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TW: One Year On and The Negotiations Continue

Despite recent changes to their website, Taylor Wimpey are no closer to starting work at their “Greenlaw Mill” site.

The house builder has remained elusive since their application was granted nearly a year ago today, apart from a brief appearance last Summer to “secure the site”. Despite the securing of the site, Wimpey are nowhere to be seen, however they hope to reassure residents that the newly formed pond will soon house 458 dwellings.

Pauline Mills, Land and Planning Director for Taylor Wimpey East Scotland said:

We continue to be fully committed to our development at Greenlaw Mill in Penicuik, and our discussions with Midlothian Council in order to agree our Section 75 obligations are making good progress.

We appreciate the local community is keen to have an update and to see some activity on the site. However due to the complex nature of our discussions, we are still unable to confirm a fixed timetable of when the agreement will be concluded.

You’ll notice this statement isn’t much different to the one last month, telling us that the negotiations are no closer to completion. We believe this is due to complications in agreeing who will fund the roundabout onto the A702 from Mauricewood Road. There are currently land ownership issues, which are not only holding up developments with the site north of Greenlaw Mains, but also Cala Home’s proposed Deanburn and Rullion Road sites.

There is a consolation though, as Taylor Wimpey have updated their website to express the wide variety of properties that will be available to reassure residents:

We are aware there is an appetite for further information on this development therefore we have updated our website to highlight this development is coming soon. This allows us to publish details of the range of new homes that we will deliver as soon as our negotiations are concluded, however does not indicate any particular timescale of when our homes will go on sale or indeed construction will start.

If you have missed the debacle with the section 75 legal agreement, which must be signed to grant full permission, TW sums it up below:

Our Section 75 agreement in relation to Greenlaw Mill will make provision for the new A702 roundabout, additional local road improvements, and will also include financial contributions towards schools and community facilities. When concluded, our Section 75 agreement will secure our full planning permission, and we can assure the local community that work will start as soon as possible thereafter in order to deliver a fantastic range of new homes.

365 days on, it seems Penicuik’s newest housing development is no closer to fruition than it was on this day last year. And so the wait for the influx of construction traffic and the associated problems goes on… and on.

We’ll keep you updated.