Issue - meetings

REPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION MANAGER

Annual update on S106 activity for Royston and District.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the content of the report entitled Annual Update on S106 Obligations be noted..

(2)       That a report shall continue to be presented on an annual basis to Royston and District 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 – 5 minutes 16 seconds

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

·                Appendix 1 - Table 4 - Current held funds for Royston and District.

He drew attention to the following:

·                It had been hoped that there would be more to report, but the examination of the Local Plan had 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 report would be considered by Cabinet in December regarding CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy;

·                Paragraph 4.2 detailed a new requirement that all Section 106 activities will need to be reported to central Government;

·                Paragraph 8.4.5 detailed the discretionary Section 106 funds remaining for the Royston and District area.

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

·                Councillor Ruth Brown;

·                Councillor Tony Hunter.

In response to questions the Development and Conservation Manager advised:

·                That if identified projects don’t make progress with the timescales then money would have to be refunded;

·                NHDC had only ever refunded £7,000 across the whole district;

·                He would look at funding with a short time limit and consider asking for variations to allow an extension of time.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the content of the report entitled Annual Update on S106 Obligations be noted.

(2)       That a report shall continue to be presented on an annual basis to Royston and District 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.