Agenda item

In addition to the papers attached to the agenda, the Chairman gave the following updates:

a)    Youth Initiatives Funding

At the next Board meeting on 5 December, the Board would be considering Bids from young people’s groups for Youth Initiative projects. The Community Area Manager and the Youth Coordinator were currently working with young people across the three community areas to assist them in submitting their bids before the deadline on 14 November 2012.

b)    South West Wiltshire Blogsite

The recently launched South West Wiltshire ‘Our Community Matters’ Blog site was working well and was being used by the community to promote local events and information. The Chairman urged people to promote the site within their communities.

c)    Section 106 Funding

Sally Canter (Head of Admin and Technical Support) and Steve Ibbetson (Technical Services Manager) provided information on the Section 106 figures negotiated for the three community areas which had been attached to the agenda.

Section 106 agreements are used in planning matters to make planning applications more acceptable. A scrutiny group had been working for the past two years to produce a database which lists all of the agreements made, when money had been received, when it was spent and what was remaining.

There were currently two lists in circulation which contained conflicting information, Steve explained that the list attached to the agenda, produced by Steve’s team had also been sent to all parish councils, contained the figures specifically for the South West Wiltshire community areas and listed solely 106 funding remaining. The other list which had been produced by Planning included other general funds and did not always take into account money which had already been spent.

Sally explained that the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) consultation was currently running, adding that it was important for people to filter their comments through the consultation. Details of the CIL consultation were provided as an update paper attached to the agenda at page 65 of the agenda pack.

Questions and comments were then received:

·         Will developers have the option to either pay R2 or the CIL? Answer: As Sally was not a member of the Policy team, this question would need to be forwarded to them for an answer, however the policy would clearly set out which payments should be made.

The R2 arrangements in south Wiltshire broadly perform the same basic function as CIL – i.e. it’s a mechanism for securing a sum of money to pay for ‘wider than local’ infrastructure requirements. 

However, from April 2014 (or the date we adopt the CIL, whichever occurs first), the Council would only be able to use Section 106 arrangements on 5 schemes per year to pool money from development to pay for these ‘wider than local’ infrastructure requirements. 

·         Cllr Scott added that the effect of the Council’s proposals for CIL would not be felt until  April 2014 when Regulations require that the current practice of pooling money from development to pay for in-direct infrastructure requirements would only be applicable on 5 schemes per year.  CIL could only be charged once the rates have been approved by an Inspector (following an examination process) and adopted by the Council.  So there would be no CIL liability on any planning applications until then.

The CIL was currently out for an initial round of consultation.  The proposals would be developed further to reflect the feedback received, before a final draft Charging Schedule was published for consultation early next year.  The proposals would then be examined by an Inspector before being finalised for adoption by the Council in July 2013. Once introduced CIL would be liable on proposals for new development involving the creation of new floorspace (e.g. new housing schemes), but there would still be a role for  Section 106 to deal with directly related infrastructure requirements and for addressing impacts relating to development proposals -  such as schools provision.

Questions and comments were then received:

·         Will developers have the option to either pay R2 or the CIL? Answer: As Sally was not a member of the Policy team, this question would need to be forwarded to them for an answer, however the policy would clearly set out which payments should be made.

·         Cllr Scott added that the CIL would not come into effect until 2014, so there would be no CIL on any planning applications until then. The CIL was currently out for consultation and would then go to Officers. Once introduced in 2014, CIL would be there but Section 106 would also still be in place for local issues such as schools.

Information provided by Steve Ibbetson, Technical Services Engineer, following the meeting:

There seems to have been some confusion created by the Parish Funds List from Technical Services and the Planning List.

The two lists answer different questions and are not readily comparable.

The Planning List

This list identifies all planning applications, in the past seven years, that have a section 106 agreement with contributions due, how much these contributions were for, and whether that money was paid.

The list includes applications:

• that never started and therefore any collected money cannot be used
• Schemes that have not reached their trigger point and therefore any money collected cannot be used yet
• Duplicate s106 agreements where more than one application has been put in for a single site and money was collected on each application, but only one amount can be spent.
• Where the collected money has already been spent on infrastructure
• Where the collected money has expired and is no longer available

Further the amenity contribution is a simplification of a far more complex situation:

• Where a site is to be adopted by a Local Authority, the developer pays a contribution towards the future cost of maintenance of the development. This money goes to the adopting authority and is not available for Parishes to spend.

• On site contributions for specific amenity infrastructure are not available for Parishes to spend.

Therefore, one cannot just total up the money in the total received column and conclude that this is the amount of money that is now available to Parish Councils.

We will be looking again at the Update/Comments column to see if we can bridge the gap between the two lists in a more meaningful way.

Technical Service Parish Funds List

Technical Service was asked by Parish Councils to provide a funds report showing just the money that was available for them to spend so that they could plan with some certainty.

This report therefore only reports on money available to Parish Councils to spend on offsite amenity projects.

The report gives expiry dates and indicates if the money available has already been committed to parish projects. We are looking at whether we can explain the coding on the reports better.

The funds list has generally been well received.

Expired funds are not reported as for most of the County they are no longer available for spending. The ex Salisbury DC area is unique in that expired funds can be preserved if a scheme is identified before the expiry date of the funds. We are looking at the practicality of providing a Parish Schemes Report that would identify approved schemes and the money ring fenced for that scheme. This would help with the situation that occurred at Tisbury where the Parish lost sight of the funding for the Skateboard park because it had expired.

Even the Parish Funds List is a simplification. Potentially every section 106 agreement is unique and the precise wording of an agreement needs to be checked to ensure that a particular scheme complies.

Therefore, in conclusion, my advice is that any Parish wishing to use funds in their area should please contact myself or my staff as early as possible to discuss their proposals.

d)    Changes to Bus Service 29 between Salisbury and Shaftesbury

Information on the changes to this bus service were provided as a late paper and circulated at the meeting, a copy is attached to the minutes. From 3 September 2012, bus service 29 that runs between Salisbury and Shaftesbury would be operated by the Wiltshire Buses bus company, instead of by Wilts & Dorset.

Cllr Green emphasised the point that this service would not automatically be scheduled to stop within the hospital grounds and would drive past if passengers did not request the driver to stop, prior to getting close to the stop.