A report presented to Bridgend Council’s Planning Committee this week revealed the current status of Section 106 agreements in the county (pdf).
Section 106 agreements are sums of money agreed between councils and developers. The money goes towards providing facilities or infrastructure related to a development that if not provided may result in planning permission being refused.
Section 106 money normally has to be spent within the immediate area of the development itself and often comes with a deadline for payment. Guidelines for Section 106 payments – and how much developers could expect to be charged – are included in the council’s supplementary planning guidance.
Education
Of the £3.77million of agreed contributions related to education facilities, Bridgend Council had around £3.56million on balance as of April 2022 (my understanding is that this means it’s been paid to them but not yet spent).
The most significant contributions include the provision of six additional classrooms at Bryntirion Comprehensive (£713,116), additional primary school capacity in the Bryncethin-Brynmenyn area (£407,825) and additional primary school places in northeast Bridgend arising from two separate developments (a combined £2.05million).
£2.53million of contributions are yet to be received, mainly because they’re to be paid once a developer has completed a certain number of houses. This includes £1.61million towards primary schools in the area around the Llanmoor Homes development at Tondu and £540,000 for extra secondary school places needed to serve the development at the former Ysgol Bryn Castell.
Affordable Housing
Only £1.28million has been secured to provide additional affordable housing, though there’s no information on precisely how much remains on the council’s balance sheet.
£2.82million is yet to be received. The biggest single contribution is £1.4million from the Ysgol Bryn Castell development.
Most affordable housing contributions have deadlines of between 5-10 years of receipt of the first payment.
Highways
£1.3million worth of contributions – with deadlines – have been received. Of that, £793,000 was balance as of April 2022 (meaning it’s been collected by the council but is yet to be spent).
The item that will be of interest is a £308,000 contribution for improvements to the “Singletons”/Heol Simonston-Coychurch Road junction. Only £23,753 remained on balance as of April 2022, suggesting the rest has (presumably) been spent.
Another significant outlay is £315,000 towards road safety improvements in and around Brackla Industrial Estate (presumably relating to the Gerddi Castell development) that’s currently subject to feasibility work. There’s a deadline of August 2025.
A lot of the contributions are small – often around £7,000 – and relate to traffic orders to change speed limits or road signs.
£275,000 worth of highways contributions don’t have any deadlines attached. Also, £460,600 of contributions are yet to be received – with the council actively chasing up payment in some cases.
Open Space/Playgrounds
Just under £690,000 has been collected for public open spaces. Almost all of this money was on balance as of April 2022, meaning it hadn’t been spent yet or projects hadn’t yet been identified. Some of this money will seemingly go towards Labour’s 2022 manifesto pledge to refurbish playgrounds.
A little over £86,000 is yet to be received by the council.
The standout example is a £20,000 contribution being sought from Wales & West Housing Association (as of April 2022) to be spent on play areas and open space near Bryn Bragl in Brackla. The Rhiw Cefn Gwlad development – which has been lauded in the mainstream press as an example of future low-carbon construction styles – was built on a former play area. There’s a deadline of 2022-23.
