Agenda item

To receive a report that provides information in relation to the Section 106 schedule.

The Sub-committee received a briefing to provide and understanding to Planning obligations under Section 106 (s106) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, commonly known as s106 agreements.

The S106 mechanism allows a development proposal acceptable in planning terms, that would not otherwise be acceptable, and are focussed on mitigating the impact of the development on an area.

S106 agreements are often called ‘developer contributions’ or ‘planning gain’ and include a range of identified categories, historically including highways, affordable housing, sport and leisure, health and play sites, amongst others.

The efficiency and transparency of the s106 process had been raised by Members and Officers within the Authority and were detailed in the briefing note.

The Investment Programme Board (IPB) set up a s106 sub group to provide political oversight of the s106 process and to overcome identified issues and would approve and manage all the Authority’s s106 spend and project delivery in an agreed, transparent way, linked to agreed service area priorities and wider Authority’s priorities and plans.

To ensure a fair distribution of monies across North Tyneside, the group, in line with the Authority’s strategic plans and priorities, agreed that for all future s106 allocations, the Borough would be split into four areas / quadrants: North East, North West, South East and South West, allowing a more flexible approach to projects and spend through maximising opportunities. In addition a dedicated s106 Capital Programme Manager had been appointed to manage the process.

The briefing detailed the process and governance arrangements of the IPB.

Appended to the briefing were two strategies (play site and allotments) that were developed through the commissioning of the IPB and formed the lynchpin for all future s106 decisions and spend for play site and allotment projects moving forward.

The s106 programme of works aims to supplement and support the wider Authority budget, to ensure a good spread of spend for all areas of the Borough and to provide flexibility and value for money.

Service areas routinely reviewed information and developing projects, which would be presented to the IPB s106 sub group for consideration prior to securing the IPB approval. If approved the projects are then delivered.

Appended to the briefing were the latest s106 spreadsheets that included the financial information of all developer contributions, either as ‘s106 allocated monies’ or ‘s106 pipeline monies’.

On inspection of the information a member requested further information in respect to:

      i.        00/02134/S106 Collingwood Ward (S0056) Plot 6 Cobalt Business Park 00/01360/FUL

    ii.        13/02005/S106 Whitley Bay Ward- Site of former 35 Esplanade 13/01526/FUL.

It was stated that officers would provide the information directly to the member.

A member raised concern that there were projects (Health) with significant amounts of associated monies set against them for long period and asked the reason for not using the monies earlier. In response it was stated that with the appointment of a dedicated officer to manage s106 monies, work was on going to identify projects or specific use.

The member requested information from the 5-year Investment Plan in relation to St Marys. It was stated that officers would provide the information directly to the member.

The member sought assurance that in future more specific and detailed proposals would be submitted to ensure the rapid use of S106 monies. In response it was stated that this was an area that had been considered and new governance arrangements and the appointment of dedicated officer was put in place to ensure this.

A Members raised in relation to a project that was included on the ‘pipeline schedule’ reference 18/00826/FUL re Mallard Way, Silverlink. It was stated that officers would provide the information directly to the member.

Agreed that the Section s106 update be noted.