The Sevenoaks Cabinet meeting on 12 December 2024 was scheduled to consider a range of matters relating to the Council’s Budget, the Fawkham Neighbourhood Plan, the Infrastructure Funding Statement, and the governance of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Spending Board.

Fawkham Neighbourhood Plan

The meeting was scheduled to consider the Fawkham Neighbourhood Plan, which had recently been examined by an independent examiner, Derek Stebbing.¹ The examiner’s report recommended that the plan should proceed to a referendum, subject to a number of modifications.

The examiner recommended modifications to the following policies:

• Policy FNP1 – Protection and Enhancement of Landscape Character
• Policy FNP2 – Woodland, Trees and Hedgerows
• Policy FNP3 – Rural Lanes
• Policy FNP4 – Conserve and Enhance Biodiversity
• Policy FNP5 – Groundwater Source Protection Zone
• Policy FNP6 – Surface Water Flooding
• Policy FNP7 – Soil Conservation
• Policy FNP8 – Heritage
• Policy FNP9 – Business Development
• Policy FNP10 – Protection of Fawkham Village Hall
• Policy FNP11 – Protection of The Rising Sun Inn
• Policy FNP12 – Protection of Open Space, Sport and Recreation Facilities
• Policy FNP13 – Protection of Existing Public Rights of Way and Historic Routeways
• Policy FNP14 – Securing Infrastructure

The examiner recommended that Policy FNP15, which related to a proposal by Fawkham Parish Council to provide a new car park at Small Grains, should be deleted from the plan because the land is owned by the District Council, who have stated that they do not support the proposal.

A draft decision statement was presented to the Cabinet, recommending that they approve the examiner’s report and the modified plan and that the plan be progressed to referendum.

Infrastructure Funding Statement

The meeting was scheduled to consider the Council’s Infrastructure Funding Statement, which the CIL Regulations require to be published each year. The statement sets out the Council’s priorities for spending CIL and Section 106² contributions.

It was recommended that the criteria for prioritising infrastructure projects for CIL funding should remain as agreed in December 2023. These included that the project must:

• be identified in the Infrastructure Delivery Plan
• support and be clearly related to new development in the District
• have strong social, environmental or economic justification
• have support from infrastructure providers.

It was also recommended that the priorities for spending CIL and Section 106 contributions for the coming year should remain as:

• Upper Darent Flood Alleviation Scheme
• Swanley transport improvement measures
• Junction 3 M25 Swanley improvements
• Improvements to bus services in and around Swanley
• Edenbridge junction improvements
• Edenbridge sustainable transport improvements
• Badgers Mount water supply upgrades
• Swanley water supply upgrades
• Clean water capacity in Edenbridge
• Additional GP capacity in Sevenoaks and Swanley, and potentially in Westerham, West Kingsdown and New Ash Green / Hartley
• To increase the capacity of Otford Health Services (related to Fort Halstead)
• Affordable housing
• Projects contributing towards the Council’s corporate objectives, particularly those tackling climate change and the health and wellbeing agenda
• New 3FE primary school in the Sevenoaks urban area
• 2 new 5FE secondary schools at Pedham Place or Edenbridge
• New 3FE primary school at Pedham Place
• Expansion of existing primary schools in and around Edenbridge
• Expansion of existing primary school in West Kingsdown
• Infrastructure proposals that seek to improve existing rural broadband services

It was proposed that the provision of developer contributions towards community facilities should no longer be a priority in the new Infrastructure Funding Statement because the community infrastructure projects identified in the Infrastructure Delivery Plan are not due to be delivered within the next 5 years.

CIL Spending Board – Governance and Social Value Review

The meeting was scheduled to consider a review of the Council’s CIL Spending Board governance, which is set out in Appendix X1 of the Council’s Constitution. It was proposed to incorporate a measure of social value in assessing the social, economic and environmental benefits of infrastructure projects. This would complement the existing qualitative assessment already undertaken. Where appropriate and achievable, officers would use the ‘Social Value Engine’ to measure the social value of CIL bids. The use of the Social Value Engine would be decided by officers on a case-by-case basis, in agreement with the Portfolio Holder, the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the CIL Spending Board.

It was also proposed to update the CIL funding application form, which applicants had found to be long and not very user-friendly. It was proposed to simplify the form and restructure it in line with the ten key considerations that the Board must consider when deciding whether to award CIL funding to a project.

Budget Update

The meeting was scheduled to consider an update on the Council’s Budget. A number of service change impact assessments (SCIAs) were included in the report pack, outlining proposed growth and savings items for consideration. In addition, a number of suggestions for growth or savings, put forward by Members of the Council’s advisory committees, were included in the report pack. The Cabinet was scheduled to consider the suggestions and provide instructions to officers.