Agenda item - Section 106 Planning Obligations - 2018/19 Financial Report

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Agenda item

Section 106 Planning Obligations - 2018/19 Financial Report

Report of the Executive Director, Economy, Environment & Culture

Decision:

            RESOLVED – (1) That the Committee notes the progress made towards adopting a CIL Charging Schedule; that the CIL Examiner’s report is anticipated by the end of 2019 and that adoption by Full Council is required to commence CIL in 2020;

 

            (2) That the Committee notes and endorses the programme of work required for CIL implementation; noting that some work streams (IT, Recruitment and Governance) are required to commence ahead of formal Council adoption to ensure that the operational requirements for CIL implementation in Spring 2020 can be delivered; and

 

            (3) That the Committee notes that Policy & Resources Committee approval of one-off resources of £0.158m, via the Targeted Budget Management reporting process, will be required to enable implementation of the scheme.

Minutes:

13.1    The Committee considered a report of the Executive Director, Economy, Environment and Culture which provided information on the type and value of financial contributions made under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in 2018/19. These were payments secured through planning agreements or undertakings (“planning obligations”) as part of the planning application process that are determined by Planning Committee. The report provided updates on the type and value of contributions secured, received and spent in 2018/19.

 

13.2    The Principal Planning Officer went on to explain that Planning obligations, commonly known as Developer Contributions or Section 106 Agreements, are legally binding agreements or undertakings between the Council as Local Planning Authority and landowners/developers. These were secured during the consideration of planning applications to mitigate the impact of development and to meet planning policy objectives that enabled the granting of planning permission. To date, planning obligations had been used to secure affordable housing, local employment training opportunities and the provision or improvement of certain types of local and community infrastructure, e.g. open space, sustainable transport and schools. (NB: With the introduction of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) next year the range and scope of S106 Contributions would be scaled back.

 

13.3    Councillor Rainey stated that the CIL which would largely replace the existing arrangements appeared to be very complicated. Whilst acknowledging that there was a separate report elsewhere on that days’ agenda it would be helpful for Members if the committee could receive a further update report on this transition in due course.

 

13.4    Councillor Nemeth enquired how long it took to secure s106 monies. He noted that there were several big schemes, Preston Barracks, the Astoria where significant sums of money had been agreed but had yet to be spent and some instances where the sum agreed had been returned as it had not been possible to complete the works for which that sum had been allocated. The length of time involved in some instances was cause for concern. It was explained that on average the process took 3 months but that varied dependant on the specifics of an individual scheme. Whilst regrettable, it was an exception for monies to be returned and this was avoided unless it was unavoidable. Compliance was sought and any breaches of conditions/s106 requirements were taken seriously.

 

13.5    Councillor Evans sought clarification regarding the definition as and what constituted affordable housing and how those sums were allocated across the city.

 

13.6    Councillor Simson referred to the fact that large sums were being held in respect of the Preston Barracks and Astoria sites currently and sought confirmation that there was confidence that those sums would be spent and how they would be allocated .

 

13.7    RESOLVED – (1) That the Committee notes the progress made towards adopting a CIL Charging Schedule; that the CIL Examiner’s report is anticipated by the end of 2019 and that adoption by Full Council is required to commence CIL in 2020;

 

            (2) That the Committee notes and endorses the programme of work required for CIL implementation; noting that some work streams (IT, Recruitment and Governance) are required to commence ahead of formal Council adoption to ensure that the operational requirements for CIL implementation in Spring 2020 can be delivered; and

 

            (3) That the Committee notes that Policy & Resources Committee approval of one-off resources of £0.158m, via the Targeted Budget Management reporting process, will be required to enable implementation of the scheme.

Supporting documents:

 


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