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Agenda item

DEVELOPER CONTRIBUTIONS SPD

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR – PLACE

 

The Developer Contributions Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) supports the Local Plan to secure the appropriate contributions arising from new development across the District.

Decision:

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:

 

(1)       Adopted the Developer Contribution SPD, attached as Appendix 1.

 

(2)       Revoked the 2023 Developer Contributions SPD.

 

(3)       Delegated authority to the Director – Place in consultation with the Executive Member for Place, to make any minor non-material corrections (including but not limited to cosmetic additions or presentational alterations) to the adopted Developer Contributions SPD as considered necessary for publication and publicity in accordance with the relevant regulations. 

 

REASON FOR DECISIONS:  To allow the updated Developer Contributions SPD to be adopted to support delivery of the policies in the adopted Local Plan and ensure that developer contributions for development schemes are secured appropriately where they are necessary.

Minutes:

Audio recording – 22 minutes 52 seconds

 

Councillor Donna Wright, as Executive Member for Place, presented the report entitled ‘Developer Contributions SPD’ and advised that:

 

·         The Developer Contributions Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) had been adopted in February 2023 to provide additional details on developer contributions.

·         General updates to the document were made after agreement to update it in 2024.

·         Following approval of the Draft SPD by Cabinet last year, 55 responses were received from the public consultation, and more amendments were made from this as outlined in paragraph 8.3 of the report.

·         In response to a letter received from a developer raising concerns on healthcare contributions at section 7.2 of the document, officers had reviewed this and were confident that the SPD had not set a fixed tariff for healthcare contributions, and that it made clear that all contributions should meet legal and policy tests to ensure they were proportionate and reasonable for each development.

·         The letter should not prevent adoption of the SPD before the cut-off date of 30 June.

 

N.B. There was a break in proceedings at 19:59 and the meeting recommenced at 20:06.

 

The Director – Place provided a verbal update on the letter received and advised that:

 

·         Bloor Homes claimed that section 7.2 of the SPD set out a formulaic healthcare contribution, which was contrary to planning practice guidance.

·         After review by officers, they had concluded that this section stated how the Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) interacted with the local planning authority and calculated medical services costs based on their formula rather than how the Council acted.

·         Section 7.2 was just one part of the SPD, and the approach to considering contributions was set out in the introductory sections, including the regulations that governed these.

·         Officers were satisfied that the SPD set a rounded approach to considering contribution requests put forward by third parties on a case-by-case basis, and this was reinforced by policies in other documents such as Policy SP7 in the Local Plan and policies in the National Planning Policy Framework.

 

Councillor Donna Wright proposed the recommendations in the report, and this was seconded by Councillor Daniel Allen.

 

The following Members took part in the debate:

 

·         Councillor Ian Albert

·         Councillor Daniel Allen

 

Points raised during the debate included:

 

·         They were happy to support the paper based on the response and assurances from the Director – Place.

·         It was exciting to see this document progress and be used going forward as it was an exemplar document.

 

Having been proposed and seconded and, following a vote, it was:

 

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:

 

(1)       Adopted the Developer Contribution SPD, attached as Appendix 1.

 

(2)       Revoked the 2023 Developer Contributions SPD.

 

(3)       Delegated authority to the Director – Place in consultation with the Executive Member for Place, to make any minor non-material corrections (including but not limited to cosmetic additions or presentational alterations) to the adopted Developer Contributions SPD as considered necessary for publication and publicity in accordance with the relevant regulations. 

 

REASON FOR DECISIONS:  To allow the updated Developer Contributions SPD to be adopted to support delivery of the policies in the adopted Local Plan and ensure that developer contributions for development schemes are secured appropriately where they are necessary.

Supporting documents: