Community benefits from s106
A new bus service
at Eureka Park, the Godinton Play area at Springwood Drive, the
Singleton Environment Centre and Falcon Way pond in South Ashford
and the recreation site at Piguets Meadow in Charing are just some
examples of community facilities in the borough that have benefited
from developer contributions in the past financial year.
When planning applications are approved the council puts legal
mechanism in place requiring developers to pay financial
contributions towards the provision of community facilities such as
community centres, play areas, public transport and parks and open
spaces. This is referred to as section 106 or s106 agreements.
The £1.9 million pound Singleton Environment Centre which opened
in May 2008 was predominately funded through legal agreements and a
new bus service linking Eureka Park, the town centre, station,
Newtown, Orbital Park and South Willesborough received an initial
instalment of £95,000 to get the service up and running and provide
new bus shelters, footpaths and cycleways. Four further instalments
for similar amounts will subsidise the service for the first 5
years of its operation.
Other areas in the last year to benefit were the Godinton Play
area at Springwood Drive, which received £77,000, Charing Parish
Council received £25,350 for improvements to the facilities at
Piguets Meadow recreation area and £2,000 was secured for works to
the Falcon Way pond in south Ashford.
Cllr John Kemp, portfolio holder for planning and development,
said: “As the Borough grows we must ensure community facilities
come hand in hand with housing growth. It is therefore vital to
have a robust system in place to monitor developer contributions
and ensure they are collected and spent effectively.”
Projects which could benefit from s106 contributions in the
future include new leisure/play facilities close to John Wesley
School and a new village hall car park in Singleton, a new hall,
changing facilities and multi-use games arena at the Swan Centre in
Newtown/South Willesborough and an extension to the Recreation
Centre at Park Farm.
0203/09
01/07/2009
This webpage was updated on
7/1/2009