Aveley Football Club and Persimmon Homes have applied for a 40 per cent discount on the community contribution they are expected to make as part of a development of up to 114 homes.

Planning permission was granted by Thurrock Council for Persimmon Homes to build accommodation on the former Aveley FC ground back in March 2015.

Persimmon Homes purchased the land of the former site on Mill Road while Aveley FC has moved to a new site nearby – Parkside.

As part of the planning agreement, both parties were expected to contribute £522,000 as part of an s106 agreement.

An s106 agreement is a planning obligation enforced by a local authority onto developers.

It basically means that the developer is expected to meet certain conditions for building to be approved, such as providing a certain percentage of ‘affordable homes’ or making a monetary contribution.

Originally, in this case, they were expected to pay £570,000 which was reduced to £522,000.

They have now applied to Thurrock Council to have £210,480 knocked of this sum – which equates to roughly 40 per cent of the total figure – reducing it to £311,520.

In the application to Thurrock Council, the applicants have argued that the costs of providing football facilities are “significantly greater than expected.”

They write: “The costs of developing Belhus Park to provide the new football facility are significantly greater than expected.

“This is as a result of market forces within the construction industry and the condition of the ground bought from the Council for the new facility.”

They have also argued that their reason reducing the s106 contribution can be broken down into two sums.

The first is £123,480, which they contend is to cover the increased remediation costs of £98,000 plus 5% Finance Costs and the 20% Development profit.

The second is £87,000 for the Club to pay for the relocation, fit-out, set up and marketing costs.

However, this reduced contribution looks unlikely as the Planning Committee has been recommended by their officers not to grant this application.

Planning officers have argued that the residential development which generates the s106 mitigation payment and the cost of providing replacement football facilities is not relevant to this contribution.

The planning meeting will take place on January 11 at 7pm where a decision will be made.

Both Aveley FC and Persimmon Homes have been approached for comment.