§ Ms BuckTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the Government programmes which allow for the use of section 106 contributions as matching finance; and if he will make a statement. [152492]
§ Ms Beverley HughesSection 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as substituted by section 12 of the Planning and Compensation Act 1991, enables local authorities and developers to enter into a planning obligation. This can comprise both negotiated planning agreements and unilateral undertakings by a developer. Current Government policy on the use of planning obligations is set out in Circular 1/97. This sets out a tightly defined set of tests which apply to the use of planning obligations. Planning obligations should be necessary; relevant to planning: directly related to the362W proposed development; fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the proposed development; and reasonable in all other respects.
Planning obligations are not designed to be used as a means of securing matching finance for Government programmes. They are designed to remedy genuine planning problems and to enhance the quality of development. They should only be sought where they are necessary to make a planning proposal acceptable in land-use planning terms.
We intend to issue shortly a consultation paper with proposals for improving the current arrangements for planning obligations.