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
 

Content

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