MAKING PLANNING FAIRER II 106 rules,OK?


Ed Grimsdale Section “106” agreements are planning obligations under the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act that :


place restrictions on the development or use of land


require specific operations or activities to be carried out in relation to the land


secure payment of a sum or sums of money - e.g. towards future maintenance costs or the provision of infrastructure


require parcels of land to be committed for a particular purpose ( e.g. a community hall ).


Fair or Foul?


Such planning obligations have been criticised because they are not mandatory or universal and they may open the floodgates of corruption. Where planning authorities are remote from small villages, locals sometimes feel that the agreements are used to benefit the wider area rather than addressing specific concerns at their particular community’s level. Certainly, it is true that the bigger areas have clear development plans that act as a “shopping list” of infrastructure needs, sometimes in priority order.


Have Roof will Travel?


The issues around 106 agreements have been brought into sharp focus following the Kate Barker’s review of housing supply and one authority, facing its challenge: to provide 15 000 extra homes PLUS the necessary infrastructure for what are largely greenfield sites, has


rationalised planning obligation by creating a notional “roof-tax” on each new dwelling . The section 106 contribution that developers are expected to make will be around £18,500 per dwelling, plus land for social infrastructure and affordable housing.


Milton Keynes Leads


Milton Keynes Partnership Committee (a sub-committee of English Partnerships and the local planning authority for the Milton Keynes expansion areas) has developed a needs list prioritising local infrastructure (e.g.schools) and strategic infrastructure (e.g. roads) it needs The list also identifies the contributions to infrastructure that will be made by developers, through planning obligations and subject to statutory planning processes, broken down on a per dwelling basis. In order to overcome the timing differences between expenditure on infrastructure (front-loaded) and receipts from developers (forthcoming over time alongside planning permission and development), English Partnerships has agreed to forward-fund the infrastructure and recoup the outlay from developers. That forward funding role has been approved by Government.


Making Planning Fairer


So, here is one mechanism to make planning fairer. It is an example that may useful in other areas, particularly in the south east of England. There are questions to be asked over the level of such a roof tax - estimates of the infrastructure needed per new dwelling are currently in the region of £40000 and it is doubtful whether central funds will readily cover the difference.


15


AN


A TO Z OF


PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE


Affordable (i.e. subsidised) housing Ambulance Service Arts Centres Car Parks Community Centres Cycleways Electricity distribution system Fire Service Gas distribution network Hospitals and Health service Libraries Museums Parks Paths Pavements Police Station and facilities Recycling facilities Roads Schools and Colleges Sewerage Disposal Sewer Systems Social care facilities Sports and Leisure Facilities Storm drainage Street lighting Telephone distribution network Theatre Town Hall & supporting offices Transportation facilities – bus, rail and air


Travellers’ sites Waste disposal facilities Water supply system


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