Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) consultation

Why is the SPD needed?

The Council secures legally binding obligations against planning applications to make them acceptable in planning terms. This is in order to mitigate against site-specific impacts. Legal obligations are used when addressing matters that otherwise cannot be dealt with through conditions attached to a planning permission. This might be for securing affordable housing or for mitigations, such as requiring improvements to an access road, or securing a financial contribution to secure other mitigation measures. This is done under Section 106 (S106) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended).

 The Council currently has a Planning Obligations SPD that was adopted in July 2013. This was produced in association with, and complementary to the Council’s adoption of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). It was and still is the case that CIL will be the main mechanism for delivering financial contributions towards general infrastructure requirements across the borough resulting from the cumulative impacts of development.

 Since 2013 however, there has been a significant change in development plan policies. The London Plan was replaced in 2015 and more recently in 2021. In addition, the Brent Local Plan has been subject to wholesale review and is likely to be adopted in 2022. This has greatly expanded the range of requirements from development, for example the need for training, residents being prioritised for some jobs associated with development, meeting and monitoring energy standards, carbon off-set payments and achieving the urban greening factor. Development within the borough has also changed significantly. Greater densities mean wholly on-site mitigation measures can be more difficult to achieve. Off-site provision is more often required, e.g. meeting shortfall in private on-site amenity standards by obligations to improve local open spaces.   

 The draft SPD seeks to address these new policy requirements. To assist in simplifying and speeding up the process of issuing timely planning permissions, it seeks to standardise the Council’s most commonly sought S106 obligations. In making clear the Councils requirements, the document will provide stakeholders with more certainty when assessing the development potential of land earlier on in the development process. In doing so, this should speed up negotiations, and help the Council secure a greater range of provisions toward the implementation of the Brent Local Plan, and wider visions for the borough, as outlined in the Council’s Borough Plan and other strategies.

The document includes 18 broad planning obligations. Full detail can be found in section 5 of the draft SPD. The planning obligations address the following policy issues: 

•          affordable housing;

•          affordable workspace;

•          social infrastructure;

•          employment opportunities;

•          open space and children’s play space;

•          trees,

•          air quality;

•          carbon-offsetting and decentralised energy;

•          sustainable transport and parking;

•          heritage and design; and

•          other site obligations and administrative fees.

 Affordable workspace, social infrastructure, children’s play space, trees, air quality, carbon-offsetting, heritage, and design are all new categories of obligation within the new SPD. In addition to these new requirements, existing obligations have been updated to better reflect the new policy context. Notably, this now includes a financial contribution from residential developments delivering between 5 and 9 dwellings. This will help the Council in delivering its strategic target of 50% of all housing to be delivered as affordable. This requirement was derived from a small sites viability assessment. This determined that small sites can viably provide fixed contributions per dwelling towards off-site affordable housing in most cases.

 Each obligation is secured according to National, London Plan, and Brent Local Plan policy requirements. In doing this, the document provides additional guidance on the Council’s interpretation and implementation of the policies within its Development Plan.

 Once adopted, the document will be a material consideration in the determination of planning applications. The Council will work with applicants early on in the application process seeking compliance with the SPD to ensure acceptable developments. Once adopted, it will supersede the existing Planning Obligations SPD (2013) which will also need to be formally revoked.

 Area of coverage

 The London Borough of Brent, with the exception of areas in which the Old Oak and Park Royal Mayoral Development Corporation is the local planning authority.

Consultation details

The consultation will run for a period of 6 weeks from 10th February to 25th March 2022. Documents are made available online at Brent Council - Supplementary Planning Documents and Guidance or for hard copies visit Wembley Library at the Brent Civic Centre.