The football pitch and a small strip of land to the north of Armour Place were recently adopted by Clackmannanshire Council.

The area north of 1-27 Bards Way, and the two areas of greenspace in front of 1-9 Bards Way were sold by Sava Estates Limited to a speculative developer for £96,000. It is still not clear what plans the owner of these areas has in mind for these areas.

The playpark and the area of land that immediately surrounds it were sold by Sava Estates Limited to a local businesswoman for £25,000. The playpark has recently been put back on the market for £50,000 in an attempt to offload the land and slow up the process of Clackmannanshire Council adopting the land.

Information relating to the sales is available here.

Unredacted information relating to the sale is now available from the Registers of Scotland.

In December 2011 Midway Services Ltd submitted a planning application to develop housing on several areas of open space Planning Reference 11/00296/FULL  and at that point in time it became apparent that Clackmannanshire Council had not adopted the land. When asked why the land had not been adopted, Clackmannanshire Council advised that they were in the process of adopting the land.

Having asked this question again recently, the Council have so far not been able to explain fully why they have not taken action to enforce the terms of the legal agreement that is in place with Midway Homes Ltd that makes provision for adoption by the Council of all areas of open space within the development.

The Council issued a statement in 2021 saying "The Council has been contacted by a number of concerned local residents about the landscaped areas at Bards Way, referred to in the Section 75 Planning Agreement between the Council and Brown Homes Ltd, dated 28 June 1998. This Section 75 Agreement has been registered against the title deeds of the landscaped areas.

"The Section 75 Agreement is a title condition on the land, and it binds any future owner(s), unless the agreement has been varied, or discharged by an application to the Council's Planning Authority. Where such an application to vary or discharge the Section 75 Agreement were to be made the Council's Planning Authority, it  would take into account planning legislation and guidance, the Local Development Plan and Council policies in making a decision on such an application".

The Council have recently advised the BWRG that they have made it very clear to the current landowners that the Council is looking to enforce the Section 75 Agreement that was put in place as a condition of planning permission being awarded for the phased development of the Bards Way Development.

In order to obtain planning permission, in June 1998, Brown Homes Limited signed a Section 75 Agreement with Clackmannanshire Council. Amongst other things, the purpose of the Section 75 Agreement is to provide open space, a football pitch and children's playpark. This agreement also makes provision for adoption of the open space by the Council and sets out the standard to which the open space should be completed and maintained.

The Section 75 Agreement is enforceable against the land owner or any successor.

You can download a copy of the Section 75 Agreement from our downloads page 

Following completion of the Bards Way development, through an arrangement that is in place with Clackmannanshire Council, with the exception of the area north of 1-27 Bards Way, Clackmannanshire Council has been providing maintenance services for the areas of open space and the playpark on behalf of Midway Services Ltd.

At this moment in time, the Council are continuing to provide maintenance services, but the Councils long-term position regarding the provision of maintenance services is not known, which means that there is a risk that grass cutting services could stop. 

The Council has confirmed that the they are unable to carry out any maintenance or replace any damaged play equipment, which means that any concerns anyone has about the condition of the playpark will need to be raised directly with the new landowner.

The Council has made it very clear to the current landowners that the Council is looking to enforce the Section 75 Agreement. They have also made it clear that:

• The land is allocated as Safeguarded Open Space in the adopted Clackmannanshire Local Development Plan and not allocated for residential development

• the existing play area is required to be provided/retained as Open Space by the original planning permission and associated Section 75 planning obligation related to the development of the housing at Bards Way. The land is regulated by the Section 75.

•  without prejudice to the determination of any subsequent application for planning permission, it is considered that the change of use to residential use would be considered to be contrary to Local Development Plan policy

. 

• should an application to modify the Section 75 Agreement be submitted then the residents would be consulted for their views and it would be presented to Planning Committee for consideration.

In June 2011 Midway Services Ltd submitted a planning application to build 2 houses on land in front of 1-9 Bards Way, Planning Reference 11/00160/FULL . This application was later withdrawn after it received a large umber of objections.

In December 2011 Midway Services Ltd then submitted a planning application to build 1 house on the area of greenspace  in front of 1-5 Bards \Way Planning Reference, Planning Application  11/00296/FULL. This application was refused at Council Planning Committee. 

Midway Services Ltd then appealed this decision to Scottish Government Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DEPA) who dismissed the appeal and refused to grant planning permission. Full details of the appeal can be read here.

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