THE member of parliament for North Cornwall has sharply criticised a bid by a housing developer to get out of paying £348,798 in infrastructure in a town where it is building 58 homes.

Wainhomes has applied to Cornwall Council seeking to remove its obligations to pay the Section 106 funding it previously agreed for the housing to the east of Pandarosa Farm, claiming that the scheme as-is is ‘unviable’.

The criticism from the member of parliament follows that of Bodmin Town Council, which expressed its anger and objection to the move, which if approved would leave the town with 58 open market housing and no funding to go towards additional school places and healthcare facilities.

Mr Maguire said that this was an example of the type of behaviour he is campaigning to see prevented.

MP Ben Maguire said: "This attempt to walk away from a huge £348,000 commitment to vital local infrastructure, including a new primary school, in Bodmin is exactly the kind of behaviour that leaves our communities high and dry.

“Developers cannot be allowed to promise this infrastructure to win planning permission, then quietly drop it once the ink is dry." If it turns out a new school genuinely isn't needed, that money should not simply vanish.

“As many of us know, Bodmin has an urgent and obvious need for a new GP surgery, and residents here deserve to see this funding used to meet the town's growing needs - not clawed back by a developer trying to boost its profits.

"My ‘Infrastructure First’ Bill, which I’ve officially presented to Parliament, was designed to prevent cases exactly like this. I’ve also written directly to Cornwall Council to urge them to retain this funding in full if unused, and set out clearly how they intend to protect it for the benefit of Bodmin."

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