Issue - meetings

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – REGULATORY

To receive the draft Developer Contributions SPD for consideration.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the draft Developer Contributions SPD, attached as Appendix A to this report, be endorsed and approved for a six-week public consultation;

(2)       That Officers be instructed to conduct a review a to consider the feasibility of introducing a Community Infrastructure Levy for residential sites of 10 units or less.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)       To allow the Developer Contributions SPD to be progressed so that it may be (i) adopted at the same time as, or shortly after, any future decision to adopt the new Local Plan and (ii) taken into account in relevant planning decisions;

(2)       To determine whether there is scope to introduce a levy for small sites which are not normally subject to requests for contributions but which, collectively, result in additional burdens upon local infrastructure.

Audio Recording – 1 Hour 6 Minutes 20 Seconds

The Strategic Planning Manager presented the report entitled Draft Developer Contributions SPD and Members were provided with the following information:

·                Through the planning system, contributions could be secured from developers;

·                There were two strands to the report; the first being the proposed draft Developer Contributions SPD and the second being conducting a review to consider introducing a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL);

·                Supplementary Planning Documents added further detail to the policies in the development plan;

·                The Developer Contributions SPD was the first of the proposed SPDs supporting the emerging Local Plan;

·                Developer contributions were presently collected through legal agreements with developers which were specific to each development;

·                CIL had not been pursued by the Council in the past.

·                Section 106 agreements would continue to be used;

·                The new Local Plan included clusters of sites, particularly in villages, that needed to contribute towards a specific project such as a school expansion; Section 106 was the preferred way of collecting that contribution; and

·                Sites of 10 homes or fewer were normally exempt from making contributions through a Section 106 legal agreement. Officers now considered that there was merit in assessing whether smaller sites might be asked to contribute towards infrastructure requirements through CIL

The following Members asked questions:

·                Councillor Sam Collins;

·                Councillor Gerald Morris;

·                Councillor Terry Hone; and

·                Councillor David Levett.

In response to a series of questions, the Strategic Planning Manger responded as follows:

·                A Sustainability Appraisal was not always required for SPDs as the parent policy was already appraised;

·                The Standard Formula for health contributions was provided by the NHS;

·                The Draft Developer Contributions Supplementary Planning Document primarily focused on what would be in a legal agreement.

·                Biodiversity would be set out in planning policy; and

·                In relation to Recommendation 2.2, the scope of the review to consider the feasibility of introducing a Community Infrastructure Levy could be made wider.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the draft Developer Contributions SPD, attached as Appendix A to this report, be endorsed and approved for a six-week public consultation;

(2)       That Officers be instructed to conduct a review a to consider the feasibility of introducing a Community Infrastructure Levy for residential sites of 10 units or less.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)       To allow the Developer Contributions SPD to be progressed so that it may be (i) adopted at the same time as, or shortly after, any future decision to adopt the new Local Plan and (ii) taken into account in relevant planning decisions;

(2)       To determine whether there is scope to introduce a levy for small sites which are not normally subject to requests for contributions but which, collectively, result in additional burdens upon local infrastructure.