Plans by Fareham council to change levy to deliver school places

Fareham Borough Council is proposing to deal with developer contributions to education separately in order to secure specific funds.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Sean Woodward, said: ‘It follows on from our local draft plan consultation in which there are four large developments and the effect on school places is something a lot of residents had concerns over.

‘This change means we can meet local education needs and developers will know their money will be spent within their development if needs be.’

Hampshire County Council supports the removal of education from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Regulation 123 List which is paid by all developers on a flat rate per house and goes towards infrastructure in the borough.

The report read: ‘Hampshire County Council supports the removal of education from the Regulation 123 List.

‘This will allow the county council to negotiate directly with developers to ensure that the impact of new housing on school places is appropriately mitigated and that funding is directly available to deliver additional school places when needed.’

During a consultation about the change, developers were invited to make comments about the change.

Persimmon Homes South Coast called for a review of the CIL.

The report read: ‘Persimmon Homes South Coast states that the rate of CIL was set at a level commensurate with identified infrastructure costs which included education infrastructure.

The removal of Education Facilities should therefore lead to a reduction in the CIL receipts required to fund the infrastructure identified and therefore the council should undertake a review of CIL.’

Schools in Welborne already have developer contributions under Section 106 agreements.