In the housing development industry, the possible profits to be made from the change of use of land can justify significant expenditure in the legal and other professional charges deployed in promoting sites. The prize is great – estimates for the increase in land value for each house built vary, but £50,000 was the claim the York Press reported for the Whinthorpe development that Lord Irwin was promoting.

The Whinthorpe Development Ltd financial statements for the end of the year 30 November 2015 show negative reserves of £1,158,215 (in the previous accounts the deficit was £819,799). The directors commented that “notwithstanding the net liabilities position” they continue to adopt the Going Concern basis for preparing the accounts. The reasons given were:

“The nature of the trade …means that significant costs are incurred, prior to the realisation of revenues, in the form of successful promote fees …the directors are hopeful that the current year will give rise to promote fees being achieved as current projects achieve planning success”.

THE BARDSEY PLAN

According to the village website, Bardsey Steering Group believes “A Community’s key tool in engaging and controlling prospective future development is to develop a Neighbourhood Plan dedicated to only the area within the Community demise. Bardsey needs to develop its own Plan to ensure that local people have control of the future shape of the Village.”

Those who have an interest in supporting this objective may wish to familiarise themselves with the background prior to attending the Bramham Estate exhibition. It is likely that all attendees will be asked to fill in comment forms, and these will be summarised to be used in any future planning applications. Applicants are obliged to explain what public consultation has taken place and what the findings were, so it is possible that any questions on comment forms will be designed with this in mind.