Purpose

Planning obligations are legal obligations entered into by the developer in an agreement with the local planning authority under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) in order to mitigate the impacts of a development proposal.

The Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) provides guidance on how planning obligations will be secured from new development. This is a partial update of the SPD to revise the Monitoring and Development Coordination Fees and the Mansard Roof Contribution. Once adopted, the updated SPD will replace the 2021 version
 

Decision

1. Approves the Planning Obligations SPD (2021, updated 2025) included in Appendix A for adoption, authorise officers to prepare an adoption statement and withdraw the current Planning Obligations SPD (2021) in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, Regulations 14 and 15.
2. Authorises the Corporate Director, Housing and Regeneration to make any necessary factual or minor editing changes prior to publishing the updated Planning Obligations SPD.
3. Notes the Equalities Impact Assessment Screening as summarised in Paragraph 4 and included in Appendix B of the report submitted.
4. Notes the Consultation Statement summarising representations received during the public consultation and the responses to these representations as set out in Appendix C of the report submitted.
5. Notes the SEA Screening Statement as set out in Appendix D of the report submitted. 

Reasons for the decision

The reason for the decision is to ensure that the Council provides up to date guidance on the circumstances in which planning obligations will be secured from new development in order to mitigate development impacts and meet infrastructure requirements. 

Alternative options considered

One alternative would be to not adopt the updated Planning Obligations SPD and to retain the current 2021 version. This is not considered appropriate as the mansard roof conservation area contributions would not reflect the recently updated guidance adopted at Cabinet. In addition, the development co-ordination and integration contribution and non-financial monitoring fee would not increase in line with indexation and therefore would not maintain their value over time.

A second alternative would be to increase the development co-ordination and integration contribution and non-financial monitoring fee by more than the indexation rate. This was not considered appropriate due to the additional assessment and evidence that would have been required to support this option which would have resulted in an extended timeframe. Instead, a full review of obligations will be undertaken as part of the wholescale SPD review to coincide with the adoption of the new Local Plan