Committee: CABINET Date: 21st September 2009 Agenda item: 6 Wards: All Wards Subject: S.106 Planning Obligations Report Quarter 1 2009/10 Lead officer: John Hill, Head of Public Protection & Development Lead member: Councillor William Brierly, Planning and Traffic Management Forward Plan reference number: 825 Contact officer: Tim Catley (S.106 General Enquiries); Ashley Heller (Enquires in relation to the Wimbledon Station Access Scheme) Recommendations: A. THE CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY S.106 AGREEMENTS OR ANY OTHER ENABLING AGREEMENT BE NOTED. B. THAT S.106 FUNDING TOTALING £248,310 BE ALLOCATED TO THE WIMBLEDON STATION ACCESS SCHEME 1 PURPOSE OF REPORT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1. This report summarises the situation in relation to S.106 agreements for the 1st quarter 2009/10. 1.2. £511,107 has been committed to the council in monetary obligations for Quarter 1. A list of agreements signed during Quarter 1 can be found at Appendix B. 1.3. £65,722 was received in Quarter 1. A breakdown can be found at item 2.6. 1.4. £45,299 was spent from S.106 funds in Quarter 1. Please refer to Appendix C for breakdown. 1.5. £1,595,735 is unallocated and remains available from S.106 income. Please refer to Appendix D. 1.6. To approve the proposed use of S.106 funds towards the Wimbledon Station Access Scheme. 2 DETAILS 2.1. S.106 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) permits Local Planning Authorities to enter into agreements with applicants for planning permission to regulate the use and development of land. This may involve the payment of a financial contribution for off site works. 27 2.2. Government guidance on the use of planning obligations is set out in ODPM Circular 05/2005 issued on 18th July 2005. The guidance requires that a planning obligation must be: i) Relevant to planning; ii) Necessary to make the proposed development acceptable in planning terms; iii) Directly related to the proposed development; iv) Fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the proposed development; v) Reasonable in all other respects. 2.3. Members requested an annual report detailing agreements signed, income received and expenditure funded by S.106 Agreements. At the Planning Applications Committee meeting of 18th August 2005, Members requested that this report be produced on a quarterly basis in future. The report is to be submitted to Cabinet. 2.4. In order to ensure that the Council remains competitive in securing benefits through the S.106 process, a revised format of the bi-monthly income/expenditure meetings has now been formalised so that meetings now involve all corporate officers involved in the S.106 process. The aim of the meeting is to be a forum through which departments can be aware of key issues at an early stage so that the benefits of S106 can be maximised. Agendas are flexible so that attendees feel they have an opportunity to express issues, however they roughly cover the following areas with respect to S.106: • processes (including protocol preparations) • considerations for policy development • update on any developments in the field of S106 such as relevant Government/Mayoral proposals, policies and legislation • performance and reports • lessons learned • application & implementation issues – it is intended that detailed issues on specific cases can be discussed separately to help to retain a strategic focus in the meetings • identifying opportunities to channel S.106 funding towards the council’s Capital programme both in terms of the negotiations with developers for prospective S.106 contributions and for the allocation of S.106 monies already received 2.5. This programme of meetings supplements the existing arrangements for bidding and notification which include: 28 • notification of officers, relevant ward councillors and the Cabinet member for Planning and Traffic Management with respect to newly signed S.106 agreements and the obligations contained therein • notification of officers and members as above with respect to newly received financial contributions paid in accordance with S.106 agreements • bids are to be prepared by officers responsible for implementing projects for which S.106 monies are sought and are to be authorised by their relevant head of service. • all bids are to be authorised by the Head of Public Protection and Development • all bids for S.106 monies of £30,000 and above are to be authorised by the Director of Environment and Regeneration • such bids upwards of £50,000 require the authorisation of Cabinet • bids are to be within the bounds of the signed S.106 Agreement which vary from case to case. Consequently the level of detail required in support of a bid and subsequent level of scrutiny of a bid may vary in relation to the level of detail specified within the S.106 Agreement and the complexity of the measures towards which the funds would be applied. • any queries with respect to S.106 contributions that have been received, (for example should a councillor wish to enquire whether a S.106 contribution could be applied to a specific project) will usually be directed to the service that would be responsible for bidding and spending the contribution. Such queries would generally be directed to officers that are involved in seeking funding for projects to be carried out within those sections. • Environment and Regeneration is currently developing a “Project Bank”, a centralised database of potential projects. It is hoped that the Project Bank will be an effective way of identifying priorities for funding such as S.106 across the department and be used as a point of reference should members have any S.106 queries. 2.6. Applications decided subject to S.106 agreement for Quarter 1 2009/10 (See Appendix A): Committee resolutions by quarter: Qtr 1 (08/09) 12 Qtr 2 19 Qtr 3 22 29 Qtr 4 20 Q1 (09/10) 15 2.7. Analysis of income and agreements signed in 2009/10 in comparison with 2009/10: Monetary Received within Qtr Spend (incl Obligations (incl previous years previous years obligations) excl fees obligations) £ (Excl fees) £ £ 2008/09 Qtr 1 2,536,563 302,557 111,594 Qtr 2 144,283 241,500 95,407 Qtr 3 185,967 16,950 80,658 Qtr 4 152,991 352,006 75,959 Total 3,019,804 913,013 404,905 2009/10 Qtr 1 £511,107 £65,722 £45,299 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 Total See appendix B for the list of the agreements signed in Quarter 1 2009/10. 2.8. Summary of Income by Ward for Quarter 1: Ward Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 Abbey Colliers Wood Cricket Green 31,380 Dundonald 642 Hillside Lavender Fields 5,000 Longthornton 5,250 Merton Park Ravensbury 20,000 30 St Helier Trinity 1,000 West Barnes 2,450 Total £65,722 2.9. Sums obligated Quarter 1 2009/10 by Head of Term: Head of Term Qtr 4 Education 237,409 Open space/Play area/ 121,950 Environmental Security 10,000 Town Centre/Economic 4,748 Dev Traffic Management/ 137,000 Highways/Sustainable Transport Total £511,107 2.10. Sums received Quarter 1 2009/10: Head of Term Qtr 4 Education 11,880 Open Space/Play Area/ 20,842 Environmental Security 1,000 Town Centre/Economic Dev Traffic Management/ 32,000 Highways/ Sustainable Transport Total £65,722 2.11. Schemes including affordable housing obligations agreed in Quarter 1: Date Address Description 1/5/09 Land at Former Thames Enter into a contract to transfer Water Site, 21-31 Coombe the Affordable Housing Units, Lane and 22 West Barnes namely 29 (comprising 18 x 1 Lane, SW20 bed and 11 x 2 bed units) of the total number residential units to a Registered Social Landlord. Affordable housing units to be built to Housing 31 Corporation Design and Quality Standards 2007 and in accordance with the Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 unless otherwise agreed. 2.12. Community Benefits (in-kind) agreed in Quarter 1: Date Address Description 1/5/09 Land at Former Thames Recycling Water Site, 21-31 Developer grants requisite rights of Coombe Lane and 22 access to the Recycling Facilities West Barnes Lane, at no cost to the Council SW20 1/5/09 Land at Former Thames Travel Plan Water Site, 21-31 Submit the Travel Plan for Coombe Lane and 22 approval. Upon approval West Barnes Lane, implement Travel Plan as SW20 approved. See agreement for details. 1/5/09 Land at Former Thames Car Club Water Site, 21-31 Developer to ensure that all Coombe Lane and 22 marketing material published by West Barnes Lane, the Developer shall notify potential SW20 purchases or tenants of the Car Club Scheme. 1/5/09 Land at Former Thames Highways Agreement Water Site, 21-31 To submit for approval, agree and Coombe Lane and 22 implement a Highways Agreement West Barnes Lane, (S.278) for the following works to SW20 be performed by the developer: 1. The introduction of a right turn lane facility from WB Lane including any associated road widening and the reasonable and proper costs of any amendments to TMOs and parking control measures reasonably required 2. The introduction of a pedestrian refuge on WB Lane, incl. costs as per 1 above 3. The relocation of the existing pedestrian crossing on Coombe Lane to the Development site incl. costs as per 1 above 4. The introduction of such amendments to TMOs and parking control measures on Coombe Lane to facilitate the 'left in only' access 32 arrangement 5. The introduction of the proposed cycle link from the site to the existing cycle lane on Coombe Lane 6.