The developer of two apartment blocks on the giant Liverpool Waters site has hit out at the cost of connections to utilities on the scheme.
Romal Capital has brought forward the first two schemes on Peel Land and Property’s Central Docks in Liverpool and is set to build another 330 homes at its West Waterloo Place development (pictured).
But Romal bosses have been unhappy with charges levied by Peel to power-up construction sites and the completed developments.
The company says site sales to developers must be monitored to ensure the disbursement of the publicly-funded cost of connections to utilities follows the principle of ‘fairness and proportionality’. It says its concerns follow its own experience of accessing power on the site.
Romal Capital managing director Greg Malouf said: “Peel sought to charge us £695,000 to bring power to our next two blocks, which we felt was an unfair apportionment of the costs they would face. We spoke with Scottish Power, and they were able to give us access to the same quantity of power for £11,000.
“We’ve asked Peel for a breakdown of their costs, but none has been forthcoming. That’s quite a difference and I worry that maintaining such a stance will deter other developers from moving forward on Central Docks.”
The complaints come as Central Docks prepares to receive £55m from Homes England under the Brownfield Infrastructure Land fund.
A Peel Waters spokesperson said: “We do not comment on commercially confidential agreements with our partners and suppliers.
“Over many years Peel Waters have made substantial investments in essential infrastructure to provide serviced plots for our partner developers.
“Some of these costs are recovered from developers that wish to use that infrastructure and electrical capacity. There are no charges that relate to publicly installed or owned infrastructure. Developers are free to work with other suppliers to deliver infrastructure at their own cost.”
