Supplementary Planning Guidance on Planning Obligations for Education Facilities

FOREWORD

This Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) identifies the main requirements for educational facilities, which may be required as a consequence of new development within the Borough. It also sets out the financial contributions, which will be sought by the Council, from applicants seeking planning consent for development, where that development generates a need for such facilities. The purpose of this document is to assist prospective developers by identifying the costs associated with their development. By providing this guidance the Council seeks to minimise uncertainty and time spent negotiating on individual planning applications and thus speed up the decision making process, in line with Government intentions for improving the planning system.

This document was issued for an eight-week period of public consultation running from Thursday 8th July to Thursday 2nd September 2004 to enable members of the public and other interested parties to comment on its contents.

The Council’s Cabinet considered representations received at its meeting on 16th November 2004. At the meeting, the Cabinet resolved to modify the document in light of the responses received and adopt it as Supplementary Planning Guidance.

The Cabinet also resolved to use the annual Department for Education and Skills (DfES) figures on the average cost of providing a school place, and the relevant DfES cost multiplier for , as the basis for seeking planning obligations for education facilities, and that this document be revised when the DfES produce new figures on the costs of providing a school place (including the local cost multiplier), without the need for a full scale review.

This document will now be a material consideration in the determination of planning applications by Council and the Milton Keynes Partnership Committee* (MKPC). It will be reviewed on a regular basis. A statement of the public consultation undertaken on the draft SPG document, the representations received, and the Council’s response to those representations are available in a separate publication from the Council.

If you require further information about this document please phone the Development Plans team on (01908) 252599, email [email protected], fax (01908) 252330 or write to the address overleaf.

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Spatial Planning Division, Milton Keynes Council, PO Box 112, 1 Saxon Gate East, Milton Keynes MK9 3 HQ

A copy of this document is also available on line from: http://www.mkweb.co.uk/local_plan_review/

Shenley Brook End Secondary School

* Since the 7 June 2004, the Milton Keynes Partnership Committee has been the Development Control and Implementation Authority for a number of Urban Development Areas located on the edge of the Milton Keynes Urban Area, where large-scale urban expansion is planned. Within its area of jurisdiction, planning applications for development are submitted to the MKPC for determination.

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PLANNING OBLIGATIONS FOR EDUCATION

Developer Contributions for the Provision of Education

1.0 The Context

1.1 It is the view of Milton Keynes Council that landowners and developers should make provision for education infrastructure, the need for which arises from new developments. This is in line with Central Government expectations that local authorities should obtain significant contributions from developers, where new housing increases demand for school places1.

1.2 This principle is supported by Circular 1/97: Planning Obligations, which states that the planning system should operate in the public interest and should aim to foster sustainable development in a way that adds to, rather than detracts from, the quality of the environment.

1.3 Paragraph B10 specifically refers to education facilities, provided that these are related to the development proposal, the need for them arises from its implementation and they are related in scale and kind. Paragraph B12 notes that developers may reasonably be expected to pay for, or contribute to, the cost of the infrastructure, which would not have been necessary but for their development.

1.4 The support for this principle is also contained in policies CF4 of the Adopted Local Plan and policies PO1, PO2 and PO5 of the second deposit Milton Keynes Local Plans (see Appendix 1 for a copy of these policies).

1.5 In essence, the Council’s objective is for developers to meet the costs of education provision arising from development, to avoid these additional costs falling on the public purse.

2.0 Interpretation of Policy

2.1 Milton Keynes Council will only seek contributions in circumstances where it identifies there is a demonstrable need arising from the development. Where it is considered that a development will place an unacceptable strain on existing educational infrastructure, the Council may refuse the development.

2.2 The manner of education provision will vary, depending on where the development is located in the Borough and the size of the proposed development. It could involve land and buildings for a new school and / or

1 Investment to support the provision of new pupil places in schools, Consultation Paper August 2002: DfES, paragraph 2.7

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an extension to an existing school to increase capacity or improve facilities, so that the school can meet the needs of the additional pupils. Occasionally, contributions from the development of several sites together will enable school capacity improvements.

2.3 Circular 1/97 makes it clear that maintenance or revenue costs should not normally be sought; however there is a potential exception, this being the costs of school transport in the interim period before a new school or extension is funded and /or completed for the children arising from the development.

2.4 Generally the Council will endeavour to recover the capital costs of the works necessitated by the development. These are represented by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) figures shown in paragraph 6.1.

2.5 Building and construction costs will be indexed in section 106 legal agreements to allow for changes in costs and prices over time. Initially, November 2004 will be taken as the base. Building and construction costs do not follow the Retail Price Index (RPI) as they are determined more by the volume of work being carried out or in the pipeline at the time. The two price indices most commonly used to assess these costs are The Building Cost Information Service (BCIS), published by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), and the Building Price and Cost Indices, published by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The BCIS gives a cost analysis of various types of buildings as well as forecasts of tender and building costs, and the DTI publication gives a series of indices of historic costs as well as future projections. The Council will use the most appropriate of these two sets of indices to provide a guide to the construction and other costs of new infrastructure and facilities that are required. Landowners and developers will also be required to pay the Council reasonable legal costs in negotiation, preparation and completion of the Section 106 or other agreement, and pending completion, this will need to be supported by a solicitors undertaking.

3.0 Scope of Policy

3.1 Contributions will normally be required if the proposal is or is likely to be for 10 or more dwellings or if any of the catchment area schools are already reaching or over permanent capacity. This will include sites where the site is sub-divided into smaller sites or phases, where the whole site amounts to more than 10 dwellings. Owing to resource implications, contributions will not normally be sought on sites smaller than this. However contributions offered by developers on these smaller sites would be accepted where there is a need for additional education provision.

3.2 Contributions will not be sought where older persons’ housing is being proposed because this type of housing will have no impact on local education facilities. Where older persons’ housing is part of a larger scheme incorporating other types of housing, any need for contribution will

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be assessed on the whole scheme minus the older persons housing element.

3.3 Contributions will be sought from all other types of housing including affordable housing. Our research shows that affordable housing generates similar numbers of children to market housing, therefore there is no case for excluding this type of housing from contribution assessments. However it is acknowledged that on sites where the proposed development is 100% affordable housing, a reduced amount will be sought in recognition of the need to minimise costs to ensure the houses are affordable. Education contributions will not be sought from one-bed flats within a development.

3.4 The phasing of contributions will normally be agreed on a site-by-site basis. A recent example of this saw the Council agree with the owner to pay instalments towards educational facilities on occupation of the 50th dwelling (or within one year of the grant of planning permission) and then subsequently on occupation of the 100th, 150th and final dwelling (or within 2, 3 or 4 years of the grant of planning permission- whichever is the sooner).

4.0 Outline, full applications and renewals

4.1 Contributions will be sought in relation to outline or full applications for planning consent for residential development, which are likely to result in the need for additional education provision. Contributions will also be sought in relation to renewals for consent for residential development where there has been a significant change in the school capacity situation since planning consent was first granted.

4.2 In the case of outline applications where no information is given on the number of dwellings proposed, the Council will assume an indicative density for the site, depending on its location in the Borough, in line with the densities set out in Policy H8 of the second deposit Local Plan (see Appendix 1). Any legal agreement for outline consents will need to be expressed in terms of an amount per house basis so that any subsequent increase or decrease in dwelling numbers is reflected in an increase or decrease in contributions.

4.3 Where outline consents have already been granted and a reserved matters application significantly increases the number of houses to be built on a site, this can have implications for education provision. Potentially this could take the site from a situation where no contributions are necessary to one where contributions are needed. If the increase justifies such a contribution, the Council will take the view that a new application or new consultations are required. The level of increase that would be regarded as significant will depend on the scale of the development, but generally will apply to increases of 10 dwellings or more.

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5.0 Assessing Need

5.1 Milton Keynes Education Context and Pupil Generation Contributions will only be sought where there is demonstrable need arising from the proposed development.

5.2 The basic process for determining need is for the Council’s Education Planning team to look at:

 The estimated pupil numbers generated by the proposed development and;  The capacity of the catchment area schools and existing and forecast school rolls.

This will allow the Council to identify any shortfalls in provision, which will necessitate contributions.

5.3 In Milton Keynes there are primary schools (formally first, middle and combined schools) and secondary schools. Taking effect from the 2005- 2006 school year, the age of transfer from primary to secondary education throughout the Borough will change from 12 to 11.

Walton High Secondary School

5.4 For assessing need the pupils are taken as comprising 7 year groups at primary level (ages 4-11) and 5 year groups at secondary level (11-16). Post-16 education is now managed in the Milton Keynes area by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), but the Council is the agent responsible for providing places in secondary schools, subject to the agreement of the LSC. Any assessment of need will also include the two years of sixth form, which is currently equivalent in cohort size to one-year group, but is expected to rise when schools fully implement the national 14-19 curriculum guidelines.

5.5 Nursery provision is another factor that will be looked at in assessments of need. The government now requires nursery places to be available for 85% of children from the term following their third birthday. These children are likely to be accommodated through a mixture of Council, voluntary or private provision. In an entirely new growth area, the Council expects to be the initial provider of places. Where the number of nursery aged pupils generated by a development cannot be accommodated within existing provision, the Council will seek a contribution towards the capital costs of

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accommodating 85% of the number of pupils generated by the development.

5.6 At present, nursery education is defined as 12.5 hours per week over 5 sessions. However, Government policy envisages a change with an increase in hours to 20 hours (i.e. 4 hours per day) with extended childcare facilities. The Council is planning for each nursery class to provide for 39 children on the basis of this extended policy (i.e. not 39 x 2 sessions per day).

5.7 The Council will also be seeking contributions towards mainstream schools and early years facilities arising from new development; a methodology and justification for this will be covered in the next review of this SPG.

5.8 The methodologies and background information on how all pupil numbers are calculated is contained in Appendix 2. Essentially the rate used for all calculations is 4 children per year group per 100 dwellings (including early years). For post-16 pupils, a stay-on rate of 50% is assumed, but this may be subject to change as indicated in paragraph 5.4.

5.9 As noted in paragraphs 3.2 and 3.3, education contributions will not be sought from older persons housing and one-bed flats within a development.

5.10 Pupil generation rates are subject to on-going review, particularly where the mix of houses is such that a development is not predominantly family housing.

5.11 Capacity, school rolls and forecasts

The most up to date data available on catchment areas, agreed operational capacity of schools, existing and forecast school rolls and pupil generation information will be used at the time each assessment is carried out. If estimates are made prior to actual planning applications being submitted, these may need to be revised in the light of up to date information when the application is submitted.

5.12 Milton Keynes Council is committed to the provision of local schools to serve their local communities and has a policy of “school defined areas”. This means that a school serves primarily pupils residing in that area, as schools are designed to be at the heart of the community.

5.13 The Council as Local Education Authority is required to produce pupil projections which look forward 5 years, therefore this will be the period used for examining school rolls and capacity2. Planning permissions for housing development already permitted but not yet constructed may also be taken into account, where the additional pupils generated will fill existing places or exacerbate an existing shortfall.

2 Up to date information on school roll projections and schools capacity will be contained in the current version of the Schools Organisation Plan, produced by MKC Education Department.

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5.14 School capacity is the current agreed net capacity figure for the school, but should take into account any committed extensions and planned improvement schemes under construction. These could involve a reduction in school capacity as well as an increase.4 The presence of existing temporary accommodation is evidence that the school is already under pressure and should not be taken into account in any capacity estimates. Most of this type of accommodation is under temporary planning consents, which may not be renewed. Calculations of school capacity reported to the DfES include temporary accommodation if it has been in situ for more than 5 years.

6.0 Assessing Contributions

6.1. Methodology for New Pupil Places

The standards adopted by the DfES (Department for Skills and Education) for determining capital allocations to local authorities will normally be used, although we are aware that the whole of the DfES schools funding regime is currently under review. Future updates of this guidance will need to take into account any changes to this process. Notwithstanding this, the current DfES Basic Needs Borrowing allocations for 2005-2006 are as follows:

 Primary: £8,870 x 1.055 (local cost multiplier) = £9,314  Secondary: £13, 929 x 1.05 = £14,625  Post-16: £14,901 x 1.05 = £15,646

6.2. The above costs will be applied per pupil place. Up to date information on DfES multipliers can be obtained from Ted Pawley, MKC’s School System Review Officer (Tel. 01908 253142).

6.3. The DfES borrowing allocations per place, which have been increased significantly in the last two years, currently represent the realistic building and equipment costs of new school places. Previously the allocation fell short of the real cost. The Council will, therefore, continue to monitor annual allocations against the actual costs and will review the methodology if the allocation should fail to reflect actual costs in the future.

4 At the time of writing, area guidelines for schools as set out by the DfES (recently revised in BB98 and BB99) have been increased significantly. The guidelines are designed to be applicable to existing schools as well as new schools. In the case of existing schools, a reconfiguration of internal space necessary to meet the new DfES standards could lead to a reduction in capacity. 5 The DfES cost multiplier for Milton Keynes is applied to reflect regional cost factors.

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Inside Broughton Fields Primary School

6.4. Early Years

As explained in paragraph 5.5, the Council will also be seeking a contribution towards the capital cost of accommodating 85% of the number of nursery age pupils where these children cannot be accommodated within existing provision. Nursery provision is from the term following a child’s third birthday. This can mean that a child can spend five terms in a nursery setting before admission to a school’s reception class under the Council's single point of entry policy (in the September following a child’s fourth birthday.) Provision will be needed, therefore, that can accommodate 85% of five terms’ worth of a normal age cohort, and the calculation will be based on this yield multiplied by the DfES primary borrowing allocation.

6.5. An example of the approach the Council will follow in calculating contributions for new school development, extensions to schools and the provision of nursery places is contained within Appendix 2

6.6. New Schools

Where the scale of development is such to necessitate a new school, the developers will be expected to provide the site free of charge, the building costs, including site infrastructure, and playing fields. Traditionally, First, Middle and Secondary schools have been built within the Borough. However, new school provision will generally be in the form of Primary and Secondary schools. This is because ‘all-through’ Primary schools are the preferred means of now providing school places. Under the terms of the Education Act 2002, new secondary schools to serve growth areas will be subject to new procurement procedures that may involve providers other than the Council. Contributions will be applied towards such new provision, whether or not the Council is the developer of the school. Where appropriate, too, the Council will consider partnerships with developers in the procurement of new schools at either primary or secondary level, where economies of scale may ensure effective and timely delivery of high-quality

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provision. Such schools will be to agreed specifications (at least to DfES exemplar design standards).

6.7. The Council will expect sites to be delivered in locations that are accessible to new housing development and will particularly encourage the provision of sites located as part of new local or district centres in the city expansion areas6. Sites should be of a regular shape, level and largely free from building constraints such as underground sewers, trees with Tree Preservation Orders, landfill sites and/or sites with gassing and high noise level areas etc. The following site areas will apply:

Primary School 420 places 1.93 hectares Secondary Schools 1200/1500 place 10.45 hectares

Source: Area Guidelines Overview 2004 (DfES on Teachernet – ahead of final publication of BB98 and BB99)

6.8. These sizes will be reviewed in the light of any changes to site sizes contained in government guidance. Site size will also need to take into account an allowance to enable early years provision to be made on school sites - e.g. a nursery, or a site for a nursery.

6.9 Appendix 2 shows how the pupil generation from new development relates to the need for additional pupil places (1500 dwellings would imply the need for a new primary school in the example given). The Appendix then calculates the level of contribution to be sought, using the DfES borrowing allocation as the cost per pupil place.

6 Although there are 3 Milton Keynes City Expansion Areas, to the north, east and west of the City, new schools will only be needed in the east and west. Policies EA1, EA2, EA3 & EA5 of the Second Deposit Milton Keynes Plan apply to the expansion areas and contain more information on the requirements.

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APPENDIX 1: RELEVANT LOCAL PLAN POLICIES

A) ADOPTED BOROUGH OF MILTON KEYNES, LOCAL PLAN POLICY CF4

THE COUNCIL WILL ASSIST THE WORK OF OTHER AGENCIES RESPONSIBLE FOR COMMUNITY FACILITIES BY:

(I) MAINTAINING LIAISON WITH THOSE AGENCIES (II) FORECASTING FUTURE LEVELS OF DEMAND (III) SEEKING SUITABLE USES FOR SURPLUS AGENCY LAND (IV) IDENTIFYING SITES FOR, AND CO-ORDINATING NEW FACILITIES (V) REQUIRING THE PROVISION OF SITES AND/OR BUILDINGS FOR NEW COMMUNITY FACILITIES AS PART OF DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS, INACCORDANCE WITH POLICY PG1a

B) SECOND DEPOSIT VERSION OF THE MILTON KEYNES LOCAL PLAN (OCTOBER 2002)

Please note on these policies, text in italics and brackets is proposed to be deleted from the policy, text in bold and underlined is proposed to be added to the policy.

GENERAL POLICIES: POLICY PO1

The Council will seek to ensure that development proposals make adequate provision for both infrastructure and community facilities that relate to the proposed development (either: (i) Generated by the development itself (ii) Identified in the surrounding area in this Local Plan.) In making an assessment of such needs, it may be necessary to take into account the cumulative effect of a number of developments on the existing infrastructure of the surrounding area. Developers will be expected to meet the full costs of facilities required as a consequence of development and contribute to resolving existing deficiencies where these would be made worse by the development

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POLICY PO2 The main types of development proposal where the Council will seek improvements to infrastructure and community facilities are: (i) Proposals for development in the City Expansion Areas (Policies EA1 to EA6) (ii) The redevelopment of existing industrial and warehousing premises (iii) Proposals for development in the extended Linear Parks (iv) Proposals for new housing (v) Proposals for redevelopment, extension, change of use, or new development for offices, shopping or commercial leisure, in Town, District and Local Centres. In all cases, development proposals must be acceptable in principle when judged against the policies of this Local Plan. The scale and nature of the benefits sought will be directly related to the scale and nature of the proposed development.

NEW HOUSING DEVELOPMENT POLICY PO5

Where proposals involve new housing, the Council will seek the following: (i) Contributions to community facilities, including Meeting halls, (and contributions to) education and healthcare facilities (ii) Public open space, and leisure and recreation facilities in accordance with the standards set out in Appendix L1. Where it is undesirable or impossible to meet these (open space) standards on site, improvements to existing nearby open space (iii) Improvements to pedestrian and cycle facilities, public transport, road access and parking (road access, public transport, parking, cycle and pedestrian facilities,) including off-site works where appropriate (iv) Public art (v) A proportion of the housing units within the category of affordable housing, in accordance with Policies H3 and H4. (nb. Subsequent to the adoption of this SPG, Policy PO5 was removed from the Local Plan, in line with the recommendation of the Local Plan Inspector).

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NEW HOUSING DEVELOPMENT HOUSING DENSITY POLICY H8 (as modified by Pre-Inquiry Change 23) The density of new housing development should (generally) be well related to (compatible with) the character and appearance (and density) of development in the surrounding area.

The Council will (usually) seek the average (indicative) net densities set out below for development within each zone as defined on the accompanying plan: Zone 1: CMK (including Campbell Park) 100 dws/ha Zone 2: Adjoining grid squares north and south of CMK, , Kingston, Stony Stratford, Westcroft and Wolverton: 40 dws/ha Zone 3: The rest of the City, City Expansion Areas, , Olney and 35 dws/ha Zone 4: The rest of the Borough 30 (20) dws/ha Developments with (a) an average net density of less than 30 dwellings per hectare (in Zones 1, 2 and 3) will not be permitted

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APPENDIX 2: EXAMPLE OF PLANNING CONTRIBUTIONS SOUGHT PER DWELLING FOR EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES.

Number of dwellings 1500 Development:

Pupil yield 4% 4 pupils per year group per 100 dwellings

No. of primary age pupils 4-11 420 No. of secondary age pupils 11-16 300 No. of post-16 pupils 60

Basic Need Allocations 2005-2006 (DfES figures) Cost multiplier Total Primary 8870 x 1.05 9314 Secondary 13929 x 1.05 14625 Post-16 14901 x 1.05 15646 Cost multiplier is DfES figure for Milton Keynes to reflect regional cost factors

Contributions sought

At Basic Need Cost multiplier PY 4% Per dwelling Primary pupils 3911670.00 £2,607.78 Secondary pupils 4387635.00 £2,925.09 Post 16 pupils 938763.00 £625.84

Total £9,238,068 £6,158.71

Early Years provision

Number children in 1 year group 60 No. of children who reach 3 or 4 during the school year 100 3+ to single point of entry At 85% take-up of EY provision 85 (Government target level)

DfES primary allocation 9314

Number of children x allocation £791,648 £527.77 per dwelling

Total contribution (C24+C36) £10,029,716

Per dwelling - BN multiplier £6,686.48

(Version as at 7.12.2004- please note DfES figures change annually- see para 6.2).

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