Agenda item

To update the Planning Committee on Haringey’s Section 106 (S106) policy and guidance, the S106 agreements signed and administered between 2005-2010 by the Planning and Regeneration Service, and the distribution of the S106 funds that have been received by the Council.

Marc Dorfman, Assistant Director, Planning, Regeneration and Economy, presented the report on Haringey’s Section 106 (s106) policy and guidance, the s106 agreements signed and administered between 2005 and 2010 by the Planning and Regeneration Service, and the distribution of the s106 funds that have been received by the Council. In respect of the £1.1m s106 contribution that had been received but not spent in respect of the Heartlands school development, it was reported that specific proposals needed to be developed in consultation with the local community, and that these would then be presented to the Cabinet for approval. Mr Dorfman advised that a report on the s106 agreement for the GLS Depot site, Hale Village, would be brought to the Committee for consideration before the end of the current financial year. Mr Dorfman thanked officers for the significant work which had gone into compiling the report, and advised members that officers could provide detailed information on aspects of s106 matters if requested.

The Committee asked about the current situation in respect of the Hale Village s106 agreement. Mr Dorfman advised that the Council was actively engaged with the applicant, and that there was no prospect of the contribution already paid being withdrawn. It was reported that the contribution requested had been for general infrastructure works, and that consultation with the local community would be necessary to develop specific proposals. It was confirmed that only £300k of the s106 for Hale Village had been received so far, and that £3.4m of funding had been triggered but not yet received. The amount received had been used as a contribution towards the monitoring of s106 agreements, and it was confirmed that this was borough-wide. The total s106 contribution negotiated for the whole site was £7.8m. It was reported that the Committee had so far agreed to support the progress of the development without enforcing the s106 contributions due, to ensure that the development was delivered. A report on the re-profiling of the s106 agreement would be presented to the Committee in the next few months. In response to a further question regarding the current position, Mr Dorfman agreed to circulate the Heads of Terms and trigger dates for the current agreement, and the changes currently being negotiated, to all Committee Members.

The Committee welcome the graphic representations in the report of where s106 contributions had been spent and the developments the agreements related to, as these made the information clear and comprehensible, and would enable members to ask questions of the Cabinet.

The Committee asked how the proposed Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) would affect the Council’s s106 policies, in response to which Mr Dorfman reported that the CIL would have a significant impact, as s106 contributions would apply to affordable housing and site compliance matters only, and all community benefits would be funded via the CIL. Details would not, however, be known until the Localism and Decentralisation Bill was produced. It was reported that preparations would be needed for the implementation of the CIL, and work had already begun on developing a charging schedule. Details such as the point at which payment would be due would need to be worked up, and all these issues were being looked into. It was anticipated that the new system would be in place by 2012/13, and it was hoped that this would address some of the issues regarding the reliability of the receipt of s106 money, as CIL would make contribution requirements clear to applicants at an early stage. 

In response to a question from the Committee regarding the received but unspent s106 contributions in 2008/09 and 2009/10, Mr Dorfman agreed to provide this information outside the meeting. The Committee asked what expertise the Council had recourse to in assessing developers’ claims that contributions could not be paid as negotiated, in response to which Mr Dorfman reported that this was a skill set the Council was looking to improve on. At present, a consultant was employed to provide this expertise and also to provide training to Council officers around these issues. It was suggested that Members could also receive training around these issues, and Mr Dorfman agreed to look into this.

NOTED