A developer behind a Nottinghamshire housing project has hit back at the local council after being told it could be fined £2,500 for not providing electric vehicle charging points. Permission was first given in 2019 for two buildings on Chapel Lane in Ravenshead to be demolished, making way for six new homes complete with garages.
As part of permission being given, developers DDM Homes were told to install electric vehicle charging points that would be ready to use when residents moved in. Gedling Borough Council says it is now considering enforcement action against DDM Homes after receiving a complaint that not all of the charging points have been installed.
The council is considering issuing a Breach of Condition Notice against the developer, which would see them being given a timeframe to install electric vehicle charging points on all of their plots. If this is not done within the timeframe, they could be fined up to £2,500.
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But one of the directors of DDM Homes has now spoken out against the claims made by Gedling Borough Council in its report on the matter. Danny Skillington says the company is now in liquidation.
Mr Skillington says five of the six houses have now been built, with the final one currently under construction. But despite being behind the overall planning application, Mr Skillington said many of the plots were subsequently sold off and the houses on them self-built.
Just two of the homes built were therefore constructed by DDM Homes, but Mr Skillington insists all the five houses initially came with electric car chargers when completed. He said: « We had people asking for the electric car chargers to be taken off because they are quite ugly things and they didn’t have electric cars anyway.
« The owner of the plot who is making this complaint originally said he didn’t want the charger either. I have since offered to install one and I have already purchased the charger, but he needs to get in touch with my electrician for it to be installed.
« I have given him my electrician’s number but the contact hasn’t been made yet. I can’t just walk on his property and install it myself because that would be trespassing. »
A Gedling Borough Council spokesperson said: « In February 2022, a complaint was made to the council that the charging points had not been installed, even though homes had been completed, sold, and occupied. The council investigated the complaint and despite contacting the developers on multiple occasions from March 2022 onwards, charging points have not been installed in all of the properties. »
A decision will be made at a meeting of Gedling Borough Council’s planning committee on February 22. A report to be presented at that meeting concludes: « The developer has failed to address the identified breach and therefore in order to remedy the breach of planning control the council is left with little option but to take formal action. »
But Danny Skillington added: « DDM Homes is in liquidation so I haven’t been checking my emails, but nobody has ever tried actually phoning me and so I haven’t been told that this enforcement action is being considered. I just don’t see what else I could have possibly done in this situation and of course, all of the buildings were signed off by the council, so I can’t understand why this is now happening. »
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