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PLANNING OBLIGATIONS – BRISTOL’S APPROACH Jim Cliffe Planning Obligations Manager

PLANNING OBLIGATIONS – BRISTOL’S APPROACH Jim Cliffe Planning Obligations Manager Bristol City Council. Approach through the years. Pre 2002 – ad hoc, random, inconsistent and not transparent

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PLANNING OBLIGATIONS – BRISTOL’S APPROACH Jim Cliffe Planning Obligations Manager

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  1. PLANNING OBLIGATIONS – BRISTOL’S APPROACH Jim Cliffe Planning Obligations Manager Bristol City Council

  2. Approach through the years Pre 2002 – ad hoc, random, inconsistent and not transparent 2002 to 2005 – monitoring and enforcement introduced, internal process put in place to manage Section 106 monies 2005 to 2013 – tariff based Planning Obligations SPD operated 2013 to date – CIL introduced, scaled back Planning Obligations SPD operated

  3. Planning Obligations Policy • Set out overall approach to Planning Obligations in your Local Plan, and put the detail in a Planning Obligations SPD. • Where standard charges will be applied, include these in the SPD. • Also include in the SPD your approach to: • Viability appraisals • Indexation • Monitoring and Enforcement

  4. Planning Applications (processes) • Produce a Unilateral Undertaking Template and make it available on line • Provide draft clauses for highway works and affordable housing obligations • Engage the applicant at an early stage on likely planning obligations • Have a process in place for dealing with viability appraisals

  5. Planning Applications (negotiation) • Less can be more. Focus on those items that are supported by policy and necessary to mitigate the impact of the development. • Don’t try it on! If you are not going to be able to defend something at appeal, don’t ask for it in the first place! • The more you have to back down in negotiations the more you lose credibility and the less you will eventually achieve.

  6. Committee recommendations • Only use planning obligations where a condition cannot be used • Clearly identify the following in the committee recommendation: • The type of obligation • The amount or value of the obligation • Be specific about the above as it provides transparency and clarity to members and applicants, and makes it easier for the solicitors to draft the agreement

  7. Drafting Section 106 Agreements • Ensure solicitors have clear instruction • Actively manage the process to ensure that progress is being made and that “drift” does not set in. • If the applicant is being slow or not responding, threaten to take the application back to committee, of to dispose of it under Article 36 of the DMPO 2010.

  8. Managing Section 106 monies • Unless you have very few Section 106 Agreements, you will need a database to store and manipulate information about monies due, paid etc • As an example of the volume of data, Bristol has received 2,080 Section 106 payments since June 2002. • Bristol has a self–built Access database, but there are off the shelf databases designed specifically for Section 106 monies

  9. Enforcing S106 Agreements • Decide who collects monies (Planning or Finance) • Give the developer all the information they need to make payment • If you have an indexation clause, make sure you apply it • Consider whether you can be flexible regarding payment triggers, to assist developers cashflow if need be • Use Legal Services only as a last resort

  10. Use of Legal Services to enforce Section 106 Agreements • Section 106 Agreements can be enforced by two legal mechanisms: • Debt collection through the courts • Injunction for anything non-financial • When seeking obligations, think about the realities of enforcing them. Will Legal Services take out an injunction over the lack of a travel plan?

  11. Holding Section 106 monies • Ensure you have processes in place for collecting, banking and coding Section 106 monies and remember that they should be held in an individually identifiable codes • Make sure that people who need to know are aware when Section 106 monies are received. Provide the following information: • How much money has been received • What can it be spent on • When must it be spent by

  12. Section 106 officer information

  13. Drawing down Section 106 monies

  14. Provision of Section 106 information • Be transparent and open about Section 106 monies held and spent. We put monthly updated information on the Council website at: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/page/planning-and-building-regulations/section-106-money • This will reduce the time spent on FOI requests, and will enable officers, members, developers and the public to see exactly what monies are held and how they are spent.

  15. Reduce the need for obligations – implement CIL!! • 2010 67 Section 106 Agreements • 2011 75 Section 106 Agreements • 2012 61 Section 106 Agreements ----------------------------------------------------------------- • 2013 34 Section 106 Agreements (of which 8 were deliberately carried into 2013 to benefit from £nil CIL rate) • 2014 20 Section 106 Agreements

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