Decision details

City of York Council, the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JHRT) and David Wilson Homes (DWH) have agreed a contribution from DWH to compensate the Council for the repairs which are required on Fifth Avenue as a result of the extraordinary traffic linked to the Derwenthorpe development site.

DWH have offered a contribution of £120,000 to the Council. This offer and the works required to bring the street back to an acceptable standard have been reviewed by the Council’s Highway Maintenance team. The review concluded that the amount offered would cover the cost of making the additional repairs, which are now required as a result of years of construction traffic using the street to access the development site.

The decision is therefore to accept DWH’s offer of £120,000 for the Council to recover expenses due to extraordinary traffic linked to the Derwenthorpe development on Fifth Avenue. A legal agreement will be drawn up between the interested parties to accept the sum offered and discharge the developer of its obligation with regards to the repairs required on Fifth Avenue due to the extraordinary traffic.

Once the contribution is received, the Council will organise the work with suppliers, in line with the Council’s procurement policy. As Fifth Avenue provides access to a primary school and developer funded works are already planned at the junction of Fifth Avenue and Tang Hall Lane for summer 2024, works are likely to be undertaken during school holidays in the first half of 2025 to reduce the impact of the works on school access.

Option 1 - Undertake the repairs without a contribution from the developers – this would not provide best value to the Council.

Option 2 - Accept the offer – recommended option as it has been assessed as sufficient to cover the cost of the repairs required by the Council’s Highways Maintenance team.

Option 3 - Reject the offer and require a higher contribution (in court or through arbitration) – this was reviewed with the CYC legal team, and it was not considered an expedient option as any increase in the compensation received would likely be modest and the Council would have to pay for its legal costs (including experts, etc).

Option 1 - Undertake the repairs without a contribution from the developers;

Option 3 - Reject the offer and require a higher contribution (in court or through arbitration)