Annual Infrastructure Funding Statement 2023 to 2024

Government guidance explains that 'planning obligations are legal obligations entered into to mitigate the impacts of a development proposal'. You can read the government guidance here at gov.uk. Appendix 2 includes a table which sets out the information that is required to be published by the regulations.

This can be via a planning agreement entered into under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 by a person with an interest in the land and the local planning authority, or via a unilateral undertaking entered into by a person with an interest in the land without the local planning authority.

These legal agreements are negotiated during the planning application process and include 'trigger clauses' which specify when actions relating to the delivery of infrastructure should take place. These are usually tied to the progress of the development(s) for example 50 dwellings of a 100 dwelling scheme. Once the threshold is set out in the agreement it 'triggers' delivery of infrastructure. Section 106 agreements are negotiated based on the policies and guidance in the Local Plan and Supplementary Planning Documents.

Developers can also agree a 'Deed of Variation' with the Council which can modify a previously agreed Section 106 agreement. During the 2022 to 2023 the Council did not enter into any Deed of Variation that would adjust the level of Section 106 agreements previously secured (Appendix 2, Requirement a).

Amongst other things, the Council seeks contributions to mitigate the impact of housing development on education establishments, which is calculated on the basis of a formula set out in the Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document. This formula allows a potential discount based on the number of vacant school places in the area. This discount can be calculated:

• prior to determination when the formula is calculated and the level of discount is factored in to produce an agreed financial contribution that is explicitly stated in the legal agreement. Contributions calculated on this basis are included in 'Requirement A' in Appendix 2
• after determination which requires the formula to be included in the legal agreement and the financial contribution along with triggers for the contribution to be calculated and paid at an agreed point in time. In this circumstance, the discount will be calculated at a later date and it is not possible to specify the total amount secured in the legal agreement. As a consequence the amount secured is not included in Requirement A in Appendix 2. However, Appendix 3 has been provided to detail the applications where a contribution is subject to a formula

Appendix 3 also displays contributions reported in previous IFS reports, specifically the maximum contribution that could be received, the actual amount of money received (where appropriate) and information on how future discounts could be calculated.

The regulations require the Council to summarise the level of transactions by a number of terms which are further defined in Government Guidance as follows:

• 'secured': the trigger clauses (see paragraph 11) associated with the contribution have been met, meaning the developer is now required to pay all or part of the contribution
• 'received': the developer has paid all or part of the money due to the local planning authority
• 'allocated': the received money has been allocated to a team within the local planning authority, who will spend the money
• 'transferred': the received money has been transferred to an organisation outside the planning authority (for example another local authority or Transport for London), who will spend the money
• 'spent': the received money has been spent on the purpose specified in the section 106 or 278 agreement
• 'returned': the received money (or a portion of it) has been returned to the developer

You can read the government guidance here at gov.uk.