Millions of pounds pledged by developers is being left unspent by the council, a leading councillor has claimed.
Cahal Burke, (Lib Dem, Lindley), says he has obtained details of how Section 106 contributions – legal and private agreements made between local authorities and developers when new homes are built in an area – is spent, or not.
The agreements are a common feature of major planning applications and happen when a development is deemed to have a significant impact on the local area which can’t be mitigated through the planning process.
Section 106 contributions have to be directly related to the development and are often spent within the vicinity of it. However, the money can be used to improve facilities that are located some distance away from the development as the impact can affect the wider community.
Clr Burke says his ward, which has attracted many developments in recent years, has received nearly £3.5m in Section 106 contributions since 2010, but that over £2.7m is still unspent.
He says that includes an allocation in excess of £240,000 for landscape improvements, over £951,000 for highways improvements and nearly £1.5m for education.
He said: “Money collected from housing developers must benefit the area where the houses were built. As much as possible, the money should be invested in the same area and not elsewhere, although often this is not the case.
“Lindley has taken more than its fair share of new housing and many of my residents have expressed concern about the pressure that this has on local infrastructure. We are in a position now where our schools are over-subscribed.
“There is inordinate pressure on our local services - our GP surgeries and dentists are full. Our roads are deteriorating and there are more drivers.
“We are talking about huge sums of money from developers but residents are constantly told that there’s no money for services and new facilities so they might be wondering why this money remains unspent when we are seeing more and more houses being built. Where’s the investment in local services and infrastructure?
“For instance, recently, the play equipment at Birchencliffe Recreation Ground was removed for safety reasons and have not been replaced, but why couldn’t we use some of the money available to replace the facilities? It seems like the money is being left for too long before being spent.”
However, he admitted that S106 agreements are complex and there are restrictions about how the money can be used.
He added: “I’m not saying that the council is sitting on it. “There are many reasons why the money can’t be spent quickly. Sometimes it is pooled for larger schemes or for capital projects that take time.
“The money is ring-fenced and is often paid by developers in instalments with the full amount of money received by the council years after the planning permission was granted.
“However, I’m really concerned that the money is not being managed properly. I’m concerned that the money collected from housing developers is not always benefiting the area where the houses are built.”
He says that in 2014 research by the BBC revealed that councils in England are holding on to a whopping £1.5bn of unspent S106 money with £9.8m being returned to developers during the previous five years because it was not spent within a set time period.
And he says at a council meeting in 2014 the Lib Dem group presented a motion which passed, calling on the Cabinet to be more transparent about how money collected from housing developers is spent in the borough.
Clr Burke said: “The existing Section 106 process is murky and unclear. I’m disappointed that little has happened since 2014. There needs to be greater urgency to spend the money on local priorities and residents should know where it’s spent.”
A Kirklees Council Spokesperson said: “Details of Section 106 agreements are available by searching for individual planning applications on the council website.
“Each agreement sets out the details and requirements of where and when contributions should be received and spent.
“Section 106 agreements are covered by national regulations and specific tests have to be met to get them. One of these tests is that they are reasonably related to the development proposed and related in scale and kind. This means that they will be spent in the local area.
“Many of the planning permissions granted in the Lindley area are still under construction and as money from developers is triggered at various points during the construction phases we are still collecting contributions related to individual planning permissions. We are currently in the process of allocating these monies to relevant projects.”
