Issue - meetings

The Executive Member for Financial Stability introduced the item which was the annual report to the Committee on Section 106 at East Herts Council, the Infrastructure Funding Statement and the work of the Section 106 Programme Manager.

The Executive Member for Financial Stability said that the report provided basic background information on Section 106 contribution identification, collection, and allocation at East Herts Council. He said that this included an overview of historic Section 106 contribution collection and allocations from 1^st April 1996 to 31^st March 2023, details of income and expenditure in the last five years, and an update on the Section 106 contributions collected and allocated in the current financial year (from 1^st April 2023 to the end of September 2023).

The Executive Member for Financial Stability said that the report also included information on the audit of Section 106 which was currently being undertaken, for which draft feedback was very positive. He said that the final report would be shared with Members and reported on in detail in the next report to the Committee in November 2024.

The Executive Member for Financial Stability referred to Appendix A, the Annual Infrastructure Funding Statement for 2022 – 2023 which the Council was bound by Legislation to produce and publish. He said that this was the fourth Infrastructure Funding Statement produced by East Herts Council, which provided detailed information on Section 106 for the last financial year (2022/23).

The Executive Member for Financial Stability said that the Section 106 Programme Manager would be providing a Member Briefing on Section 106 on 7^th December 2023, for which all Members would receive online meeting details.

Councillor Nicholls said that historically Section 106 funds were able to be reallocated internally to finance projects in different parts of the district, i.e., Hartham Swimming Pool. She asked if this had now changed. 

The Section 106 Programme Manager said that legislation was changed in 2019 to include a named project use or recipient within the Section 106 contribution (with a degree flexibility for security and back up). She said that prior to this change agreements were generalised and enabled contributions to be received within the vicinity of the development. She said it was therefore vital that she was made aware by both Members and the community what was needed so this could be written into agreements.

The Section 106 Programme Manager said that Hartham received funding as it is one of the Council’s flagship destinations, with the leisure facilities used by residents of new developments.

The Chairman said that it was good to note that the Section 106 Programme Manager was involved in Section 106 agreements from the beginning, and not just at the distribution of funds stage.

Councillor Jacobs asked if it was unusual to only have one provision to provide affordable housing included in a Section 106 agreement in a year (2022/23).

TheSection 106 Programme Manager said that 2022/23 was a poor year for Section 106 agreements as there were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 232