councils to help right the wrongs in this village."
http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id=7060616
Councillors have hit out at the £45,000 ($CDN 102K, $US 88K, Euro 67K) costs of saving a colony of newts under threat from a housing development.
Parish councillors are unhappy that the cash has been spent from their share of money allocated to provide community facilities to compensate for the building of hundreds of new homes in Hilton.
The figure emerged after councillors studied a balance sheet from South Derbyshire District Council showing how "Section 106" money generated by the development of Hilton’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) site had been spent.
To one side of the site, at The Mease, 1,400 houses are being built by a host of developers, generating £450,000 for the district council to spend on the village.
Industrial units were originally planned on the other side, but a change of use to residential development has seen developer Wimpey Homes begin building 279 houses.
Before Wimpey started work on the site, the rare and endangered great crested newts were re-homed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust experts, with the cost raising eyebrows among community leaders.
The number of houses being built has led to fears about how the village’s infrastructure will cope, with councillors worried about how schooling and doctors' surgeries will be affected.
However, Section 106 money totalling £3 million, secured as a type of compensation cash from developers now building on the land, is being spent on a new leisure centre earmarked to be built at John Port School in Etwall.
Although recognising that the project is a worthy scheme, parish councillors feel that Hilton should have been handed a more equal split of the money.
Just £500,000 has been earmarked to be spent on Hilton, and that money has been eaten into by moving the newts.
In total, £110,000 from the amount expected to be spent on Hilton remains, which community leaders feel is inadequate to carry out the village plan, which includes a £1 million extension of the village hall.
Parish council chairman Lis Kolkman said: "There is more than enough houses being built but the village does not have the infrastructure to cope. Mistakes have been made in the past with infrastructure and they are being made again.
"It is costing an awful lot to rehouse newts, which could be spent helping the situation. It is surely the developer’s responsibility to pay for something like that.
"We think there should be more communication between the parish and district councils to help right the wrongs in this village."
http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/detail.asp?cat=General%20News&id=7060616
