New Planning System Will 'Rob Borough of Funding Lifeline

The Royal Borough will be robbed of a funding lifeline if the government goes ahead with proposals to change the way contributions made by developers are collected and distributed.

That's the view of Cllr Vicky Howes, lead member for strategic planning, who told last Thursday's cabinet meeting (February 22) of her fears that new rules currently out for national consultation would be a stealth tax, leaving local communities considerably worse off.

Cabinet agreed that the borough would strongly oppose the government's plans to:

• scale back the current Section 106* system of developers' contributions so that it would apply only to improvements directly related to the specific site, e.g. an access road, affordable housing or an enviroinmental improvement on the site
• introduce a new system – called Planning Gain Supplement (PGS) – in which the government would collect the money and then redistribute only 70% to the local authority for wider initiatives, including education, public open space, libraries, public transport, wider road improvements and community facilities. 

Cllr Howes said that councils would be denied the remaining 30% of contributions that should rightly be spent in their local areas.

She said:  "We are being robbed of a lifeline of funding support which will have an adverse effect on quality of life in our borough.

"We are being directed by government to accept more and more development, putting a deplorable strain on our area, and at the same time denied the right to collect funds that would help offset or minimise the impact of the development.  Our fears are that this is another form of stealth tax, leaving communities considerably worse off with money that should rightly be used in the Royal Borough redirected to other regions in the country. "

This is the second time the PGS proposal has been out for consultation and cabinet agreed that once again the council should make clear its strong opposition on a wide range of grounds, including:

• grave concerns that the money would not be used for locally-identified needs or directed to the right areas
• the new system was not justified when compared with the much simpler S106
• there would be no direct link between the demands a new development placed on infrastructure and the amount of PGS developers would be charged
• it would slow down the planning and development processes.

Cllr Howes highlighed the Royal Borough's nationally-recognised success in collecting Section 106 money.  She added:  "We are one of the leading local councils for bringing in developer funding and directing it to local projects our residents want and need.  Under the new PGS we will lose control, lose money and lose out!"
ends

Notes:
*Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows a local planning authority to enter into a legally binding agreement (planning obligation) with a land developer over a related issue. Such agreements can cover almost any relevant issue – e.g. road improvements and community facilities – and can include sums of money.