To nobody’s great surprise, Provincial Property Holding Ltd (PPH) has appealed the Council’s refusal of planning permission for eight townhouses between Broughton Road and the Claremonts (Ref. 15/02335/FUL, see Breaking news, 10.2.16).
Notice of the appeal to Scottish Ministers has only just appeared online (Ref. PPA-230-2182), and there are few supplementary details yet available.
Limited transparency
Because PPH is registered in the British Virgin Islands, it’s hard to find out much about those pushing the proposals.
This has frustrated locals, who are understandably keen to know whom they’re dealing with apart from the Edinburgh architectural firm – Sir Frank Mears Associates Ltd – which acts as agent.
PPH’s recently updated website sheds little light, although it does announce that other current projects involve a development area adjacent to Junction 4a of the M8, and renovation of a former convent at Cobh in south-west Ireland.
On the right track?
Elsewhere on the Internet, PPH is described as ‘a flexible, innovative and results-oriented developer of residential and commercial property’, and here at last we start to make progress.
The quotation has implausible-sounding links to a country pub: The Railway Hotel at 13 Station Road in the Essex village of West Horndon.
The landlord of the Railway Hotel is one John Murphy. That name appears also as the ‘registrant’ (domain holder) for PPH’s website. When we contacted the Railway Hotel yesterday, staff at the other end denied any knowledge of Provincial Property Holding Ltd.
One John Joseph Murphy is the founder and managing director of Quattro Group Limited, whose equipment was used to clear Sandy Hill of vegetation with such speedy efficiency in March and July 2014.
Born in July 1961, Mr Murphy is a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, variously listed as a surveyor, company director and managing director in his multiple appointments (as many as 12 according to some sources).
But in another of his roles, he is currently sole director of George Inns Limited, whose registered address is – Would you believe it? – the Railway Hotel in West Horndon.
Looking relaxed and happy, Mr Murphy appears in photographs on the Railway Hotel’s website here. Many feature a Quattro Plant-sponsored Kawasaki motorcycle and team filmed shortly before the Brands Hatch round of the British Superbikes Championship in April.
Getting to know you
Provincial Property Holding’s ‘About us’ webpage has a paragraph headed ‘Getting to know our neighbours’. It reads:
Every project exists within an existing community, and the team at PPH make sure that they always take the time to get to know the community before committing to a project. The needs and requirements of the local community is [sic] vital to the tailoring of each development, and this feedback is taken into account during every stage of the planning.
Curiously, none of the community members we’ve spoken to who live alongside Sandy Bank recalls speaking to staff from PPH, or being given a chance to offer feedback about their needs and requirements.
Perhaps, as part of the appeal process, all that is about to change.