A COUNCIL blunder has robbed Farnham taxpayers of more than £380,000 in available infrastructure contributions from FTSE 100 house-builder Taylor Wimpey - including sorely needed funds towards additional primary school places in the town.

Last Monday, Waverley Borough Council’s joint planning committee granted full planning permission for Taylor Wimpey’s 120 home-development on the historic Beavers Road ‘hop fields’ - more than three years after granting outline consent for the scheme.

However, councillors also slammed council officers for failing to negotiate the maximum available ‘Section 106’ funding towards vital improvements to transport, schools, parks, playgrounds and other community facilities to soften the impact of Taylor Wimpey’s scheme.

On April Fools Day in 2015, councillors agreed the principal of building up to 120 new homes on the 14 acre greenfield site between Crondall Lane and the University for the Creative Arts - but crucially allowed officers to negotiate Taylor Wimpey’s infrastructure contributions behind the scenes following a change of legislation just days before the meeting.

What councillors did not know at the time, however, was that - owing to a failure by Surrey County Council to identify an appropriate project for Taylor Wimpey’s funds as required by the new ‘Community Infrastructure Levy’ (CIL) rules - the sum negotiated by officers would plummet from an estimated £914,922 to just £534,152.

This represents a loss of £380,770 to taxpayers at a time when funding for public services is stretched to the limit, Farnham has been earmarked for 2,330 new homes by 2031, the town’s school population is spiralling, and Surrey has been declared the UK’s pothole capital. Meanwhile, Taylor Wimpey’s pre-tax profits increased by 10.7 per cent to £812 million in 2017.

The council’s blunder was highlighted at the outset of Monday’s final planning meeting for Taylor Wimpey’s scheme by Stewart Edge, of the North West Farnham Residents Association (NWFRA), who accused the council of “letting the money go” - including a possible £200,000 for additional primary school places, for which no money from the development has now been provided.

Mr Edge also criticised Waverley’s decision on where to spend the remaining infrastructure contributions as “ignoring local wishes” – after the council also dismissed NWFRA’s requests for a 20 mph limit and safety schemes in Beavers Road and improvements to the West St/Crondall Lane junction.

Instead Taylor Wimpey’s contributions will be limited to £251,296 towards Heath End School’s new sports hall, £26,658 for new railings in the West Street cemetary, £25,000 for improvements to footpaths and £223,370 for a new puffin crossing on West Street between the junctions with Crondall Lane and The Borough, among other minor improvements.

Other possible projects earmarked for funding in 2015 but dropped from the finished scheme include £208,594 for a new admin block at St Peter’s School in Wrecclesham, and £102,714 towards Frensham Common’s new ‘Heathland Hub’.

Councillors responded with instant alarm at Mr Edge’s comments, with Jerry Hyman, Farnham Residents councillor for Farnham Castle, describing it as “wrong” that such a major development “is paying very little towards the massive amount of money that Farnham needs”.

Tory member for Cranleigh, Mike Band, added he was “just astonished” by the scale of the change, commenting that councillors are on a “hiding to nothing” after officers failed to bring the outline application back to committee.

Several members of the 2015 committee also spoke out, with John Ward, Farnham Residents councillor for Shortheath and Boundstone, saying he was “gobsmacked” that infrastructure contributions can be “almost halved behind our backs” and Tory member for Bramley, Maurice Byham, accusing officers of putting the committee in a “stupid situation” by not providing members with the “right information” at the outline stage.

The real revelation, however, came in response to a question by Tory member for Haslemere, Stephen Mulliner, asking why Taylor Wimpey’s infrastructure contributions include no provision for primary education.

Responding, case officer Louise Yandell told members that Waverley officers consulted their Surrey counterparts following the April 2015 committee meeting, but “at that time they could not identify a project, which effectively meant we didn’t have the justification to secure that contribution in the Section 106”.

Seeking to reassure members, Waverley’s head of planning Elizabeth Sims said Surrey’s education authority has developed its plans “much more cohesively” since 2015, adding, “but this was caught in that transition, so we just have to accept that is where we are”.

Councillor for The Bourne, Carole Cockburn, agreed, commenting “we are where we are”, and praised the finished design of Taylor Wimpey’s scheme compared to its “frightful” first incarnation, as exhibited at the Farnham Maltings in February 2016.

And in the end councillors took Mrs Sims’ advice, rejecting a last gasp bid by opposition councillor Mr Hyman to defer the decision on environmental grounds, voting 17 in favour of the application to two against.