Devon County Council Infrastructure Funding Statement 2021/22

1. Introduction

1.1 Infrastructure Funding Statement

1.1.1. There is a requirement for any Local Planning Authority that receives a contribution from development, either through the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) or an agreement under Section 106 (S106) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended), to produce an annual Infrastructure Funding Statement¹.

1.2. Scope and Structure of this Statement

1.2.1. This Infrastructure Funding Statement sets out:

• The role and responsibility of Devon County Council, as the local authority, when it comes to infrastructure provision as well as how Devon County Council funds infrastructure;
• A S106 report for the 2021/22 financial year (1st April 2021 – 31st March 2022) including:
  • monetary and non-monetary contributions secured for
  • infrastructure through signed S106 agreements;
  • S106 monies received;
  • S106 monies spent by the authority; and
  • monies remaining with the authority to spend.
• A report on the CIL monies received by Devon County Council in the 2021/22 financial year, and the projects this has been, or will be,spent on; and
• The future infrastructure spending priorities for the County Council.

1.2.2. The Statement also includes details of money from Section 278
agreements (Highways Act 1980). The Statement does not detail all
funding sources that may complement planning obligations to deliver
infrastructure.

1.2.3. The following terms are used within this document and are defined as:

• Agreed – Contributions, either monetary or non-monetary, that have been agreed within a signed legal agreement (e.g. S106 document). Non-monetary contributions (relatively small in number), could include land for infrastructure being transferred to Devon County Council or infrastructure being delivered directly by developers.
• Received – Monetary contributions that have been paid to Devon County Council as a result of planning obligations.
• Allocated – Monetary contributions that have been received and are committed to fund infrastructure.
• Spent – Monetary contributions that have been spent on infrastructure by Devon County Council.

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¹ The Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) (England) (No.2) Regulations 2019.

Summary

2. Devon County Council and Infrastructure

2.1. Devon County Council’s Strategic Plan 2021-2025

2.1.1. Devon County Council’s Strategic Plan 2021-2025 sets out the Council’s

Vision to be the best place to grow up, live well and prosper. As part of this, the Plan sets out six priorities which includes:

• Responding to the climate emergency;
• Being ambitious for children and young people;
• Supporting sustainable economic recovery;
• Tackling poverty and inequality;
• Improving health and wellbeing; and
• Helping communities be safe, connected and resilient.

2.2. Devon County Council’s Role and Responsibilities

2.2.1. Although Devon County Council is not the planning authority responsible
for housing, employment and retail, it has a significant role in securing
new, and maintaining existing, infrastructure and services required to
support development and the people of Devon in order to meet the
Council’s Strategic Plan priorities. This includes infrastructure and services
for:

• Transport;
• Education;
• Waste management;
• Social care;
• Community facilities (e.g. libraries and youth facilities);
• Flood risk management; and
• Environmental enhancements.

2.2.2. Devon County Council works closely with the district councils across Devon to identify what infrastructure, within the County Council’s remit, isneeded to support development. This is carried out when local plans are being developed, when the impacts of development on existing infrastructure are examined. This work informs and influences the emerging policy and Infrastructure Delivery Plans, which identify what infrastructure items are required and when, as well as approximate costs and possible funding sources. Devon County Council also produces plans for specific areas of infrastructure, setting out the priorities for each service area.

2.2.3. When development proposals come forward, Devon County Council also responds to planning applications to ensure the proposals take into account the necessary infrastructure requirements at this stage and that this is secured, where necessary, through planning obligations.

2.2.4. The service areas in which Devon County Council has a responsibility are outlined below, along with any document or plan prepared for the provision of infrastructure.

Transport Infrastructure

2.2.5. As the Local Highway Authority and the Local Transport Authority (at the time of which this report covers – 2021/22), the County Council has a responsibility to develop and deliver transport schemes to support development and growth, this could include:

• Providing new strategic multi-use infrastructure to promote active travel;
• Working with other organisations to deliver stations and improve the rail network;
• Ensuring the public bus services are sufficient; and
• Increasing highway capacity by providing new junctions and roads.

2.2.6. Devon County Council has produced a Transport Infrastructure Plan (March 2020) which guides the focus and prioritisation of resources within the authority and provides longer term clarity on the County’s transport infrastructure delivery. The Plan lists the transport infrastructure which has been identified to deliver growth across the county. The Transport Capital Programme adds to this and sets out the detail for current and future spending, including of planning obligations, and priorities for infrastructure across Devon in the short term.

Education

2.2.7. As Local Education Authority, the County Council is responsible for planning and providing a sufficient number of school places to meet Devon’s need. This includes places for early years, primary and secondary age pupils, including those requiring specialist educational provision. Usually, existing schools are expanded, or new schools are built.

2.2.8. The Education Infrastructure Plan (October 2016), produced by Devon County Council, outlines the key infrastructure requirements for primary, secondary and pupils with special educational needs to support Devon’s growth to 2033. The Plan also sets out the approach to capital investment in education infrastructure, informing the capital programme.

Community Facilities

2.2.9. This covers a number of areas including waste management, social care and library and youth services.

Waste Management

2.2.10. As Waste Disposal Authority, the County Council is responsible for managing waste that is collected from households. The County Council also provides household waste recycling centres. As the population grows, capacity at the recycling centres may need to be increased. The Resource and Waste Management Strategy for Devon and Torbay 2020-2030 has been prepared to set out how Devon Authorities will manage waste. For Devon County Council this includes identifying the need for new and/or improved household waste recycling centres across the county.

Social Care

2.2.11. The County Council has a role to provide care for the elderly, vulnerable children, people with disabilities, and people with poor mental health. Whilst the majority of the County Council’s assistance is through community based personal care and support services, it also has a commissioning role in respect of residential and nursing care home provision, extra care housing, and various models of supported living or ‘housing with care’. The Extra Care Housing Commissioning Strategy (August 2015) sets out the requirements for extra care housing in Devon using demographic projections. The County Council also provides children’s services, such as securing family hubs in new developments.

Library and youth services

2.2.12. The County Council also has a role in providing community facilities, such as library and youth services. Devon County Council has a duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service to people living, working and studying in the local area. The County Council also aims to provide youth
services that allow young people to have access to information, advice and guidance, and that assist in providing activities and entertainment.

Flood Risk Management

2.2.13. There are a number of organisations that have roles in flood risk management. The County Council is the Lead Local Flood Authority for its area and is responsible for taking a strategic overview and managing local sources of flood risk in Devon, such as surface water, groundwater and minor rivers classed as Ordinary Watercourses. This includes being a statutory consultee to the Local Planning Authorities, ensuring development adequately manages flood risk, by providing sustainable drainage systems, where possible, and delivering flood risk management schemes.

Environmental Mitigation and Enhancements

2.2.14. Devon County Council is also the Waste Planning Authority and Mineral Planning Authority, being the determining authority for planning applications for this type of development. In these circumstances, Devon County Council has a role in relation to the environment – protecting, conserving, and enhancing the landscape, biodiversity and the historic environment. Sometimes proposed developments may require a S106 agreement to secure mitigation which could be off-site improvements or a monetary contribution for the County Council to spend appropriately. The Environment Act 2021 came into force in November 2021 and is likely to increase the amount of contributions secured for environmental mitigation and enhancement, particularly with the introduction of biodiversity net gain and Local Nature Recovery Strategies.

2.3. Funding Infrastructure

2.3.1. Devon County Council funds infrastructure in various ways. To provide new or expand existing infrastructure due to new development, the County Council relies on developer contributions, also known as planning obligations. Therefore, Devon County Council often requests either monetary contributions or the direct provision of this infrastructure through legal agreements (e.g. S106 agreements) that accompany planning permissions for housing or other relevant development. Devon County Council also requests a proportion of the CIL receipts collected by the CIL charging district planning authorities.

Section 106 agreements

2.3.2. Section 106 agreements accompany planning permissions and, for Devon County Council, usually contain a specific amount of money requested for an infrastructure item and triggers of when this should be paid, normally directly to Devon County Council.

2.3.3. Devon County Council has a number of policies setting out its approach to requesting these contributions:

• Education Approach for Developer Contributions; and
• Waste Management and Recycling – Development Contribution Methodology.

Community Infrastructure Levy

2.3.4. CIL is a levy charged on the floorspace of a proposed development. Each CIL charging authority produces a list identifying what CIL receipts are intended to be spent on, which will be set out in their Infrastructure Funding Statement. This often includes specific projects relating to schools, sustainable transport or highway improvements. Any CIL monies paid by developers is paid directly to the relevant district planning authority, as the CIL charging authority. A proportion of the CIL monies received by the relevant charging authority is passed to the parish/town Council within which the development has taken place. Devon County Council does not automatically receive CIL money and therefore makes requests to the districts and/or parish and town councils when necessary.

2.3.5. The CIL charging authorities are:

• East Devon District Council;
• Exeter City Council; and
• Teignbridge District Council.

2.3.6. Devon County Council has worked with the district planning authorities in producing these lists to ensure the County Council’s infrastructure priorities are reflected.

External funding

2.3.7. Although this Statement focuses on planning obligations, at times, additional funding is made available to the County Council to deliver infrastructure. This funding supports all types of infrastructure, with some relying on these sources of funding more than others. For example, to date, flood risk management schemes have rarely benefited from S106 contributions or CIL money, instead the County Council heavily relies on bids to national and regional flood and coastal risk management funding
sources. These bids, if successful, supplement the funding provided directly by local authority capital budgets.

2.3.8. On the other hand, education, for example, greatly relies on planning obligations to deliver pupil places. Although government grant funding is received to help ensure sufficient school places and school maintenance, such as Basic Need and Capital Maintenance, there is considerable uncertainty about the future scale and nature of such funding. It is also important to note that this funding does not provide for the increase in provision needed to mitigate the impact of new development. Planning obligations are therefore vital for the delivery of school places.

2.3.9. Funding is also available for transport infrastructure, however, this has significantly reduced over the past few years. Whilst some funding is still secured through the Local Transport Plan Integrated Block and other government grants, it cannot necessarily be relied upon. The County Council often relies on other bodies to allocate and grant funding using national competitive bidding processes. These bids often require match funding, for which the S106 and CIL money is needed.

2.3.10. Overall, whilst external funding remains a vital part of delivering infrastructure, these programmes cannot be relied on as they are not guaranteed. Developer contributions are vital to deliver the infrastructure needed to support development.

3. Section 106 Report

3.1. Money agreed in 2021/22

This section outlines what contributions (both monetary and nonmonetary) have been agreed within a signed S106 agreement by Devon County Council between 1^st  April 2021 – 31^st  March 2022. These contributions may or may not be received by the County Council; this depends on the progress made with the implementation of the planning permission and the development reaching the payment triggers set out in the S106 agreement.

S106 contributions are typically index linked. This means that when the contribution is due, the amount required is adjusted to take into account changes in cost in the intervening period. This often results in the amount received being larger than the sum set out in the S106 agreement.   

The monies that have been agreed for the provision of education through the
signed S106 agreements can be broken down into five categories:

• Primary provision, including any money agreed towards the purchasing of land;
• Secondary provision;
• Money towards the transportation of pupils to school where the development may be outside of a suitable walking distance or safe walking route;
• Early years provision; and
• Special educational needs (SEN) provision.

This breakdown is displayed in Figure 2.

As shown in Figure 2, the majority of the contributions agreed for education are for primary and secondary provision. The Education Infrastructure Plan states that the overall forecast for Devon, based on birth rates, migration and planned new development, predicts an increasing need for primary provision until at least 2021 and secondary until 2026 when considering the existing capacity of schools. There will also continue to be a need for additional capacity in local communities or main areas of growth. The contributions agreed in 21/22 will help support this predicted growth around the county.

The contributions agreed towards transport infrastructure can be broken down into four categories:

• Works to the highway such as junction improvements, road widening or other changes to the highway network;
• Walking and cycling infrastructure, which includes footways, pedestrian crossings and cycle paths;
• Bus contributions usually to expand existing services to serve new development or infrastructure such as bus stops and bus lanes; and
• Other sustainable travel measures, including the provision of travel
• plans and travel vouchers for households.

As well as the above monetary contributions, Devon County Council has also agreed some non-monetary contributions, including:

• Replacement footbridge at Harlequins Centre, Exeter and road improvements.
• Offsite highways improvements and spine road at North West Cullompton Urban Extension.
• Footway upgrades and pedestrian crossing at Land at Chivenor.
• Land for a new primary school in Crediton.
• Highways works at Creedy Bridge, Crediton.
• Land to construct the Jetty Marsh II link.

Money received in 2021/22
This section outlines what monetary contributions have been received by Devon County Council between 1st April 2021 – 31st March 2022. Whilst some of these contributions have been agreed in S106 agreements signed within the same financial year, the majority of money will come from agreements signed in previous years. It is not unusual for there to be a delay between the grant of permission and the commencement of development or the time it takes to reach the trigger points at which payment is due.

The money received can be broken down further into:

• Primary provision, including money received towards the purchasing of land;
• Secondary provision;
• Money towards the transportation of pupils to school where the development may be outside of a suitable walking distance or safe walking route;
• Early years provision; and
• A number of the contributions received support any education provision required in the area as a result of the development. This money is allocated to a specific project at a later date once a project has been identified.

The money received for transport infrastructure can be broken down further
into:

• Works to the highway;
• Walking and cycling infrastructure;
• Bus contributions to expand existing services to serve new development;
• Rail contributions; and
• Other sustainable travel measures, including the provision of travel plans and travel vouchers for households.

Highways works often include some pedestrian or cycle element. This, as well as these contributions coming from historical S106 agreements where sustainable travel and climate change may not have been so prevalent in decision making, could support the high proportion towards highway improvements.

The money received towards community facilities can be broken down further
into:

• Library facilities and services;
• Children’s facilities and services; and
• Youth facilities and services.

3.2 Money spent in 2021/2022

This section outlines what monetary contributions have been spent by Devon County Council between 1st
April 2021 – 31st March 2022 on infrastructure. These contributions come from S106 agreements signed at any time up to and including 31st March 2021. This does not include all infrastructure funded by other funding sources, such as monies received from bids and grants.

Monies spent on education has gone towards primary, secondary and early years provision as well as school transport costs. A summary of the projects and the amount of S106 monies spent on each project is set out below.

The money spent on transport provision has gone towards various projects that support a range of transport modes. Below is a summary of the projects and the amount of S106 monies spent on each project.

The money spent on community facilities has gone towards the provision of a children’s centre in Cranbrook and a youth development worker at Sherford.

3.3. Money retained after 31 March 2022

Prior to the 2021/22 financial year, Devon County Council held £45,747,197 (adjusted from closing balance included in the 20/21 IFS report due to incorrect indexation applied of £20,246) from planning
obligations received before the reporting year. Following the monies received (section 3.2) and spent (section 3.3) by the County Council in the 2021/22 financial year, Devon County Council retained £51,413,860 from past planning obligations for future infrastructure projects. All of this money, and more, will be required to support future infrastructure. Devon County Council retains money if schemes are not yet ready to be delivered, perhaps because triggers have not been met on the related development sites. All of this money has been allocated to a team within the Council who will ensure the money is spent as per the project listed in the associated legal agreement.

4. Community Infrastructure Levy

Prior to the 2021/22 financial year, Devon County Council held £240,931 of CIL monies received before the reporting year.

Each CIL charging authority will be required to report on their CIL income and expenditure.

5. Future Spending Priorities on Infrastructure

5.1.1 Devon County Council will continue to request contributions (S106 and CIL) from development for infrastructure.

5.1.2 Devon County Council intends to fund infrastructure projects that have been identified as corporate priorities and/or that support the planned growth across the county set out in the Local Plans and the strategic policies, as well as the projects from strategies and development programmes prepared by Devon County Council.

Education	Education Infrastructure Plan (revised), published in October 2016.
Transport	Transport Infrastructure Plan, published in March 2020. Exeter Transport Strategy (2020-2030), published in November 2020.
Waste Management	Resource and Waste Management Strategy for Devon and Torbay 2020-2030, published in January 2021.