Issue - meetings

(To receive a report from the Executive Director – Place which seeks approval for the publication of the Infrastructure Funding Statement in the form attached at Appendix A)

That the publication of the document attached as Appendix A to the report be approved as Lincolnshire County Council’s Infrastructure Funding Statement  for the financial year 2020/21.

The Executive Councillor for Economic Development, Environment and Planning introduced a report which sought approval for the publication of the Infrastructure Funding Statement as attached as Appendix A to the report. 

It was reported that under Regulation 121A of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010, the Council must, no later than 31 December 2021, publish an annual infrastructure funding statement which detailed:

a)    A statement of the infrastructure projects or types of infrastructure which the authority intends will be, or may be, wholly or partly funded by Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL);

b)    A report setting out specific information about Community Infrastructure Levy, in relation to the previous financial year; and

c)    A report containing specified information about planning obligations, in relation to the previous financial year.

The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board presented the comments of the Board following its consideration of this report at its meeting on 25 November 2021.  In particular, the Board’s comments regarding CIL and S106 were highlighted.  Reference was also made to the relatively low land values in Lincolnshire which meant that contributions from developers were relatively low.  An update on the implementation of the recommendations from the Developer Contributions Scrutiny Review would be considered at the next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.

During discussion by the Executive, the following was noted:

·       It was noted that any contributions in relation Theddlethorpe would be outside of the local planning process.  There was a government policy in place for the delivery of a GDF, and there were clear parameters set out on what level of contributions could be expected, and there would be a need for discussion about how that money was managed in those communities to make the best use of it.

·       Clarification was sought on the progress of the issues raised during the Developer Contributions Scrutiny Review carried out in the previous council term.  It was reported that there would be an update on the implementation of the recommendations at the next Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.

·       It was commented that it was thought that CIL was a better system, however, contributions were limited by the land values, and so a good working relationship with district councils was important.

RESOLVED

That the publication of the document attached as Appendix A to the report be approved as Lincolnshire County Council’s Infrastructure Funding Statement  for the financial year 2020/21.

(To receive a report by Brendan Gallagher, Principal Planning Officer – Infrastructure, which invites the Board to consider a report on the Draft Infrastructure Funding Statement, which is being presented to the Executive on 07 December 2021.  The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Consideration was given to a report by the Principal Planning Officer – Infrastructure, which invited the Board to consider a report on the Draft Infrastructure Funding Statement, which was due to be considered by the Executive on 07 December 2021.

The Draft Infrastructure Funding Statement, set out at appendix A to the Executive Report, provided financial and other contributions Lincolnshire County Council had secured and/or spent for the year ending March 2021 and fulfilled the obligations set out in the Regulations.

The Board was advised that there were three parts to the statement:

• A statement which was future looking
• A report which looked at the funding position for the previous year
• A report on the Section 106 monies received.

The Board was referred to Appendix B to the Executive Report, the draft web text, which set out a description of what the Infrastructure Funding Statement was for including on the Council’s website.

Members were advised that there were three districts in Central Lincolnshire which had moved forward with Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), which were, the City of Lincoln, North Kesteven and West Lindsey.

Within the current year, the Council had obtained approximately £700,000 in CIL Receipts by the relevant districts, which was used to pay back some of the investment in the Lincoln Eastern Bypass.

The Board was referred to page 123 of the report, which set out the Council’s Section 106 and highways agreements in further detail.

Consideration was given to the report and during the discussion the following points were noted:

·       There was no reserve pool of developer contributions held by Lincolnshire County Council to resolve small issues which a community would have liked addressed as part of the planning application, such as new footpaths or cycle paths to the new housing development. This was because the Section 106 money was requested through the district councils as and when required, following the guidance around its use. For those district councils which had CIL in place, the parish councils would receive a percentage of CIL, which was 15% by default and potentially 25% if they had a local neighbourhood plan. Therefore, in the areas of the county covered by CIL, the parish councils would have their own reserve pools to spend as they wish. It was highlighted that if an issue such as a footpath was wanted after planning agreements were in place, then there would need to be a bid for funding as a highways scheme. Under the statutes for Section 106 and CIL, the money requested from developers had to be justified, but it was suggested whether these rules and the law could be interpreted in different ways. It was recommended that the rules for developer contributions should be considered to determine whether a reserve pool could be created.

·       In terms of the long term impact for the Council once the legacy applications were out of the system and were not still chargeable, it was anticipated that the Council would receive approximately £1m of CIL receipts per  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77