Issue - meetings

To receive an update Overview and Scrutiny on S106 Policy and Agreements 2005-2010.

Marc Dorfman, Assistant Director for Planning, Regeneration and Economy, presented the report on section 106 agreements. The report set out the Council’s section 106 policy and guidance, the section 106 agreements signed and administered between 2005 and 2010 and the distribution of the section 106 funds received by the Council. Mr Dorfman clarified that conditions were used to address issues such as design, materials and access in relation to schemes, but that other issues not directly connected to land use were addressed by means of section 106 agreements.

In addition to the written response supplied to advance questions, the following was noted, further to supplementary questions:

Re Q2 Mr Dorfman advised the Committee that receipt of section 106 money was tracked to ensure that there were no sums outstanding for more than 5 years, after which time the applicant could appeal the amounts in the section 106 agreement.

The Committee agreed to a recommendation that ways of increasing community engagement in determining section 106 agreements should be looked into.

In response to a question from the Committee regarding the £7.8m of contributions for the development at Hale Village that were still to be recovered, Mr Dorfman advised that a report would be presented to the Planning Committee before the end of the year, seeking agreement for the re-profiling of the section 106 contributions for Hale Village. It was confirmed that the contributions would be received within the five year period, and would not be reduced, as the full £7.8m was needed to support the local infrastructure required. The Committee requested a short briefing note on the current situation in relation to the Hale Village development and section 106 contributions.

In response to a question from the Committee regarding where section 106 contributions were spent, Mr Dorfman confirmed that Street Scene contributions were spent in the immediate vicinity of the development site, but that education contributions were pooled for spending across the borough.

The Committee welcomed the content of the report and requested a further report on this matter in a year’s time.

RESOLVED

i)                    That the content of the report be noted.

ii)                  That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommend that ways of increasing community engagement in determining section 106 agreements be looked into.