Agenda item

To provide a response to the Motion agreed at Council on 12th December 2013 concerning S106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy ("CIL").

The Council considered a report (Agenda Item 16) concerning a response to the Motion agreed at Council on the 12^th December 2013 concerning s106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy (“CIL”).

MOTION: Proposed by Councillor Hilary Cole and seconded by Councillor Keith Chopping:

That the Council:

“approves the report”.

Councillor Hilary Cole in introducing the item explained that the report had been drafted in order to provide a response to the motion submitted by Councillor Royce Longton at the December 2013 Council meeting. The report detailed the work undertaken by Members and Officers to ‘press for the retention of the S106 system’. Councillor Cole reported that on the 13 May 2014 Members (Councillors Keith Chopping, Tony Vickers and Hilary Cole) and Officers met with the officials from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) where a robust discussion took place. Officials from the DCLG had been invited to visit the Council in September 2014 to see how the s106 scheme worked for themselves. Councillor Roger Croft had also raised the issue with the Secretary of State who had agreed to re-examine this issue.

Councillor Cole stated that the report also set out Members involvement in the process (paragraph 3), the role of town and parish councils in the process (paragraph 4) and the procedures for collecting CIL (paragraph 5).

Councillor Alan Macro welcomed the efforts that had been made to retain the s106 scheme. He was however concerned about the level of involvement of both Ward Members and the town and parish councils in both the CIL and s106 processes. He explained that many of the parish councils would not have sufficient resources to monitor the trigger points nor did they necessarily have the professional expertise to do so. He was concerned that the s106 report was only issued to the town and parish councils on an annual basis and cited some examples of cases where the s106 funding had been wrongly assigned.

Councillor Gordon Lundie thanked all those involved in trying to retain the s106 scheme and especially Councillor Tony Vickers for the cross party support and subsequent involvement in the visits.

Councillor Royce Longton also expressed appreciation for the efforts that had been made to retain the scheme. He noted that where a town or parish council had adopted a Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) the percentage of CIL funding they would receive would increase from 15% to 25%. He therefore sought assurance that the Council would endeavour to support town and parish councils in the preparation of NDPs.

Councillor Tony Vickers acknowledged the thanks from Councillor Lundie and stated that he felt that cross party involvement in the lobbying had been useful and he asked that the September DCLG visit include involvement from both parties too. While he accepted that local authorities seeking to retain s106 schemes were in the minority he asked Officers to continue to try to identify any other like minded councils.

Councillor Jeff Brooks stated that he would be happy to discuss ways the Council could support the town and parish councils wanting to produce NDPs outside of this meeting. While he too welcomed the efforts that had been made to retain the s106 scheme he was concerned about the level of involvement of Ward Members and town and parish councils in the process which he felt could be improved upon.

Councillor Hilary Cole proposed that the issue of involvement could be taken back to the Planning Policy Task Group (PPTG) for further consideration and that a report could be brought back to full Council in due course. Members agreed this approach.

Councillor Keith Chopping noted that the s106 scheme was a superb process that achieved considerable income for the residents of the district at no extra cost for rate payers. He welcomed the suggestion that the PPTG could revisit the input from Ward Members and the town and parish councils.

Councillor Hilary Cole noted Councillor Macro’s comments about s106 monies being wrongly assigned and invited Members to alert the relevant Portfolio Holder to these occurrences. She reassured Members that she closely monitored this area of work.

The Motion was put to the meeting and duly RESOLVED.