Funding and delivery

This section of the toolkit will help you make informed decisions about arrangements to secure the necessary financing and delivery mechanism for your scheme, whether small or large-scale, and whether as a local authority, developer or service provider or in partnership.

Key messages

• Partners need to appreciate that developers have finite amounts of money for measures to mitigate the impact of the development. This is particularly true in the short term as the difficult economic climate is testing the viability of many new developments.
• Partners are encouraged to take up opportunities for early engagement among developers, local authorities and communities and the process of prioritisation through more effective use of existing council assets and resources. By doing this the pitfall of trying to meet all needs through the private sector can be avoided.
• Partners need to consider arrangements to plan for and sustain the costs associated with the operation of the facility or provision of services. Exploring options for revenue financing will help to sustain long-term maintenance and management costs.
• As new development often creates the need for additional infrastructure, services and facilities, contributions from the developers as part of new development may be sought to ensure that development impacts are mitigated and local priorities are delivered (see Box 4 for examples of the sorts of areas in which contributions towards culture, arts and sport provision can be sought).
• Contributions through Section 106 planning obligations should be used when it is necessary to secure on-site measures to overcome the negative impacts on the local environment, economy and community arising from otherwise generally acceptable development proposals. The Community Infrastructure Levy should be used to secure contributions to enable the local authority to deliver identified and costed cultural and sporting infrastructure projects that support growth and benefit the local community.
• Contributions do not need to be delivered in isolation or as stand-alone facilities. The co-ordination and pooling of resources and funding sources results in better outcomes from planning and delivery, and collective debate on future requirements, involving a range of interests, is thus desirable.
• In two-tier areas, county and district/borough councils should work in partnership to identify the impact of development proposals on infrastructure, and seek contributions accordingly. The county council is responsible for much of the strategic infrastructure, such as libraries, roads (as the highways authority), schools (as the education authority), and now health and social care.

Viability in planning policy and development