Issue - meetings

Background:

This report provided details of the revised Medway Guide to Developer Contributions which had been prepared for consultation and set out at Appendix A to the report.

The report stated that the Medway Guide to Developer Contributions was first adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document in April 2008, providing specific guidance in relation to the determination of planning applications. The Guide had since been reviewed on a number of occasions, and the current version had been adopted in 2014. This review reflected the costs of service provision arising from new developments, addressed areas where developers had been successful when challenging the Council and included information from other service areas which may not require financial contributions from developers, but which would expect developers to provide onsite infrastructure or meet non-financial requirements, for example, air quality and flood risk management and sustainable drainage.

The report also stated that a more detailed review would be prepared to align to the draft Local Plan and its supporting Infrastructure Delivery Plan in 2019, which would also take account of further reforms to the Planning system.

A Diversity Impact Assessment had been undertaken on the proposals, as set out in Appendix B to the report.

Reasons:

The revised Guide provides an effective basis for the collection of contributions from development to support the provision of services and infrastructure.