Strategic Spending of Developers Contributions Bournemouth and Poole Borough Councils Poole  L17 Policy and context  The Green Card system  Scoring against corporate priorities Bournemouth  Re-visiting Section 106  Allocations  Borough wide planning

Planning obligations: Recreational Contributions (L17 Policy) ‘Residential development should make provision for recreation facilities directly related to, and necessary for, the development, having regard to the type, location, scale and cumulative impact of the development proposed. Amenity open space and provision for casual play will be provided on-site if the development is of a size sufficient to justify the provision of an area of at least 0.2 ha. Where the area of open space is less than this, and in the case of equipped children's play, youth and adult outdoor play and other recreation facilities will be provided off- site’.

Context of Poole Total collected under L17 policy £6,238,816 Total allocated to date £3,533,899 Total unallocated to date £2,704,917 Perception of large ‘pots of money’ but reality is very different…

Allocation of funds To Borough Wide facilities: Major Built Facilities Youth/Adult Outdoor Play Remainder paid into ward based funds in which the development is taking place: Equipped Children’s Play Casual Play Amenity Open Space A % of casual play & amenity open space is collected for improvements to the following strategic outdoor facilities: Beaches Upton Country Park Poole Park

The Green Card – to assist spending more strategically

The Green Card System Green card received by Leisure Services. Unique number, date and ward attached Is funding available or potentially available? No Hold for Action file Yes Planning Obligations Officers meeting ranks the list Report to Planning Obligations sub group for discussion/approval Develop schemes in line with ranking priorities Report to Planning Obligations sub group for funding Remove from ranking list and on to awaiting/to-do list Checks carried out at next Planning Obligations Officers meeting Priority work list drawn up

Prioritising schemes against corporate priorities

Strategic spending at lower level Equipped children's play funds contain from £55,460 (Poole Town) to £800 (Canford Heath West) None of this sufficient for new, complete play areas so the future spending programme will concentrate on minor improvements, spending £10,000-£15,000 Work has already begun on an enhancement programme: all the play areas have been assessed for ‘play value’ and the lowest scoring ones where there are ward based funds are being targeted.

Bournemouth’s experience SPD for open space & recreation introduced in 1999 Over £4.3m collected Approx £1m spent Approx £1m allocated to projects Index link added in 2006 Interest not added to the fund

Section 106: The Key Legal Aspect para B5 of Circular 05/2005: Planning Obligations: “A planning obligation must be: (i) relevant to planning; (ii) necessary to make the proposed development acceptable in planning terms; (iii) directly related to the proposed development; (iv) fairly and reasonable related in scale and kind to the proposed development; and (v) reasonable in all other respects”. Can you justify what you are asking for?

Allocation Money levied is divided into four categories –Play 50% (local) –Amenity 9% (local) –Playing Fields 36% (borough) –Leisure Facilities 5% (borough) Based on standards of provision and cost of provision (land/build and maintain for 10 years) in 2003 Rates currently set at: –House £929 –Flat £598

Boscombe Chine Gardens

Population Density of Children 2001

Section 106 Agreement Plotted

The perks Big capital fund Excellent source of match funding Ring fenced Has helped deliver improved facilities Can be used to assist maintenance Can pay for project staff Has helped us to engage developers to provide better green spaces on larger developments

Some problems Income doesn’t follow expected patterns & income to deliver may not follow your Green Space Strategy Indirect effects of development of flats – shifts the families and demand for play Lots of small pots of money in the local area pots, but not enough to deliver the bigger projects If you can’t accrue enough money in 10 years you may have to start giving it back Changes in demand may cause a change in need, our strategy may not be flexible enough

Some Tips The money should be spent where it makes the biggest difference to the community – this has to remain your focus Don’t get lost in your strategy and policy - be as loose as you can with rules on how you spend, think through how the money will accrue and how you will manage and spend it. Are you geared up to spend the money? Make sure you’ve thought about how you will manage the fund, it can be difficult and time consuming if you are not careful Index link the payments, charge for late payments and try to make sure you get the interest added Make sure you add in a maintenance element Be transparent with the fund and make sure councillors understand it Don’t rely on the income, a building recession could dry up your funds very quickly Don’t get too possessive!