Infrastructure Funding Statement

Introduction

This sets out the 2021/2022 income and expenditure relating to the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106 (S106) agreements, as required under the 2019 CIL Regulations 121A. This is an annual report (typically published in December), providing a summary of all financial and non-financial developer contributions for the last financial year, but does not cover implementation details. It also provides a statement of the infrastructure projects or types of infrastructure which will be, or may be, wholly or partly funded by the authority’s Community Infrastructure Levy.

The purpose of the developer contributions is to provide a funding source which will help to deliver necessary infrastructure to accommodate new development across the borough. This necessary infrastructure is identified within the Maidstone Borough Local Plan (2011 - 2031), and the associated Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP 2021) which identifies the infrastructure schemes considered necessary to support the development proposed in the Local Plan and outlines how and when these will be delivered. This also contains the council’s Infrastructure List setting out which types of infrastructure not in order of priority, which Maidstone intends may be partly or wholly funded by CIL.

CIL: was introduced in Maidstone on 1 October 2018. It is a non-negotiable financial levy fixed rate charging schedule collected from development but there is no site/spend relationship, and it must be paid once the development commences.

The borough council is the charging authority for CIL and has set the following charges in Maidstone:

There are exemptions available for self-build and affordable housing, however Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) does not offer exceptional circumstances relief due to the MBC viability evidence that new development would be able to sustain a CIL charge.

The Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 (as amended) state that CIL must be spent on: the provision, improvement, replacement, operation, or maintenance of infrastructure; or anything else that is concerned with addressing the demands that development places on an area. 15% or 25% of CIL is used for local infrastructure, 70% or 80% strategic borough wide infrastructure and 5% will be used by the Council to provide staff costs for the administration of CIL.

Strategic CIL Expenditure - the strategic CIL funds will be available for infrastructure providers to bid for in mid-2022 (see more information on page 11).

S106 Planning Agreements are negotiated legal agreements which provide for on/off site infrastructure to mitigate the impact of a specific development required and to make a development acceptable.

Where appropriate, planning authorities can seek planning obligations to secure the provision or contribution towards new or improved infrastructure. Authorities can also use planning obligations to secure affordable housing provisions from residential developments in line with local planning policies. Contributions collected from a site must be spent in accordance with the legal agreement normally paid at a staggered period over the build out of the development

If funding gaps remain for infrastructure projects, infrastructure providers will need to identify other funding sources to address the gap. Alternative sources of funding from other council sources (i.e. the New Homes Bonus and capital funding programme) may be considered where appropriate.

CIL and S106 reports 2021/22

Community Infrastructure Levy report

Headlines

CIL Summary 2021/22

*The amount of potential CIL income based on liable development applications, before any relief granted, and commencement

Neighbourhood CIL Expenditure in 2021/22

Table A

Neighbourhood CIL project spend 2021/22

Table B

*Completion data not available.

S106 Report

S106 Headlines

S106 Summary 2021/22

S106 Agreements signed in 2021/22

In 2021/22 Maidstone Borough Council signed new S106s which secured a total of £781,130.96 in future developer contributions. The most significant agreements were:

• Rosemead Nursery, Headcorn 20/504050/OUT Off-Site Affordable Housing Contribution £265,000
• Former Syngenta Works, Yalding 19/504910/OUT £ 55,600 towards Yalding Railway Station Improvements
• Land Off Oakapple Lane, Barming 20/501773/FULL £ 50,000 towards Barming Railway Station Improvements, and  £ 246,159 towards Local Bus Subsidy

Non-monetary contributions - affordable housing

In relation to affordable housing, the total number of units which were agreed through S106 during the reported year was 105 including, 82 affordable rented units and 21 shared ownership units.

In relation to affordable housing delivered, the total number of units which were delivered through planning obligations in 2021/22 was 390. Of these, 244 were a mix of social and affordable rented units and 146 were shared ownership.

S106 Income in 2021/22

Table C

S106 Expenditure in 2021/22

Table D

*Completion data not available

S106 developer contributions are paid over a staggered period or ‘trigger points’ during the build out of the development. This means there will be intervals in receiving the S106 monies which reflects in a fluctuation of the balance of monies collected.  Likewise, the expenditure balances will also be impacted by the timing of the delivery of projects. These are regulated within a S106 clause which allows time for the key infrastructure delivery partners in receipt of S106 money to plan and account for project delivery complexities. The clawback periods are between five and ten years.

The infrastructure list

The Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations (2019 Amendment) Regulation 121A (1) requires the Infrastructure Funding Statement to include a statement of the infrastructure projects or types which will be or may be, wholly or partly funded by CIL.

The list below outlines the types of infrastructure that Maidstone Borough Council intends will be, or may be, wholly or partly funded by Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds. This list does not signify a commitment by the Council to fund all the infrastructure listed. Nor does the inclusion of a type of infrastructure on the list guarantee or imply it will receive any CIL funding.

The 2019 CIL regulation amendment removed the previous restriction on the pooling of planning obligations towards a single piece of infrastructure. Alongside CIL contributions, Maidstone Borough Council may also seek planning obligations by way of a planning agreement (S106) where it can meet the statutory and policy tests and are in line with requirements set out in Maidstone’s adopted Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document.

Future spend priorities

Affordable Housing

The provision of affordable housing as part of new development will continue to be sought through S106s in line with ‘Policy SP20 – Affordable Housing’ in the adopted Maidstone Borough Local Plan (2017), as well as the Affordable and Local Needs Housing Supplementary Planning Document (July 2020). In exceptional circumstances where affordable housing cannot be provided on-site, the Council will agree in-lieu, an affordable housing commuted sum contribution under a S106 which the Council will use to spend towards delivering new affordable homes within the borough.

The Council currently holds £2,128,481 of monies from “off-site” developer contributions for affordable housing. MBC intends to spend this money on its own building programme for which there is an ambition to eventually increase the portfolio to 1,000 homes.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure provision should align with the delivery of new development. Future income will be allocated towards much needed infrastructure to support the growth of new development. Details of planned S106 expenditure across each main spend area 21/22 are set out below.

• Education - Primary schools; Headcorn, Harrietsham, Yalding, Lenham, Southborough, Boughton Monchelsea, Marden, North Borough.  Secondary schools; Maidstone Grammar School, Valley Park, Cornwallis, Maplestone Noakes and Free School of Science and technology
• Community learning - outreach facilities in St Faiths Adult education centre
• Libraries - additional book stock at Allington, Coxheath, Staplehurst Kent history and library centre mobile library Harrietsham and Lenham, Hollingbourne, Marden Bearsted
• Transportation - Marden Railway Station, Staplehurst Station Improvements, bus service enhancements in Staplehurst village
• Healthcare - new premises for Greensand Health Centre and Sutton Valence Group Practice, premises development at Len Valley Surgery,  facilities and refurbishment includes extensions, new carpets, IT equipment etc at Stockett Lane & Orchard Surgery, Wallis Avenue, Orchard Langley, The Mote & Cobtree, Northumberland Road and Shepway surgeries, Glebe Medical Centre, Blackthorn Medical Centre, Allington Park Surgery, Aylesford Medical Practice and Brewer Street surgery, Marden Medical Centre, Bowermount surgery and Lockmeadow Surgery, Grove Green, Staplehurst Health Centre, Boughton Monchelsea, Yeomans Lane Surgery and Yalding surgery

• Public Rights of Way -  in Detling & Thurnham Ward and Heath Ward
• Outdoor sports facilities - at Giddyhorn Lane, Parkwood, Shepway North/South
• Open space - Marden playing fields, Stockett Lane, play areas in Headcorn, allotments in Barming, Clare Park multi use facilities, Tovil play area, Ulcombe recreation ground, King George V playing fields, Lime Trees play area and Surrendon playing field, Millennium River Park, Jubilee Playing Fields, Midley Close play Area, Penenden Heath History Garden, Barming Heath, and Gatland Lane, River Len Nature Reserve, Glebe Fields, Senacre Recreation ground, Mote Park, White Beam Drive play area, William Pitt field, Cockpit play area, Hoggs Bridge Green, Brenchley Gardens
• Community Facility - at St Faiths Centre, Spring Field Park and Trinity Foyer Sensory Garden
• Town centre - public realm Earl Street, Maidstone shop front improvement scheme, town centre marketing initiative and transition study
• Cycle park -  Marden railway station
• Highways - M20 Junction 5 improvements, M2 Junction 5 traffic flow scheme, traffic displacement mitigation, works to Willington Street junction to wheat sheaf junction improvements and Willington Street/Wallis Avenue junction improvements, upgrade junction at Millbank/North Street, Fountain Lane, and Tonbridge Road junction modification

Strategic CIL expenditure

In terms of CIL, the Council will invite CIL strategic funding bids in May 2022 from a range of infrastructure delivery organisations and stakeholders. The CIL funding available for infrastructure projects across the borough will contain CIL funds of £1.4m and MBC capital funds. Projects submitted will be assessed against the infrastructure types or projects contained in our Infrastructure List within this IFS and those infrastructure projects identified in the current Infrastructure Development Plan. Schemes within the IDP identified as critical for delivery in the short term are likely to be prioritised.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Traffic signalisation of the M20 J7 roundabout, widening of the coast bound off-slip and creation of a new signal-controlled pedestrian route through the junction
• Capacity improvements at the junction of Fountain Lane and the A26/Tonbridge Road; and
• Linton Crossroads junction improvements

Infrastructure projects successfully awarded CIL will be reported in the IFS for 2022-2023.

If you have any further queries or comments about this statement, please do not hesitate to contact us by email CIL@maidstone.gov.uk

Annex 1

Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations (2019 amendment) Regulation 121a Schedule 2 Section 1 and Section 3

Community Infrastructure Levy

Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations (2019 Amendment) Regulation 121A Schedule 2 Section 1

Section 106

Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations (2019 Amendment) Regulation 121A Schedule 2 Section 3