Employment related and other development

Principles
A number of authorities seek contributions in relation to employment uses.  This section describes some of the frameworks emerging in local areas.
Key principles that emerge from these examples below are:

• obligations can relate to office, shop, retail and retail warehouse uses;
• local authorities normally employ cut off points, a common one being 1000sq m of gross floor space;
• assumed or actual occupancy is taken from local survey figures;
• authorities may request full contributions (Windsor and Maidenhead) or reduced contributions based on percentage of staff from outside the area (South Northamptonshire) or the percentage of the day assumed to be spent in the area (LB Camden):
• other uses for which contributions may be sought include hotels, hostels and halls of residence (LB Camden), holiday parks, static caravan sites and dwellings subject to holiday let conditions (North Devon)

Paragraph 23 of PPG 17 refers to the use of obligations relating to new development ‘especially housing’, thus not ruling out uses other than housing.

Policies and SPD Frameworks

Mole Valley prepared a Code of Practice as part of a collaboration project with the 11 Surrey Districts and the County Council to set out common practice and procedures for making infrastructure contributions across the majority of these districts.  Subsequently Mole Valley council has agreed to amend the Local Development Scheme in order to consolidate the Code into the Local Development Framework as a Supplementary Planning Document.  It will apply to planning applications received after 1st February 2008 for additional housing and/or commercial floorspace.  

The Code of Practice, where applied to community facilities which include indoor leisure facilities, states:

‘…Cost of provision would vary according to the type of facility, but to enable a standard charge to be levied a conservative estimate of £150,000 per 1,000 population will be used. This is similar to the level used elsewhere (e.g. Windsor and Maidenhead) and derives from the cost (excluding land purchase) of providing a new facility (for a minimum threshold of 2000 population) of £300,000. The resulting tariff per additional person would be £150.’

[Mole Valley District Council, (2006) Supplementary Planning Document S106 Code of Practice for Planning Infrastructure Contributions, p10]

Bracknell Forest’s Supplementary Planning Document, Limiting the Impact of Development (2007) para 8.3 includes a section on Built Sport Facilities.  In addition to seeking contributions from all additional housing the Borough has decided that it is reasonable to take contributions from major employment proposals. The level of contributions is shown in the table below:

Employees impact from business development is estimated to be 1/5th of a resident.  The cost of mitigating employee impact is calculated to be £335/net additional 100m2.  The SPD states that the method and calculation of financial contributions reflect the most up-to-date version (January ’07) of Sport England’s Sports Facilities Calculator.

In North Devon eligible employment uses are defined as developments in use classes A1, A2, B1, B2 and B8 which exceed 1000 sq metres gross floor space and/or would be expected to employ 20 or more people on site.

These uses may contribute to the following sport and recreation categories;

• playing pitches;
• multi use games areas; and
• informal open space.

The occupancy of the employment space is calculated from the following table

Employment densities

Example:  Contributions from a shop/bank development

Source: North Devon District Council

In the London Borough of Camden, policy N4 of the Revised Deposit Draft UDP (2004) states:
‘…To ensure that public open space deficiency is not created or made worse, the Council will only grant planning permission for development that is likely to lead to an increased use of open space where an appropriate contribution to the supply of public open space is made’.

This policy applies to development involving 1000 sq m of floor space or more.  The draft SPG gives the occupancy of offices as 50 persons per sq m and of high education uses as 50 persons per sq m.  Office use are expected to contribute to amenity open space, may need to contribute to outdoor sports facilities, but not children’s play.  Students are regarded as major users of amenity open space and formal recreation space, including multi use games areas.

The Council is planning to only seek one third of the calculated contribution for office space on the basis that use is only generally for eight hours of the day.  This reduction does not apply to hotels, hostels or student halls of residence.

In Windsor and Maidenhead the Council is seeking contributions to indoor sports and public open space provision from all applications for business development.

The Council states:

‘…commercial developments put pressure on existing facilities within the Borough since workers frequently use existing recreational facilities at lunchtime and after work, with some companies having memberships at sports and community centres.  Users of these facilities are not always residents of the Borough and additional burdens are put on Borough resources as a result.’

[RB Windsor and Maidenhead, (2003) Planning Obligations and Developer Contributions, Feb 2003, pp 46-47]

In South Northamptonshire, the District Council takes a similar position.  In its document Developer Contributions: Policy Statement (2003), the Council states that where appropriate a financial contribution will be sought. This will be based on the estimated number of people likely to be employed by the development who do not already live in South Northamptonshire.[page 38 of document]

In Gateshead, the draft SPG states that;

‘…on all new developments for employment uses, and retail developments with a gross area of at least 0.5 hectares, at least 15% of the total site area should be provided as landscaped areas, wildlife habitats or public open space, including recreation areas where appropriate’.

[Draft SPG 5: Provision of Open Space andLandscaping in NewDevelopments, Gateshead MBC, July 2004, p 4]

In Wokingham, policy WR 8 of the Wokingham District Local Plan (2004), states:

‘…Provision should be made for the likely need for recreational and leisure facilities, including open space, in association with new commercial developments.  Where a site cannot physically, or appropriately, accommodate the required open space, the balance will be sought through financial contributions towards the future provision of new, or the enhancement of existing, off-site facilities’.

The off site contribution standard for employment is 1.5 ha of open space per 1000 employees.  The areas of open space will be expected to be of a size shape and location suitable for recreational use by employees in the vicinity of the development.  The provision sought will include essential facilities connected with it such as changing facilities/pavilions.  This requirement will normally be sought from development on sites of over one hectare or buildings in excess of 2,000 sq m.

[Wokingham Council (2004) p 151 of District Local Plan. and SPG of Jan 2002, p 73-74].