Securing infrastructure when new homes built
When new housing developments are proposed, how the roads will cope and where new residents will go to school or seek medical attention are often among the key concerns expressed.
Ensuring local infrastructure is sufficient is a crucial part of the planning process – but how is this dealt with and why do some feel what the system provides is not enough? In this explainer, we explore the issue in more detail.
What is ‘infrastructure’?
In this context, we mean all the various things that residents need to go about their daily lives – including roads, schools, medical facilities like GP surgeries and things like play areas.
It can also include the provision of affordable housing and funds for the emergency services.
How is infrastructure secured through planning applications?
When considering a planning application, councils discuss with the developer what needs to be provided to ensure the impact of what is proposed is suitably mitigated.
For example, a large development will likely increase traffic on surrounding roads and changes to the road network may be needed as a result.
In order to make sure this happens, councils negotiate what is known as planning contributions with developers and this becomes a condition of planning permission.
There are two main types of planning contributions – Section 106 agreements and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), which are explained in more detail below.
Is there a limit to what can be sought?
Planning obligations must be, according to the government:
- Necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms
- Directly related to the development
- Fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the development.
Developers are not expected to solve existing problems, merely account for the additional impact their schemes might have.
One example of this was plans for 600 homes and Sussex’s first IKEA, which was approved for land near Lancing, West Sussex, in October 2018.
The land – which IKEA no longer plans to use – is adjacent to the A27, which historically has major issues with congestion at certain points.
The developer was not expected to solve those historic problems, however it did put forward changes to the road in the vicinity of the scheme to help the road cope with the new homes and IKEA.
So, contributions must be reasonable – but in cases where major changes are required because of the cumulative impact of several planned developments, councils can use their local plans to set out how developers should share the costs.
Local plans often consider issues such as whether new schools are needed based on the expected level of housebuilding over a long period of time.
It may identify a suitable site/development that could be the location for a new school and seek contributions from a developer, or developers, to help deliver that, alongside funding from other sources such as the government or county council.
What are Section 106 agreements and what is the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)? What do they cover and how do they differ?
Section 106 agreements are planning obligations negotiated between councils and developers for infrastructure related to a given application.
CIL, meanwhile, is a set charge that is applied to new developments, with contributions varying based on the size of a scheme.
Not all councils have a CIL system in place.
What are some of the criticisms of the planning obligations process?
Some feel that the system does not lead to enough infrastructure being provided, while others feel houses are too often built before the infrastructure itself is delivered.
According to an article in the House of Commons Library, organisations do not always ask for funds which they could be entitled to, meaning communities potentially miss out on important infrastructure to support new developments.