YORK’S Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT) revealed today it has already received almost half a million pounds from the Government towards its stalled Derwenthorpe scheme.

Some of the money was spent on creating an entrance last year into the site of the proposed 540-home model village at Osbaldwick, before the project was halted by a European Union investigation.

The trust said today that if the development now failed to go ahead, it would meet the costs of paying back the money, saying the scheme was so important that it believed this was a risk worth taking.

But leading anti-Derwenthorpe campaigner Mark Warters, who discovered a payment had been made, said the funds should have gone in the first place to a realisable affordable housing scheme on a brownfield site.

He said: “People could have been sitting with their feet up in a nice affordable home by now if this had happened.”

The Derwenthorpe project has been embroiled in a European legal wrangle since last year over City of York Council’s failure to carry out a tender process with other potential developers.

The British Government recently launched a bid to save the development and avoid a costly and embarrassing court case by making a keynote submission to the European Commission about the tender process, saying what action it has taken to avoid a repeat mistake.

Trust executive director John Hocking said today Derwenthorpe would result in 540 energy efficient homes for families in York to buy and rent.

He said the York had been allocated more than £8 million of Government funding for the scheme, through the Homes And Communities Agency, to support the construction of affordable housing.

“The development itself will create over 100 much-needed jobs in the construction industry.

“If the scheme does not go ahead then the funding will go elsewhere.”

An initial payment of just under £500,000 was intended to fund infrastructure works and some has been used to create a site entrance.

“If the scheme does not go ahead then JRHT will have to pay this back to the Government,” said Mr Hocking. “Given the importance of this development for the city and the JRHT’s central purpose to provide good quality housing in an attractive environment, we believe this is a risk worth taking and that will be met by the JRHT.”


Would-be MP ‘barred’ from discussing Derwenthorpe scheme

A GENERAL Election candidate has revealed she cannot give her views on a controversial York housing development – because she works for the developer.

Madeleine Kirk, the Liberal Democrat candidate for York Outer, who also represents Strensall on City of York Council, has pledged in party literature to lead the fight against development in the city’s Green Belt.

But she says that, because she works for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), she consistently has to declare a conflict of interest in its 540-home Derwenthorpe scheme at Osbaldwick and has taken no part in any decision making, and this will continue up to the election.

Leading anti-Derwenthorpe campaigner Mark Warters, of Osbaldwick, said he was concerned the conflict of interest would prevent him and other voters discussing the “burning local issue” with the candidate before they went to the polling station and cast their vote.

Coun Kirk said councillors did from time-to-time have conflicts of interest and there was a clear procedure for declaring them.

“I obviously cannot help where I work, but it is appropriate that I declare an interest,” she said. “People have to understand that I am currently constrained by my employment with the JRF and my responsibilities to act in a proper way as a councillor. I think most people will understand that and respect me for it.”

She said if she became an MP, she would give up her job at the foundation and she could then express her views on the development.


Campaigner lodges money complaint

CAMPAIGNER Mark Warters has lodged a complaint with City of York Council about Coun Kirk, alleging she has broken the authority’s code of conduct over a £5,000 donation she received from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.

The complaint includes the allegation that she failed to declare the donation in the members’ register, even though some of the money had been applied towards political work in her Strensall ward.

Coun Kirk dismissed the allegations, saying: “I am confident that the complaint put forward by Mr Warters is ill-founded and will be recognised as such by the Standards Board.” She also stressed that the trust was an entirely separate organisation to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, with separate trustees and separate accounting arrangements.