5.0 How can the community be involved in the allocation of planning obligation funds?

Comment

Representation ID: 200020

Received: 07/11/2023

Respondent: Mr Dan Greef

How do the Section 106 agreements work? Are they index linked?

Comment

Representation ID: 200030

Received: 17/11/2023

Respondent: Ms Annabel Sykes

Last year's first report of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Healthcare Infrastructure was clear that "the Government’s ...ambition to meet all health infrastructure needs through public funding alone are no longer viable in the post-pandemic age". Hospitals and related infrastructure needs must be considered in the context of the allocation of funding raised through development.

Comment

Representation ID: 200044

Received: 29/11/2023

Respondent: Linton Parish Council

Section 5.5: It is no good only offering offsite BNG in one location across the whole of south Cambs. The net gain opportunities MUST be considered in the same parish as the development first.

The document is well meaning, however it doesn’t describe what residents can do when they feel they are not being listened to, or have been misunderstood.

Comment

Representation ID: 200056

Received: 28/11/2023

Respondent: Gladman Developments

In general, Gladman support the approach for early and meaningful consultation with key stakeholders across Greater Cambridge. However, Gladman have one significant comment regarding the content of the SCI. Within section 5.0, at paragraph 5.5 under the heading ‘Biodiversity’, it states the that ‘The Councils will seek to require developers to deliver 20% BNG and under the scheme developers who are unable to meet BNG on site in the South Cambridgeshire area will be able to secure biodiversity off site from the Lower Farm BNG scheme in Fulbourn.’

The SCI is not the place to identify BNG intentions. BNG should be established in a planning policy within a Local Plan which is tested through examination. As part of this process, the policy requirement must be shown to be deliverable, viable and justified by a supporting evidence base demonstrating that 20% BNG would be viable. Secondly, 20% BNG is not in line with the Environment
Act 2021 as this only requires 10% BNG. The text within the SCI should be amended to reflect this. A 20% BNG requirement could potentially render schemes unviable, and while off-site credits can help to deliver the required BNG, these credits are expensive. They are deliberately so to discourage their use in the first instance, therefore seeking 20% BNG with a noted reliance on off-site credits poses significant viability concerns for developments.