Decision details

To seek approval to consult on a review of the Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document – setting out the Council’s approach to financial and non-financial obligations on planning applicants, to be secured via a legal agreement.

The Council adopted its current Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) in 2016 and it is used by planning applicants who are seeking guidance on the types of obligations, financial or non-financial, that the Council, as local planning authority, may require of them to ensure their proposals are acceptable in planning terms.

The report provides a draft of the revised Planning Obligations SPD and seeks approval to progress the draft document to statutory public consultation.  It is the intention to consult over a six-week period in mid-March to April 2023, following which the approval to adopt the revised SPD will be sought.  Once adopted, this SPD will replace the existing Planning Obligations SPD which will in turn be revoked.

The context for the review is the progression of the emerging Fareham Local Plan 2037 which is reaching the end of the examination process and will soon be before Council for adoption.  The Local Plan outlines how the borough’s housing and employment targets will be met over the plan period and sets out the scale and type of infrastructure required to support the planned growth.

Developer contributions through planning obligations are one of the most significant mechanisms through which this will be funded.  The new SPD will provide supplementary planning guidance to developers, planning officers and borough residents as to how the Council will seek developer contributions, the extent and nature of these contributions (both financial and non-financial), the justification for this approach and, in some cases, how these contributions will be spent.

RESOLVED that the Executive:

(a)  approves the Draft Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document, as set out at Appendix A to the report, for public consultation; and

(b)  delegates authority to the Director of Planning and Regeneration, following consultation with the Executive Member for Planning and Development, to make any minor amendments to the document following consideration by the Executive, prior to consultation.