Cheshire East Council (CEC) currently holds nearly £900,000 for Wilmslow and over half a million pounds for Handforth in their S106 account.
A report prepared for the Corporate Scrutiny Committee has revealed that £546,138 is held for Wilmslow Lacey Green Ward, £186,100 for Wilmslow East Ward, £114,518 for Wilmslow Dean Row Ward, £42,901 for Wilmslow West & Chorley Ward and £523,836 for Handforth Ward.
Section 106 agreements, also known as Planning Obligations, are legal agreements with the Council under Section 106 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990. These are legally binding agreements between the Council, the developer and any other parties with an interest in the site to be developed and often include a financial contribution.
The purpose of Section 106 agreements is to regulate the future development of the land, compensate the local community for any impact caused by a development and help shape the new development - for example, to make sure a certain number of houses are affordable homes.
Cllr Wesley Fitzgerald spoke about S106 money at last week's town council meeting.
He told councillors "When planning applications are put in, usually by development companies, to fulfil a planning contract they may be asked to provide funds for the improvement of various services around the area where they are developing.
"This goes into a holding fund at Cheshire East which does need a good shake up from time to time because money doesn't get spent. In the Wilmslow Lacey Green Ward there is currently standing £546,138 and in Wilmslow West £42,901. So there is money there which you need to investigate for the benefit of Wilmslow."
Cllr Ellie Brooks asked "How is the money accessed?"
Cllr Fitzgerald responded "You've actually got to create a scheme which you think is worthy of doing and go forward with that, you can do that by getting the support of your local Cheshire East member and it goes through the planning department in the first instance."
Cllr Keith Purdom added "This is a complete surprise. Why is it a surprise? Is there a timescale for coming up with plans to make use of this money?
Cllr Fitzgerald responded "I don't think there is actually which is why this money wallows there unless somebody actually comes up with bright ideas. It needs chasing."
Amongst the payments held for Wilmslow are:
- £10,303 from the development of the Spring Street car park, to be used towards traffic signal improvements at Water Lane.
- £10,000 from a parking study in Wilmslow which is to be spent in 2012/13.
- £21,000 from the Villas, Dean Row to be used for the on site provision of open space.
- £30,866 for the development of the former police station on Green Lane to be used for improvements at the Carrs.
- £46,000 for the development of apartments at Shell House, Station Road to be used for the creation of and improvements to facilities at open space and amenity areas in the vicinity.
- £64,000 for the development of apartments at land off Twinnies Road to be used for park facilities at Lacey Green.
- £72,000 for the erection of 24 dwellings at land off Ladyfield Street to be used for the provision of public opens space and sports facilities.
- £35,000 for the development of land at 22-24 Manchester Road - £30,000 to be used for the provision, enhancement or addition to children's play facilities at the Carrs and the allotment site at Cliff Road and £5000 to be used for the enhancement or addition to the sports pitches and facilities at Carnival Field and Wilmslow Leisure Centre.
- £372,000 for the Waters Corporation development off Altrincham Road - £42,190 for open space, £139,380 for recreation and outdoor sports facilities, £37,500 for the multi-user path through the Carrs and £152,000 towards footpath works between the site and the junction with Mobberley Road, including the provision of new Toucan crossing.
- £78,000 for the development of Oaklands School - to be used for open space and enhancements at the local play and amenity facility at Browns Lane.
Money set aside for Handforth includes:
- £ 24,776 for the Picton Drive, Howty Close Site & Summerfields sites for sporting/recreational facilities and play areas.
- £36,000 for the development of land at Eccleston Way & Henbury Road, to be put towards informal and formal play provision and amenity open space at Meriton Road Park.
- £57,000 for the development of land at Honford Court, to pay for the improvement and enhancement of the facilities within Meriton Road Park.
- £400,000 for the development of retirement flats at 195-199 Wilmslow Road for the provision of affordable housing within Wilmslow, Handforth & Alderley Edge, if not spent in 2 years widen to MBC, if unspent after further 2 years widen to CEBC.
The Council currently holds a total of £7,971,263 in the S106 account. £3,660,345 of the total figure is identified as non-time limited funds and £4,310,917 is identified as funds time limited for expenditure.
Income from S106 funds has increased from 265,643.00 in the financial year 2011/12 to 1,422,462.00 in 2012/13, whilst expenditure also increased during that period from 143,417.00 to 528,448.36.
The management of S106 agreements including the income generated from them has been the subject of an Internal Audit at CEC which has made a number of recommendations, the main of which is developing a formal internal policy and procedure and ensuring the monitoring of income and expenditure.
Comments
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Some of the schemes detailed above have been completed years ago so whoever at CE who makes the overnight snappy moves with cancelling the green wheely bins please be re-directed onto this initiative and it might get spent sometime before the tide flows in !!!
From reading the article as I understand a developer gets permission granted on a proposed building project and is asked to contribute to a local project as in Lacey green £64k for parking, (a) why if that is what the money is for has parking but been developed (b) if you look at the apartment block in the evening and Barlow rd which is now a car park, with vehicles parked on ever empty space, which causes hazards to motorist.
It would seem to me developers are been asked for various sums of monies for local project, then once the Council has the monies they do nothing with it! As the Cllr says it's requires people to come up with ideas on what to use the money for. Here's an idea use it for what it was requested for!
Anyway, wonderful opportunities for Wilmslow residents to make proposals.
Thankyou Cllr Fitzgerald and good luck Mr Mayor -
Monument to T/L Prof Alan Turing?
Lindow Man Centre/Museum?
Padel tennis courts?
Baseball diamond?
Superfast broad band free wifi in town.
We'd like some of it for Dean Drive park but sadly this is not lawfully possible!
To walk on the road is the only option for all the children who live on Edgehill Chase when they walk to and from school.
I challenge you to experience their every day dice with death just to get to school..... Leaving Edgehill Chase, turn right up the hill .... and there is no pavement. You are facing traffic travelling at excessive speeds, and are forced to negotiate a right hand blind bend, on a summit to cross to the safety of Park Road. Without exaggeration, cars are travelling at an average of 50 mph when they approach this blind corner, and there is no way most of these cars would stop safely to avoid a child who may have judged the time they crossed the road wrongly.
Turn left, and there is a slim grass verge where their shoes get muddy and feet get wet at the beginning of their school day. The pavement runs out at the bridge over The Bollin river, where the road narrows and cars continue to drive incredibly fast, sometimes just inches away from our children. Looking left to cross here, the view is restricted and you really do have to try to listen for engines as you can't see too well, and the speed at which they are travelling means they are close in seconds. I dread to think what the result would be if a panicked child tripped in the road here. Having taken your life in your hands at the narrow point of the road, and crossed, there is a footpath again..... but then once more it stops and the children are forced to cross the road again, at the mini roundabout. Choices here are to cross Adlington Road AGAIN before the mini roundabout, putting them back on the LHS of the road, and crossing another junction of the roundabout. Alternatively, they can negotiate another blind junction, this time a 90 degree right hand turn, again, no pavement or footpath, and lots of foliage. On a wet grey morning, this is slippery and there is no room for error.
Try it one morning and you will see I am not exaggerating how treacherous this short trip is. Try it again with a school bag full of files, at 4 pm home time, only in reverse..... it really does not get any better.
I asked a local councillor what the process was to get this area on the radar, to be told that there needed to be some incidents or deaths on the road before the council would spend any money here......
Let's pray for all our children then, that they do not become the statistic to force some improvements here, and hope that the slush fund does some good and Adlington Road is made safe soon.
Not the best of areas to be a pedestrian!.
Surely the safest, but not ideal, would be a direct footpath through one of your gardens to Wilmslow Park across the road.
One wonders how the builders got planning permission to build a mini estate there without proper pedestrian access
I have urged MBC, CEC and BT to allow pedestrians and Mums pushing prams a safe walk. All to no avail. They don't care.
Phil Enstone WTC has it on his radar, so let's hope he will fair better, but don't hold your breath. I'm sure he will do his best.
Add to this now, greenfield site Bc in the Wilmslow Vision draft with 220 houses with Adlington Rd access. The site is sold to a developer and CEC are so far completely intransigent. They are desperate to have houses there, even though Adlington Road with an extra 400 ish vehicles daily poses a serious risk to us all.
Be disgusted, as I am.
Also, well done to those who have taken the trouble to put forward sensible options regarding the S106 funds / "Planning Obligations".
Now it is time for all CEC Councillors for Wilmslow Wards to unite & ensure the public gets the benefits from the unfullfilled obligations.
It certainly got spent at Lyme Green, when Cllr Fitzgerald was supposed to be at the helm and it certainly got spent on the resulting inquiry, which the Tax-Payers are still being denied sight of, despite having paid for it.
Does George Osborne? Let's all find out.