Issue - meetings

REPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION MANAGER

To provide the Hitchin Committee with an annual update of S106 Planning Obligations activity.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the content of the report entitled Annual Update on S106 Obligations for Hitchin Committee be noted;

.

(2)       That a report shall continue to be presented on an annual basis to the Hitchin Committee, which sets out full records of all Section 106 activity for the preceding financial year and which reflects changes in legislation and practice;

(3)       That, other than where a contribution has been negotiated for a specific purpose or project, Ward Members of the area where the Section 106 Obligation or Unilateral Undertaking funding is generated and the Area Committee be consulted prior to funding being allocated away from that area. Members must note that the discretionary funds are rapidly diminishing and will not be replaced under current legislation and practice, for reasons that are set out in this report.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)       To ensure that there is a robust system for negotiating and managing Section 106 Obligations and Unilateral Undertakings, that records activity for each financial year and is placed in the public domain.

(2)       To ensure that the process is kept under constant review and Member scrutiny and that the risk associated with this activity is managed in an appropriate manner.

Audio Recording – 1 hour 55 minutes 27 seconds

The Development and Conservation Manager presented the report entitled Annual Update on S106 Obligations for Hitchin Committee together with the following appendix:

·                Appendix 1 - Table 4 - Current held funds for Hitchin.

He drew attention to the following:

·                It had been hoped that there would be more to report, this was due to the examination of the Local Plan having been cancelled due to the Covid.19 Pandemic.

·                New dates for these hearings had not yet been set and this had an impact on the presentation of the SPDs.

·                The Developer Contributions SPD would be presented to Cabinet in July;

·                A regarding whether the Council would adopt CIL (Community Infrastructure Levey) would be considered by Cabinet in December;

·                Paragraph 4.2 detailed a new requirement to administer and report to central Government being an audit of all Section 106 activity;

·                Paragraph 8.4.5 detailed the funds Section 106 discretionary funds remaining.

The following Members asked questions and took part in the debate:

·                Councillor Paul Clark;

·                Councillor Simon Harwood;

·                Councillor Ian Albert.

In response to questions the Development and Conservation Manager advised:

·                That monies allocated for Public Realm had to be spent on permanent infrastructure;

·                That he was mindful of the balance required enabling Councillors to remain neutral on the outcome of planning applications, whilst at the same time assisting officers to identify local projects that may benefit for S106 funding.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the content of the report entitled Annual Update on S106 Obligations for Hitchin Committee be noted;

.

(2)       That a report shall continue to be presented on an annual basis to the Hitchin Committee, which sets out full records of all Section 106 activity for the preceding financial year and which reflects changes in legislation and practice;

(3)       That, other than where a contribution has been negotiated for a specific purpose or project, Ward Members of the area where the Section 106 Obligation or Unilateral Undertaking funding is generated and the Area Committee be consulted prior to funding being allocated away from that area. Members must note that the discretionary funds are rapidly diminishing and will not be replaced under current legislation and practice, for reasons that are set out in this report.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)       To ensure that there is a robust system for negotiating and managing Section 106 Obligations and Unilateral Undertakings, that records activity for each financial year and is placed in the public domain.

(2)       To ensure that the process is kept under constant review and Member scrutiny and that the risk associated with this activity is managed in an appropriate manner.