ON August 2 Cambridgeshire County Council entered into a contract with McCarthy & Stone to sell Croylands in Ely.
On October 10 McCarthy & Stone submitted a planning application to East Cambridgeshire District Council to develop the site as apartments for older people.
However, your readers may be interested to know that McCarthy & Stone has paid the county council a five per cent deposit, which is returnable if planning permission is refused.
If planning permission is granted the site value will rise significantly but McCarthy & Stone will pay nothing extra to the county council as there is no uplift clause in the contract.
So where is the risk for McCarthy & Stone? There is none! Where is the financial benefit for the tax paying public? There is none!
In the meantime, the planning process rumbles on (four months and counting), the building stands empty and the considerable costs of its upkeep (business rates, insurance, security, gas, electricity, water) are being borne by the tax paying public.
The council tax payers of Cambridgeshire are effectively paying for McCarthy & Stone to take a speculative punt on this site with absolutely no risk to itself.
The costs to the tax paying public must be minimised and East Cambs should now determine this application without further delay.
CLLR ANNA BAILEY
Cambridge Road
Ely
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