Agenda item

A period of up to 15 minutes is available to deal with issues raised by the public;

O&S.14/17     

In accordance with the Public Forum Procedure Rules, the following questions had been received for consideration during this agenda item:

(a)       Questions from Lesley Hughes (Town Clerk, Ivybridge Town Council):

1.     I am concerned that the report gives no information on named Officers who could advise Town/Parish Councils or Ward Councillors in respect of the status of 106 obligations, e.g. if work has commenced on site and certain work/payments were due at certain points which can have implications for triggering subsequent payments.  Who are the named Officers who will be dealing with this issue? The reason for wanting names is that in Ivybridge we can receive no answers about actions required in respect of the 222 Barratts Homes development where quite significant 106 payments will be made.

In reply, the Panel Chairman stated that, in bringing the report to the Committee, the Council was reviewing the way in which it monitored contributions due in accordance with Section 106 Agreements.  The named officers were for Affordable Housing Section 106s Alex Rehaag or Cassandra Harrison and for Open Space contributions, Rob Sekula.

With regard to the Barratts application and Section 106 contributions, with affordable housing it was all on-site provision and there were no financial contributions to be paid.  With regard to the other financial contributions on the development which were due to the District Council, these became due in instalments before the occupation of the 10^th dwelling.  If there were further questions which the Town Council had, Cllr Saltern asked that he was made aware of these and he would ensure that all queries were answered.

Cllr Saltern proceeded to advised that the Council would put together a list of all Section 106 contributions which had both been received and were due to be received in the future (once the trigger points had been met) to all Town and Parish Councils, so that Town and Parish Councils could also assist in alerting the Council to when trigger points had been met and to keep the Council informed of progress of development.

Finally, Cllr Saltern informed that it was recommended to the Panel under agenda item 8 (Minute O&S.16/17 below refers) that quarterly reports be provided by Finance, Open Space and Affordable Housing officers as part of the quarterly Capital Programme Monitoring reports.

2.         In addition, the Risk section of the report, paragraph 8, Implications fails to include the risk of non-collection of 106 contributions – which is a real risk and has occurred.  In the case of Ivybridge, there has been a major problem in that £97,845 Affordable Homes contribution and £14,625 for sports and recreation has not been collected – this dates from an agreement dated 4 October 2011.  What actions have been taken to date and what assurances can we have that the money will be recovered?  When will the Town Council be able to access the sports money which it needs for a partnership project with Erme Primary School at Victoria Park?  How many other 106 Agreements have similarly fallen through the net?

The Panel Chairman responded by advising that the Council recognised the risk of non-collection of Section 106 contributions.  The Council sought to reduce this by placing obligations on the Developer to notify the Council at various points through development.  Section 106 Agreements were a registrable local land change and, in the event of a proposed disposal of land, it was common practice for the Council to be contacted to ensure that obligations had been met.  This assisted in the monitoring of Agreements, which had to date been undertaken by officers within Planning.

Where money was not due or not collected at the time the Agreement was entered into, there was provision for interest to be added to the amount due at the time it was to be paid.  Such obligations ran with the land and this ensured that Councils could continue to recover contributions or enforce obligations against successive Owners.

Cllr Saltern then confirmed that, in respect of the case cited in this question, the contributions had been paid and were received by the Council within the last week.

In terms of allocation of the funding, subject to local Ward Members and Executive Portfolio Holder agreement, this money could be allocated to Victoria Park.

Finally, the legal department of the Council was pursuing two other cases where the monies due were outstanding on Section 106 Agreements, but as yet, legal proceedings had not been necessary.