Infrastructure
Under S106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as amended, contributions can be sought from developers towards the costs of providing community and social infrastructure, the need for which has arisen as a result of a new development taking place. This funding is commonly known as 'Section 106' funding. S106 monies may only be spent on facilities where the new development has, at least in part, contributed to the need for the facilities and is available for capital projects only.
While infrastructure like schools, highways, play areas and open spaces are considered by the statutory consultees, like the County Council and Sport England, there may be other social infrastructure projects required by a development, that the planning authority do not proactively look for.
We often find that play areas fall to residents to maintain, with no guarantees of costs or liability to them in the future. We would seek a solution to this problem by working with community organisations, and town and parish councils to take ownership of them.
We would seek to introduce a S106 Grant Scheme that would provide funding for facilities that can be demonstrated to be required because of the new development taking place. The scheme would be open to all community based organisations that operate on a not-for-profit basis in Allerdale that can demonstrate that they have consulted facility users/the local community, provide any other evidence of need for the project, and have the written support of the local Parish Council.
S106 contributions have a strict time limit for their use.While Allerdale Borough Council and Cumbria County Council are getting better at their enforcement and monitoring of S106 contributions, there is much more room for us to ensure that the tools given to us to provide required infrastructure are use robustly.
Flood Risk
Flooding is a natural process which cannot be prevented entirely, but can be managed to reduce its social and economic consequences and to safeguard the continued functioning of services and infrastructure. We have a number of locations that are susceptible to intermittent flooding and we must proactively seek out local knowledge of these where a development may exacerbate existing problems. The county council are consulted on planning applications as the lead local flood authority.
We often neglect the fact that inadequate drainage infrastructure also increases the risk of flooding, and we must seek to use S106 contributions for more than just highways, education and affordable housing where we could prevent future problems for communities, where they can reasonably be expected using the local knowledge that we gain. We must never operate a 'build at any cost' policy.
Working together
There are a number of statutory consultees in the planning process, the most prominent of which is the county council, given their responsibility for education, highways and as the lead local flood authority. While they are always consulted throughout the process, we often find that councillors would benefit from the attendance of a county council planning officer where a development goes to Development Panel for decision by them. We would seek to foster a closer working relationship in these areas, alongside many others, by inviting the county council t have input into any meeting of the development panel.
Affordable housing
The Allerdale local plan mandates a percentage of developments that must be given over to affordable housing, while Allerdale Borough Council decide how that should be made up - social rented, affordable rented, affordable purchase, size of housing, etc.
All too often we see developers allowed to reduce their affordable housing provision either at planning stage, or by returning for a reduction later. We must ensure that the tools given to the council to deliver affordable housing are used much more robustly.
In mixed developments, we still often see that the mandated social and affordable rented housing is smaller, more isolated and often of a lower standard. It should be impossible to tell the difference between full-price and affordable housing, which should not be tucked away out of sight and out of mind.
Community planning
While the Local Plan provides the overall approach to sustainable growth and the development of homes, roads, jobs and community facilities such as schools, parks and open space, community Plans focus on these needs at a more local level.
We will work with with town and parish councils, residents and local interest groups develop community plans, understanding and identifying what services or infrastructure issues exist in local areas and equally, what unique characteristics or spaces need to be protected or could be enhanced.