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ITEM CA14
CABINET
– 18 JULY 2006
DEVELOPER
CONTRIBUTIONS TO SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE
Report by
the Head of Sustainable Development
Introduction
- This report presents
a summary of the developer contributions secured through the planning
process for 2005/06, identifying the amounts negotiated, received and
spent throughout the year. The report also considers a motion adopted
by Council last year asking for greater information about developer
contributions. It proposes how the need to disseminate developer contribution
information can be effectively and efficiently met.
- The following
annexes accompany this report:
What
are developer contributions?
- Developer contributions
are financial payments made to the County Council made as part of planning
obligations. Planning obligations are private agreements or undertakings
negotiated, usually in the context of planning applications, between
local planning authorities and persons with an interest in a parcel
of land. They are intended to make acceptable a development proposal
which would otherwise be unacceptable in planning terms. Contributions
may also be made "in kind" (e.g. the provision of improved road junctions);
however they are not addressed in this report.
- Contributions
help ensure that appropriate development can be accommodated without
unacceptable burdens upon existing communities and the environment.
The process of developer contributions operates within the overall principle
that where existing community facilities and infrastructure are inadequate
to deal with the extra demands arising from future development, developers
are expected to ensure that the necessary additional provision of such
infrastructure (to meet their development’s impact) is made at no extra
public cost.
- Annex 1
(download
as .doc file) provides some general information about
planning obligations: what they are, what items/services we secure contributions
towards and possible changes to the S106 system.
Framework
for the Report
- At the 5 April
2005 Council meeting the following motion was adopted:
"This
Council calls upon the Executive to assist local members and their constituents
in monitoring the extent and deployment of developer contributions by:
- Publishing annual
reports of developer contributions negotiated and received through
the planning process for each local member division;
- Publishing on
an annual basis the particular schemes to which developer funding
is allocated across divisions; and
- Organising a
members’ seminar on the intricacies and potential for developer funding."
- This report provides
data based upon district council areas and, within each of those district
areas, "Contribution Clusters" (See Annex 4) (download
as .doc file). The clusters are used to present information
on those obligations within a key settlement and its environs, where
the developments’ impacts are likely to be felt and therefore where
mitigation measures are to be provided. For example, in Cluster 2, redevelopment
proposals at the former RAF Upper Heyford have led to pressure on facilities
in Bicester such as library and secondary school provision.
- Outside the growth
areas the clusters are used to group together other divisions where
there is a geographic link. For Oxford, because of the number of agreements,
each cluster equates to a County Council division.
- A list of the
divisions and the corresponding Contribution Clusters is given in Annex
2 (download
as .doc file) .
Contributions in 2005/06
- An overview of
the year can be summarized as follows:
- No. of new Obligation
agreements: 80
- Value of contributions
secured in those agreements: £3.598m
- Contributions
actually received: £5.351m
- Contributions
spent: £2.991m
- The contributions
spent included:
- Major Highways
(e.g. DMH2) £0.920m
- Pedestrian &
Cycle Infrastructure £0.572m
- Other ITS infrastructure/models £0.379m
- Bus services £0.557m
- Other transport
measures £0.407m
- School Improvements
£0.156m
- A summary of the
amounts secured in 2005/06 (and 2004/05) across the County as a whole
is shown in Annex 3 (download
as .doc file). While the number and scope of individual
contributions increased in 2005/06 compared to the previous year, the
overall amount secured was lower; this is in part because several major
on-going development negotiations did not reach conclusion in 2005/06.
The bulk (c82%) of the contributions secured in 2005/06 will not be
actually received by the County Council until later years, once the
respective developments actually start. The contributions received and
spent during 2005/06 primarily relate to Obligations agreed in previous
years. Because some development proposals do not progress to actual
construction (therefore the potential payments are not triggered) the
amount of developer contributions secured should be viewed with caution.
- Annex 4
(download
as .doc file) presents the overall developer contributions
received and spent in 2005/06. The information within each cluster is
split into the various uses to which the contributions are related,
e.g. education, transport, libraries etc. The information in Annex
3 (download
as .doc file) & Annex 4 (download
as .doc file) does not include items such as land secured
for the provision of new schools.
- Other payments
to the County Council, for example those made in relation to public
highway works undertaken by developers and as part of the process of
adoption of highways, have been included under the generic heading "developer
contributions" in the County Council’s annual balance sheet. Those monies
are ancillary to the main focus of this report, but for completeness
they are shown in the final table in Annex 4 (download
as .doc file).
- Other payments
table also include the balance of miscellaneous agreements which will
be distributed according to origin across the contribution clusters
during 2006/07. The final amounts shown refer to those contributions
held over without prejudice to the infrastructure delivery.
Allocating the Developer
Contributions
- The specific allocation
of developer contributions to individual projects is carried out through
the periodic review and updating of the Capital Programme. The current
allocations of S106 contributions are part of the "Grants and Contributions"
element of the finance for the Capital Programme 2006/07 – 2008/09.
The allocation of developer contributions is best seen in the context
of that overall capital allocation process.
Further
Developer Contributions Information
- It was also requested,
as part of the motion in Council, that consideration be given to setting
up a seminar to inform members about developer funding. I think that
such a seminar would be beneficial in that it would improve the transparency
of and confidence in the developer funding process in helping to mitigate
the impacts of new development upon communities. If the Cabinet is agreeable,
I will therefore take steps to set up a suitable seminar. (The government’s
Planning Gain Supplement proposals – see Annex 1 (download
as .doc file) - may change the way in which infrastructure
funding from development is secured, but if this does happen it will
not be until some time in the future.)
Conclusion
- The data in Annex
3 (download
as .doc file) & Annex 4 (download
as .doc file) provides information in a format to identify
where contributions are held and to what purposes they are to be put.
It takes on board the individual uses of the contributions and sets
them out in contribution clusters, each cluster appropriate to where
contributions have been and are to be used, in line with the motion
put to Council. It is suggested that this information be provided annually
to the Cabinet in future, in the context of the Revenue and Capital
Outturn (submitted in June each year). The detailed information on the
allocation of developer contributions is considered best delivered through
the capital programme process. By these means all members of the Council
will have access to the information.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- The Cabinet
is RECOMMENDED to:
- note
the developer contributions negotiated and received through
the planning process in 2005/06;
- ask
officers to report the corresponding information for subsequent
years on an annual basis;
- note
that the existing Capital Programme annual review and update
process provides the relevant information on the allocation
of the developer contributions;
- endorse
the organisation of a seminar for members on developer funding
and its utilisation.
CHRIS
COUSINS
Head of Sustainable
Development
Background
papers: Nil
Contact
Officer Howard Cox Tel: 01865 810436
July 2006
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