Central Bedfordshire Council news and press releases

Have your say on developer contributions for infrastructure

Monday, 30 October 2023

We are inviting residents and other parties to have their say on our Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) across a six-week consultation period from Monday 30 October 2023.

Through our current Local Plan, we are committed to delivering sustainable communities, whereby high-quality development is supported by high-quality infrastructure. To achieve this, there needs to be clear guidance for the delivery of this infrastructure.

The development of the Planning Obligations SPD sets out our approach to seeking the necessary financial contributions from developers (known as Section 106 contributions) to provide the required infrastructure. The new guidance is intended to enable developers and other interested parties to understand the type and scale of planning obligation requirements from an early stage in the development process.

Councillor Mary Walsh, our Executive Member for Planning and Regeneration, said:

We must have up-to date planning policies, to create sustainable places and to enable the delivery of high-quality development across Central Bedfordshire. We encourage people to have their say on this latest Planning Obligations Policy, which if adopted, will become part of other guidance documents used by planners.

The consultation is open for 6 weeks, until Monday 11 December 2023. Paper copies are available in our libraries or can be requested by calling 0300 300 8302.

The consultation is being hosted on our new Commonplace digital engagement platform. Any feedback on the Commonplace platform will be welcomed by the team, and can be shared through the Commonplace page or by email: localplan@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

Once the consultation has closed, we will consider all the comments and make necessary changes to the document. A summary of the comments received, and how they have been taken into account, will be presented to the meeting of our Executive committee in spring 2024.

Find out more and have your say.