Planning Contributions Strategy

On 29th March 2007 Nottinghamshire County Council approved their Planning Contributions Strategy.

Following the consultation which took place between August and October 2006 amendments have been made to the Strategy to address issues raised, improve clarity and ensure that the document is as up to date as possible.

The aim of the Strategy is to provide a fair, consistent and transparent basis for the negotiation of planning contributions for those matters that affect the services and advice provided by the County Council.

Planning contributions are sometimes known as planning obligations, developer contributions, Section 106 Agreements or planning gain.

Planning contributions address the issue of how facilities / services / assets adversely affected by a particular development can be protected, enhanced, maintained or, where appropriate, new provision made.  For example, when a new development takes place, there may be a need to improve transport or education facilities.

The Planning Contributions Strategy [PDF 118KB] sets out the context for seeking planning contributions and includes a series of tables that indicate:-

• current guidance
• types of facilities for which provision may be required
• types of development which may trigger need
• forms in which contributions may be sought
• thresholds for the size of development for which contributions would be sought
• details of geographic areas within the County where there is no spare capacity; and
• contact details of relevant people.

It is intended that these tables will be updated regularly to provide the most up-to-date guidance and information.

In June 2008 the Education table was updated to include the latest Government figures for primary and secondary school costs for Nottinghamshire.

Whilst the Government has recently been consulting on changes to the planning contributions system any changes which may be introduced are not proposed to take place until at least 2009.  It is therefore considered important to have a Planning Contributions Strategy in place in the meantime to ensure that all planning contributions sought until any changes take place, are negotiated and operated fairly, consistently and transparently.

If you have any queries about the Planning Contributions Strategy, please do not hesitate to contact the Planning Team on tel: 0115 977 4545.