A campaigner has accused Liverpool Council of taking 'years' to invoice a developer to pay money that benefits the community.
The Mount Group are behind the Browside scheme in Everton. Building work stalled on the site last year but has now resumed.
Liverpool Council, in response to a Freedom of Information request by local man Kevin Robinson-Hale, has revealed that it invoiced the Mount Group in May this year for a £60,000 payment that was due 18 months from commencement. The ECHO understands that invoices are not routinely issued unless it emerges that the developer has not paid the money in line with the agreed payment schedule.
READ MORE: Pictures show state of stalled scheme which should have been major apartment development
A spokesperson for the Mount Group told the ECHO that demolition work began in 2018 and construction work followed in 2019. Section 106 payments typically require developers to pay money to the local authority which is used to benefit the immediate community. The cash is typically spent on creating more public space, road improvements, cycling infrastructure or increasing education or health services.
Kevin Robinson Hale, who submitted the Freedom of Information Act request, is annoyed that it took the council so long to invoice the developers. He said: "As a community we are being let down once again.
"I have been looking in to this development for so long and and now to find out that the council did not invoice the developers until May this year when the S106 was due in 2019. This was before Covid became an issue in the city. Certain people are simply not doing there job."
In the past Mr Robinson Hale has argued that there are too many stalled sites in north Liverpool, which has stopped deprived communities from receiving much needed S106 money.
A spokesperson for the Mount Group said: "We have paid the initial £10,000. The remaining £60,000 was due 18 months from commencement of development but the scheme stalled with Covid amongst other things. I am in discussions with LCC over paying the remaining payment."
A spokesperson for the council said that the local authority was pursuing a Section 106 payment on this scheme. The ECHO understands that the fees due and the timeline for payments are in the legal aS106 agreement signed by the developer and the council and it is the developer's responsibility to follow those conditions. If a developer does not do so, then the council will pursue the money.
Mount Group Student NatEx Ltd, a special purpose vehicle company, collapsed into administration last October. The Mount Group subsidiary company was building the £45m NatEx student accommodation block on the site of the former National Express bus station. A report by administrators Mazars has revealed that the company accepted a total of £23.9m from buyers in the form of deposits.
London based Blacklight Capital Partners have now bought the building and hope to deliver a bespoke student scheme in time for the start of the next academic year in 2023.
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