A Perthshire woman who is building her own home has accused the council of ”racketeering” after being hit with an unexpected bill.
The woman, who declined to be named as her application is still making its way through the planning process, was shocked when she was told she would have to pay £6,395 towards local education provision.
She said the levy, which doesn’t apply in all parts of the district, is unfair and is damaging the local economy.
”It is racketeering and is certainly not helping the building trade,” she said.
This is the third house that the woman has had built on her behalf, but it is the first time she has been hit with the charge.
As the plot lies in Rattray, the council has judged that a contribution is necessary but if she had chosen to build in various other places, no ”contribution” would have been required.
The woman said she felt it would be much fairer to spread the burden over all new building projects.
The council, which has the highest population growth rate projection in Scotland, explained the background to the charge.
”Perth and Kinross Council introduced a developer contributions policy in March 2009 to be applied to new development across Perth and Kinross,” said a spokesman. ”This was developed in line with national government policy and guidance.
”At the same time, a policy was also approved which requires that new housing developments which meet specific criteria make a contribution to the council to mitigate their impact on the primary school estate. The education contributions policy is applied only to new residential developments in primary schools catchment areas projected at 80% capacity or above at the time the planning application is submitted to the council.
”Developments of affordable housing, single bedroom properties, sheltered housing and student accommodation are excluded from the policy.”
The spokesperson added: ”To date, since the introduction of the policy, contributions collected amount to a total of £686,905.”