Decision - Developer Contributions - Temporary Recession Measures and Updated Technical Guidance

(1)       That the Cabinet Member for Planning, Employment, Economy & Regeneration (PEER) approves the revised Developer Contributions Temporary Recession Relief Measures and agrees changes to reflect revised Council priorities in the nature and type of developer contributions that will be sought when considering issues of viability on development sites.

(2)       That the Cabinet Member for PEER approves the updated Technical Guidance on Developer Contributions attached at Appendix 1.

(1)       The recommendation takes into account current priority areas for seeking developer contributions and the need for updated advice.

(2)       The Technical Guidance has been updated and provides advice for Council officers and others in negotiating developer contributions.

(1)       An alternative option is to secure the full range of developer contributions from all developments in accordance with existing and emerging policy changes.  Developers sometimes already experience difficulty in meeting the current full range of developer contributions and in certain circumstances additional pressures of contributions may discourage development or may possibly render it financially unviable.  To enable appropriate development to proceed the issue of s106 requirements may be addressed through temporary recession relief measures. 

(2)       An option is to rely on existing adopted Local Plan policies.  The Council currently secures a range of contributions in this manner. However, Local Plan policies are not sufficiently worded to justify securing contributions to a local employment training programme which is now a priority for the Council.  In addition a formula for calculating commuted sums in lieu of on site provision of affordable housing is also required.