Agenda item

(a)       That Section 3.6 of the Local Planning Guidance Note, as shown in Appendix 1 of the report, be amended to ensure that the school benefiting would be identified;

(b)       Subject to the amendment listed above, the Local Planning Guidance Note, be approved as Supplementary Planning Guidance to the UDP and be used for Development Management purposes in negotiating appropriate contributions from developers; and

(c)        That the Local Planning Guidance Note be applied to all planning applications received after 17 July, 2012.

Councillor J.B. Attridge, Cabinet Member for Environment introduced a report to seek the approval of members for the adoption of the Local Planning Guidance Note (LPG) No. 23 ‘Developer Contributions to Education’ for use as Supplementary Planning Guidance alongside the UDP.  The recent internal audit review of Section 106 Agreements identified that a LPG on this subject was required to be approved as a policy statement, as a matter of priority.

            If adopted, the LPG would only apply to planning applications received following the 17 July, 2012.  Councillor Attridge proposed that the County Council support the recommendations outlined within the report.

            In seconding the proposal Councillor R.C. Bithell welcomed the report and asked whether consideration could be given for contributions from a development to be passed to all schools within close proximity to the development rather than the closest school.  Councillor W. Mullin agreed with his comments and said that there was a need to ensure that the contributions were also provided for High Schools to enable all education needs of children to be met.  Councillor H.J. McGuill raised concern on the comments and said that the contributions should only be paid to the nearest school to any development as this would be the only school affected.

            The Director of Environment explained that the contributions from developers would be ringfenced and provided to the nearest school which would be impacted as a result of the development and should be spent in a prioritised manner.  The contributions could not be pooled and shared across Schools in Flintshire.

            A number of Members raised concerns around the continued use of temporary classrooms.  Councillor A.M. Halford asked the Cabinet to commit to closing temporary classrooms.  In response, the Director of Environment said that a review of temporary classrooms would be carried out as part of the School Modernisation Strategy in line with the Capital Programme.  A Workshop for all Members would be held to consider the Capital Programme prior to a draft report being submitted to Cabinet in December, 2012. 

            In response to concerns on Members who were school governors declaring a prejudicial interest at planning committee meetings, the Democracy and Governance Manager explained that in line with the Members’ Code of Conduct, Members who were school governors should declare a prejudicial interest at a Planning Committee if there would be financial benefit to the school to which they were a governor.  In order to speak and vote at a meeting of the Planning Committee such Members should seek dispensation from the Standards Committee prior to the meeting.

            Councillor M.J. Peers welcomed the report.  He proposed an amendment to the recommendations that Section 3.6 of the LPG be amended to ensure that the school benefiting would be identified in the future.  Councillor J.B. Attridge supported this amendment.

            The Planning Strategy Manager supported the proposed amendment.  He also responded to a number of questions on how the LPG would affect large proposed development, such as, the Northern Gateway, explaining that the impact of such a development on the community would be considered in conjunction with the developer.  In response to further questions, he added that the new method of calculating the level of contribution uses a higher figure for secondary schools than for primary schools and that the contributions must be used within 10 years to enable improvements to made to schools sooner rather than later.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That Section 3.6 of the Local Planning Guidance Note, as shown in Appendix 1 of the report, be amended to ensure that the school benefiting would be identified;

(b)       Subject to the amendment listed above, the Local Planning Guidance Note, be approved as Supplementary Planning Guidance to the UDP and be used for Development Management purposes in negotiating appropriate contributions from developers; and

(c)        That the Local Planning Guidance Note be applied to all planning applications received after 17 July, 2012.