As the summer holidays are in full swing and any of you with children will be trying to juggle work, childcare and the endless requests for ‘can I have another snack please?’ you may not be thinking too much about the empty school buildings and teachers who are currently enjoying the peace and quiet!
Planning applications might not be the first thing you relate to schools, but they are strongly linked, particularly with residential development where families with children might be moving into a new area. As part of the planning process developers and applicants are often required to make financial contributions towards various services, infrastructure and facilities.
These contributions are calculated depending on the scale and type of development and need to be justified by the Council as being appropriate for the proposal. The amounts will vary and will be tailored to the project. The final sums will be secured by a signed Legal Agreement (usually referred to as a Section 106 Agreement or S106) and these contributions ensure that local improvements can be delivered to support the proposal. Examples of contributions can include money towards the following, but these would not apply to all applications:
- Local healthcare provision for additional capacity.
- Local ambulance service.
- Library services.
- Public art and museums.
- Highway improvement works including footpaths.
- Public transport upgrade and provision.
- Learning and skills training.
- Affordable housing (if not being delivered on-site).
- Local play areas and leisure facilities.
- School upgrade and extensions to increase capacity.
- Public open space enhancements.
- Biodiversity enhancements.
If you see improvement projects happening in your local area it is possible that these might have been funded by a developer as part of a planning consent. Councils are required to consider applications in the context of contributions, and these can help to overcome any elements of a scheme which might not quite deliver all that is required to make it acceptable. The benefits that these contributions deliver are significant and help to bring improvements to many different aspects of your community. Developers have to include S106 contributions in their financial planning as it can form a large part of their overall project budget.
The S106 process ensures that new development (including commercial projects) will deliver the necessary infrastructure improvements to ensure that the additional demands on services are provided.
Warner Planning supports clients by proactively monitoring obligations contained within S106 Agreements, including pre-commencement requirements, and seeking their timely discharge as development progresses.
So, while your child’s school is having a deep clean over the holidays ready for a new school term in September you might see new classrooms, new teachers joining and new facilities and these might have been funded by developer contributions.
Everyday is a school day!
How to get in touch…
Having a consultant involved in your project, is a great way to reduce the risk of errors and it can drastically speed up the timeline for achieving planning permission.
If you think you need support with your project, we’d be happy to help.
You can contact us directly via the details below, or if you would prefer, you can fill in the form below and one of the team will be in touch.
T: 01908 592580 E: info@warnerplanning.co.uk
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