county development charge, what's it for?

CamperMan

county development charge, what's it for?

I am expected to pay the council €1500 soon, just wondering what it's for because the council are not developing the county, in fact, it's in decline

johno2

Is this the charge for knocking a hole in a wall and starting construction? If so, you're lucky it's only €1500, it's about €6000 around here.

johno

Poor Uncle Tom

I expect you are referring to your Development Contribution which was stated on one of the Planning Conditions. If so, the Notification of Decision to Grant Planning Permission with conditions also gives a reason for each of those conditions including your development contribution condition.

Generally something like:
It is considered reasonable that the developer should make a contribution towards the services which have been and may be put in place to facilitate the development as proposed.

Imo, it's legalised extortion, but there you go, what do I know?

CamperMan

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

I expect you are referring to your Development Contribution which was stated on one of the Planning Conditions. If so, the Notification of Decision to Grant Planning Permission with conditions also gives a reason for each of those conditions including your development contribution condition.

Generally something like:
It is considered reasonable that the developer should make a contribution towards the services which have been and may be put in place to facilitate the development as proposed.

Imo, it's legalised extortion, but there you go, what do I know?

OK, what services?, we are expected to put our own well in, sewage treatment plant, ESB, etc, etc,

Poor Uncle Tom

Firstly: I'm not here to defend development contributions as I do not agree with them.

Secondly: You are the one who got the Notification of Decision to Grant Planning Permission with conditions which have the ACTUAL wording. Mine was just indicitave of the condition which is generally attached to contribution conditions.

Thirdly: Services also include Roads and Community.

CamperMan

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

Firstly: I'm not here to defend development contributions as I do not agree with them.

Secondly: You are the one who got the Notification of Decision to Grant Planning Permission with conditions which have the ACTUAL wording. Mine was just indicitave of the condition which is generally attached to contribution conditions.

Thirdly: Services also include Roads and Community.

you need a 4x4 to use this single track "public road", it isn't maintained..

Poor Uncle Tom

CamperMan wrote: »

you need a 4x4 to use this single track "public road", it isn't maintained..

So did you complain to the Local Authority about this condition on your planning permission?

CamperMan

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

So did you complain to the Local Authority about this condition on your planning permission?

NO...

Reason being... I think we were very very VERY lucky to get the planning granted, you will see from previous posts over the years what hassle we had to try and get planning granted.

I just wanted to ask what the charge was for

CamperMan

Poor Uncle Tom wrote: »

So did you complain to the Local Authority about this condition on your planning permission?

re.. un-maintained road.. there is a ridge in the middle of the road that always catches and scrapes the bottom of our car, hard to avoid

Poor Uncle Tom

CamperMan wrote: »

re.. un-maintained road.. there is a ridge in the middle of the road that always catches and scrapes the bottom of our car, hard to avoid

I wouldn't tell the council about that, they would probably try to charge you for cleaning the underneath of your car......:D

tred

that development charge is supposed to go towards the maintenace of water treatment plants, footpaths, palygrounds in the area. nothing really to do with...say ur own piece of work!. Water for example is a seperate charge, if you need a connnection

CJhaughey

The development levy like everything else in the country is only for the small man.
Apparently builders owe 850m to councils around the country and it is unlikely to be repaid.
However in many cases including my own, work could not start until the levy was paid.
So again one law for the big boys and one for the small.

imitation

If that is indeed your planning contribution then its pretty reasonable. If your anywhere near a city or town it will hit 4 figures in no time, and if the council are in a paticullarly bad mood they might ask for another couple of thousand for a deposit for things like landscaping. Apparently businesses can be hit even worse, I heard of a garage that was asked for a 5 figure contribution mainly because they were located near a light rail station... How is that of any benifit to a garage ?

I also agree to the gripe on developers, I`m not sure on how there contribution system worked (or if there was one..) but there are plenty of estates plonked down around the country with no bus routes / footpaths to towns or even a local shop. In many cases these were planned but when the recession hit all of sudden they couldnt be afforded, even the builder could still mysteriously keep finishing the odd house and sell it...

gman2k

CJhaughey wrote: »

The development levy like everything else in the country is only for the small man.
Apparently builders owe 850m to councils around the country and it is unlikely to be repaid.
However in many cases including my own, work could not start until the levy was paid.
So again one law for the big boys and one for the small.

When I started my build, I wrote to my Local Authority and told them I would be paying the levy by way of installments, which they initially accepted (verbally)
Then the threatening letters came, so I started asking for clarification regarding the dangerous state of the road into my area - (bridge over steam on a bend with no protection at sides). So I got speaking to the staff member dealing with the payments, and she threatened me by way of saying that if I didn't pay up, they would rescind the application because of the alleged state of the road. (Planning was fully granted by this stage and work had been ongoing on site for a few months.)
I asked her under what section of the Planning and Development regulations was she making this threat, and that made her STFU.
I got sick of the warning letters, so I just paid up in full the levy, but wrote a very stinky letter to the LA and County Manager outlining the above, and the variance between my treatment and the kids gloves approach to developers who are let pay by installments etc.
Of course, no reply from the bagstads, bar the receipt for the levy.
Have they done anything for the road or badly protected bridge? No, except stating that we (including neighbours) would have to pay a contribution of €60k to get the works carried out.

Poor Uncle Tom

gman2k wrote: »

When I started my build, I wrote to my Local Authority and told them I would be paying the levy by way of installments, which they initially accepted (verbally)
Then the threatening letters came, so I started asking for clarification regarding the dangerous state of the road into my area - (bridge over steam on a bend with no protection at sides). So I got speaking to the staff member dealing with the payments, and she threatened me by way of saying that if I didn't pay up, they would rescind the application because of the alleged state of the road. (Planning was fully granted by this stage and work had been ongoing on site for a few months.)
I asked her under what section of the Planning and Development regulations was she making this threat, and that made her STFU.
I got sick of the warning letters, so I just paid up in full the levy, but wrote a very stinky letter to the LA and County Manager outlining the above, and the variance between my treatment and the kids gloves approach to developers who are let pay by installments etc.
Of course, no reply from the bagstads, bar the receipt for the levy.
Have they done anything for the road or badly protected bridge? No, except stating that we (including neighbours) would have to pay a contribution of €60k to get the works carried out.

At times like this it's the squeakiest cog gets the oil. Write a letter, outlining the troubles you have had with the LA and payment of your development contribution and the state of the road and the poor reception your request got from the LA and ask directly exactly what your contribution went to pay for. Send this letter to your County Manager, Local TD's and Minister for the Environment. Send a letter to those people once a week, and an open letter to the papers once a month, until you get an adequate response.

imitation

gman2k wrote: »

When I started my build, I wrote to my Local Authority and told them I would be paying the levy by way of installments, which they initially accepted (verbally)

I`m actually paying in installments over a year, but my council were quite happy to accept that. If anybody else is thinking of doing it, ask for a schedule of payments. Once you have that they shouldnt be able to hassle you. That was well before I started the build however.

CamperMan

imitation wrote: »

If that is indeed your planning contribution then its pretty reasonable. If your anywhere near a city or town it will hit 4 figures in no time, and if the council are in a paticullarly bad mood they might ask for another couple of thousand for a deposit for things like landscaping. Apparently businesses can be hit even worse, I heard of a garage that was asked for a 5 figure contribution mainly because they were located near a light rail station... How is that of any benifit to a garage ?

I also agree to the gripe on developers, I`m not sure on how there contribution system worked (or if there was one..) but there are plenty of estates plonked down around the country with no bus routes / footpaths to towns or even a local shop. In many cases these were planned but when the recession hit all of sudden they couldnt be afforded, even the builder could still mysteriously keep finishing the odd house and sell it...

the exact amount we have to pay for this charge is €1,534.00