PLAN­NING

Cairngorms Nation­al Park

Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021

Sup­ple­ment­ary Guid­ance: Policy 11 — Developer Obligations

Con­tents

How to use this guidance…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………1 Intro­duc­tion and context………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….1 Devel­op­ments that may require contributions………………………………………………………………………………………………..3 Level of contributions………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4 Afford­able hous­ing contributions…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4 Edu­ca­tion contributions……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4 Health­care contributions…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 Com­munity and leis­ure facil­it­ies contributions………………………………………………………………………………………………5 Trans­port and related infra­struc­ture contributions…………………………………………………………………………………………6 Viability……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..6 Appendix I — how con­tri­bu­tions are calculated……………………………………………………………………………………………….8

How to use this guidance

This sup­ple­ment­ary guid­ance forms part of the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (LDP) 2021 and applies to all plan­ning applic­a­tions with­in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

This guid­ance should be used to assess plan­ning applic­a­tions and identi­fy the con­tri­bu­tions that may be required to mit­ig­ate the impacts of the devel­op­ment on loc­al facil­it­ies and infrastructure.

Intro­duc­tion and context

Policy II of the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan provides the frame­work for developer con­tri­bu­tions that may be secured by leg­al obligations.

New devel­op­ment needs infra­struc­ture and ser­vices for the people who will use the devel­op­ment. For example, infra­struc­ture may include roads and foot­paths, and facil­it­ies may include schools and health centres. Depend­ing on the scale and loc­a­tion of new devel­op­ment, the neces­sary infra­struc­ture and facil­it­ies may already exist in the sur­round­ing area and have with suf­fi­cient capa­city. How­ever, where they do not exist or are already near capa­city, then developer con­tri­bu­tions are likely to be required.

Policy 11 – Developer Obligations

Where devel­op­ment cre­ates a need to increase or improve pub­lic ser­vices, facil­it­ies or infra­struc­ture, or to mit­ig­ate adverse effects, the developer will be required to make a fair and reas­on­able con­tri­bu­tion, in cash or in kind, towards the addi­tion­al costs or require­ments. Any con­tri­bu­tions required must be neces­sary to mit­ig­ate the dir­ect or cumu­lat­ive impacts of a devel­op­ment pro­pos­al and will be pro­por­tion­ate to the scale and nature of the devel­op­ment pro­posed. Con­tri­bu­tions may be secured through a plan­ning con­di­tion, an altern­at­ive leg­al agree­ment, or a plan­ning oblig­a­tion made under sec­tion 75 of the Town and Coun­try Plan­ning (Scot­land) Act 1997 (as amended).

Con­tri­bu­tions may be required towards: a) edu­ca­tion; b) health­care; c) com­munity facil­it­ies; d) trans­port pro­vi­sion and infra­struc­ture includ­ing act­ive travel; and/​or e) mit­ig­a­tion of impacts on nat­ur­al heritage.

Con­tri­bu­tions required for the above will vary depend­ing on the type and scale of the devel­op­ment and its loc­a­tion. There are dif­fer­ences in the need for con­tri­bu­tions, con­tri­bu­tion thresholds and the deliv­ery of con­tri­bu­tions between set­tle­ments and loc­al author­ity areas. There­fore con­tri­bu­tions sought from devel­op­ments will reflect loc­al cir­cum­stances and costs for that area.

The types of con­tri­bu­tions that are anti­cip­ated in each set­tle­ment are set out in the Com­munity Inform­a­tion sec­tion of the Plan. The Action Pro­gramme will also be used to pub­lish reg­u­lar updates of the con­tri­bu­tions anti­cip­ated for each set­tle­ment reflect­ing loc­al cir­cum­stances and costs.

Con­tri­bu­tions are usu­ally secured through plan­ning con­di­tions or leg­al agree­ments referred to as oblig­a­tions. This guid­ance cov­ers con­tri­bu­tions secured by either means. The pur­pose of a developer con­tri­bu­tion is to ensure that, where neces­sary, infra­struc­ture and ser­vices can be expan­ded to meet the addi­tion­al needs put on them by the new development.

Where this occurs, the plan­ning author­ity for the area that the devel­op­ment is loc­ated with­in may seek a con­tri­bu­tion from the developer towards mit­ig­at­ing the impacts of the devel­op­ment. Con­tri­bu­tions can be in kind, for example build­ing a new health centre as part of a new hous­ing devel­op­ment, or a mon­et­ary pay­ment, for example fin­an­cial con­tri­bu­tions towards the cost of expand­ing a school in the same catch­ment as the new devel­op­ment. Where leg­al agree­ments are required to secure con­tri­bu­tions, they will be pre­pared by the Park Author­ity in con­sulta­tion with the rel­ev­ant loc­al authority.

Plan­ning cir­cu­lar 3/2012 (as updated) (https://www.gov.scot/publications/circular ‑3 – 2012-plan­ning-oblig­a­tions-good- neigh­bour-agree­ment­s/) sets out how plan­ning oblig­a­tions are expec­ted to be applied by Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment. The cir­cu­lar refers to oblig­a­tions as those secured by sec­tion 75 of the Town and Coun­try Plan­ning (Scot­land) Act 1997 (as amended), as well as those secured by oth­er forms of leg­al agree­ment or by con­di­tions attached to plan­ning per­mis­sion. The cir­cu­lar iden­ti­fies that plan­ning oblig­a­tions must be:

• neces­sary to make the pro­posed devel­op­ment accept­able in plan­ning terms

• serve a plan­ning pur­pose and, where it is pos­sible to identi­fy infra­struc­ture pro­vi­sion require­ments in advance, should relate to devel­op­ment plans

• relate to the pro­posed devel­op­ment either as a dir­ect con­sequence of the devel­op­ment or arising from the cumu­lat­ive impact of devel­op­ment in the area

• fairly and reas­on­ably relate in scale and kind to the pro­posed development

• be reas­on­able in all oth­er respects

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity set the level of con­tri­bu­tions for afford­able hous­ing while the plan­ning author­ity in which a devel­op­ment is loc­ated sets the con­tri­bu­tions required for edu­ca­tion, health­care (fig­ure 1), com­munity and leis­ure facil­it­ies, and trans­port and related infra­struc­ture. This guid­ance provides fur­ther inform­a­tion on how this and where to find detailed information.

Fig­ure I — NHS Grampi­an Bal­later health centre

Devel­op­ments that may

require con­tri­bu­tions Dif­fer­ent scales and types of devel­op­ment will have vary­ing effects on infra­struc­ture and facil­it­ies. Table I sets out when dif­fer­ent types of con­tri­bu­tion may be required for dif­fer­ent scales and types of development.

Where issues such as the poten­tial to exceed capa­city have been iden­ti­fied as part of the devel­op­ment plan­ning pro­cess, they have been included in the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan. Known require­ments are set out in the set­tle­ment state­ments for each set­tle­ment with­in the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan, which should be read along­side this sup­ple­ment­ary guid­ance. The Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan is avail­able via https://​cairngorms​.co​.uk/​p​l​a​n​ning- devel­op­ment/ldp-2021/

Table I — types of con­tri­bu­tion for dif­fer­ent scales and types of development

	Small scale hous­ing (less than 4 units)	Medi­um scale hous­ing (4−49 units)	Major devel­op­ment (50+ units or 2 hec­tares)	Com­mer­cial (tour­ism, busi­ness and mixed use)
Afford­able housing			see Policies 1.5 and 1.6 in the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan, and the Hous­ing Sup­ple­ment­ary Guid­ance (link to be added once published)
Edu­ca­tion	x	✓	✓	x
Health­care	✓	✓	✓	✓
Com­munity facilities	✓	✓	✓	x
Trans­port pro­vi­sion and infrastructure	✓	✓	✓	✓

Level of contributions

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity have spe­cified the level of con­tri­bu­tions for afford­able hous­ing (fig­ure 2), as well as when edu­ca­tion, health­care, com­munity and leis­ure facil­it­ies, trans­port and related infra­struc­ture con­tri­bu­tions will be required in the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan. Guid­ance on how con­tri­bu­tions are cal­cu­lated by the five loc­al author­it­ies with­in the Park, includ­ing their latest school roll fore­casts, can be found via the links in Appendix I.

Afford­able housing

con­tri­bu­tions Con­tri­bu­tions towards afford­able hous­ing will be required for all res­id­en­tial devel­op­ments. The pro­por­tion of con­tri­bu­tions expec­ted are set out in the set­tle­ment state­ments for each set­tle­ment with­in the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan, which should be read along­side this sup­ple­ment­ary guid­ance. How afford­able hous­ing con­tri­bu­tions are cal­cu­lated var­ies between the Plan­ning Author­it­ies with­in the Park. The most up to date Plan­ning Author­ity guid­ance rel­ev­ant to the loc­a­tion of the pro­posed devel­op­ment should be referred to.

Fig­ure 2 — afford­able hous­ing under con­struc­tion at Inver­druie, near Aviemore

Edu­ca­tion contributions

One bed prop­er­ties, sheltered hous­ing, res­id­en­tial insti­tu­tions, busi­ness and eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment pro­pos­als are exempt from edu­ca­tion contributions.

How­ever, all oth­er res­id­en­tial devel­op­ments will be required to make a con­tri­bu­tion towards edu­ca­tion where the school with­in the catch­ment that the devel­op­ment is loc­ated is:

• cur­rently over capa­city and a con­tri­bu­tion is required towards a new school or exten­sion to an exist­ing school to increase capa­city; or

• near­ing capa­city and the pro­posed devel­op­ment is likely to exceed the threshold set by the loc­al edu­ca­tion authority.

The type of edu­ca­tion infra­struc­ture that the con­tri­bu­tions would be put towards will vary depend­ing on the level that the school capa­city is likely to be exceeded. Examples of what con­tri­bu­tions towards both primary and sec­ond­ary edu­ca­tion may be required to provide include (but are not lim­ited to):

• tem­por­ary teach­ing accom­mod­a­tion where the school roll is expec­ted to tem­por­ar­ily exceed capacity

• addi­tion­al classrooms and / or a major extension

• a new build school (which may or may not include land costs)

The Park Author­ity is not an edu­ca­tion author­ity so the required con­tri­bu­tions are determ­ined by the respect­ive loc­al edu­ca­tion author­it­ies. School roll fore­casts are pub­lished annu­ally by each loc­al author­ity, based on dif­fer­ent factors includ­ing pro­jec­ted devel­op­ment deliv­ery and pop­u­la­tion change.

In some cir­cum­stances, school roll fore­casts may be re-run to take into account the likely impact of a pro­posed devel­op­ment. The most up to date fore­casts will be used to cal­cu­late the level of con­tri­bu­tion required.

Guid­ance on how con­tri­bu­tions are cal­cu­lated by the five loc­al author­it­ies with­in the Park, and their latest school roll fore­casts should be referred to.

Health­care contributions

Some devel­op­ment pro­pos­als includ­ing com­mer­cial and small scale hous­ing will be exempt from health­care contributions.

How­ever, all oth­er devel­op­ments will be required to make a con­tri­bu­tion towards health­care. Con­tri­bu­tions towards primary health­care (includ­ing GP sur­ger­ies, dent­al facil­it­ies and com­munity phar­ma­cies) may be required where the capa­city of exist­ing facil­it­ies has been met or exceeded. Examples of what con­tri­bu­tions may be required to provide include (but are not lim­ited to):

• new per­man­ent accommodation

• a per­man­ent extension

• intern­al re-organ­isa­tion of an exist­ing build­ing to provide addi­tion­al capacity

• ser­viced land on which a health­care facil­ity can be built

There are three health author­it­ies cov­er­ing the Nation­al Park: NHS High­land cov­er­ing High­land, NHS Grampi­an cov­er­ing Aber­deen­shire and Moray and NHS Tay­side cov­er­ing Angus and Perth & Kinross. Con­tri­bu­tions towards health­care will be determ­ined in con­sulta­tion with the rel­ev­ant health board.

Com­munity and leisure

facil­it­ies con­tri­bu­tions Com­munity and leis­ure facil­it­ies can include facil­it­ies provided by or on behalf of Loc­al Author­it­ies such as lib­rar­ies and sports centres. They may also include oth­er com­munity facil­it­ies, such as (but not lim­ited to) com­munity halls, allot­ments, play parks (fig­ure 3) and oth­er out­door facil­it­ies such as foot­ball pitches.

Fig­ure 3 — play park, Mon­al­trie Park, Ballater

Busi­ness and eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment pro­pos­als are exempt from com­munity and leis­ure facil­ity contributions.

How­ever, all oth­er devel­op­ments may be required to make a con­tri­bu­tion towards com­munity and leis­ure facil­it­ies where an issue with capa­city or a neg­at­ive impact on amen­ity of exist­ing res­id­ents would occur as a res­ult of the pro­posed devel­op­ment. They may be taken in kind through land pro­vi­sion, or as fin­an­cial con­tri­bu­tions to sup­port the pro­vi­sion of com­munity and leis­ure facil­it­ies in the sur­round­ing area. Con­tri­bu­tions towards com­munity and leis­ure facil­it­ies will be determ­ined in con­sulta­tion with the rel­ev­ant Loc­al Author­ity or oth­er appro­pri­ate body.

Trans­port and related

infra­struc­ture con­tri­bu­tions Most devel­op­ments will include roads and paths as part of their lay­out. How­ever con­tri­bu­tions may be required where new devel­op­ment would put pres­sure on exist­ing trans­port and related infra­struc­ture in the sur­round­ing area, or to con­nect to it.

For example, fin­an­cial con­tri­bu­tions may be required to sup­port a bus ser­vice, or to con­trib­ute to act­ive travel pro­jects that would con­nect with and be used by in those liv­ing or work­ing in the pro­posed devel­op­ment. Altern­at­ively, in kind con­tri­bu­tions may be required, for example by provid­ing a new multi-user path with­in the devel­op­ment that con­nects with an exist­ing net­work of paths in the sur­round­ing area, enabling people to access the wider area on foot or by bike (fig­ure 4).

Fig­ure 4 — Aviemore orbit­al multi-user path All types of devel­op­ment may be required to make a con­tri­bu­tion towards trans­port and related infra­struc­ture where an issue with capa­city or con­nectiv­ity as a res­ult of the pro­posed devel­op­ment would arise.

Con­tri­bu­tions towards trans­port and related infra­struc­ture will be determ­ined in con­sulta­tion with the rel­ev­ant Loc­al Author­ity or oth­er appro­pri­ate body.

Mit­ig­a­tion of impacts on

Nat­ur­al Her­it­age In excep­tion­al cir­cum­stances, con­tri­bu­tions may be required towards mit­ig­a­tion meas­ures to address impacts on a nat­ur­al her­it­age fea­ture. Mit­ig­a­tion is defined as ​‘the under­tak­ing of meas­ures to pre­vent or reduce to an accept­able level, the impact of a development’.

In the first instance, all impacts on nat­ur­al her­it­age assets will be assessed against Policy 4: Nat­ur­al Her­it­age and appro­pri­ate com­pens­a­tion will be iden­ti­fied and con­di­tioned as part of any per­mis­sion. Com­pens­a­tion is the replace­ment areas of hab­it­at of equal or high­er qual­ity that off­sets the hab­it­at or asset that will be adversely affected by the development.

For the major­ity of devel­op­ments, mit­ig­a­tion and com­pens­a­tion meas­ures will be delivered by the applicant/​developer

dir­ectly and will not require a contribution.

In excep­tion­al cir­cum­stances where the mit­ig­a­tion and com­pens­a­tion meas­ures can­not be delivered dir­ectly as part of the pro­pos­al or the pro­pos­al will cause a cumu­lat­ive impact on a des­ig­nated site for example, a leg­al agree­ment and/​or con­tri­bu­tion may be required to secure the required mit­ig­a­tion and/​or com­pens­a­tion measures.

Viab­il­ity

The need to make con­tri­bu­tions can have fin­an­cial implic­a­tions for developers and may res­ult in a pro­pos­al becom­ing unvi­able. As set out in Policy II, a prag­mat­ic approach will be taken, for example by phas­ing pay­ments to ensure that eco­nom­ic con­straints or sig­ni­fic­ant upfront costs do not render a devel­op­ment pro­pos­al uneconomic.

Where a developer con­siders that the level of oblig­a­tions being sought would render their oth­er­wise com­mer­cially viable pro­pos­al to be unvi­able, policy 11 (and policy 1.5 for afford­able hous­ing) requires them to provide a Viab­il­ity Assess­ment to the author­ity determ­in­ing the applic­a­tion. The assess­ment must be veri­fied by a Dis­trict Valu­er to enable the rel­ev­ant author­ity to review the level of con­tri­bu­tions required.

Appendix I — how

con­tri­bu­tions are cal­cu­lated Guid­ance on how con­tri­bu­tions are cal­cu­lated by the five loc­al author­it­ies with­in the Park, includ­ing their latest school roll fore­casts can be found via.

• Aber­deen­shire Coun­cil: https://​www​.aber​deen​shire​.gov​.uk/pla nning/­plans-and- policies/ab­er­deen­shire-loc­al- devel­op­ment-plan-2017/ and https://​www​.aber​deen​shire​.gov​.uk/sch ools/school-info/ad­mis­sion­s/school- roll-forecasts/

• Angus Coun­cil: https://​www​.angus​.gov​.uk/​p​l​a​n​n​i​ng_an d_​building/​environment_​and_​develop ment_​planning/​development_​plan and http://​opendata​.angus​.gov​.uk/​s​r​_​L​atn/d ata­set/school-roll-fore­casts-2019 – 2023

• High­land Coun­cil: https://​www​.high​land​.gov​.uk/​d​i​r​e​ctory _​record/​712087/​developer_​contributi ons and https://​www​.high​land​.gov​.uk/​s​c​h​o​olrol lforecasts

• Moray Coun­cil: http://​www​.moray​.gov​.uk/​m​o​r​a​y​_stan dard/page_100511.html (school roll fore­casts embed­ded with­in the guidance)

• Perth and Kinross Coun­cil: https://​www​.pkc​.gov​.uk/​l​d​p​2​d​e​v​e​loper con­tri­bu­tions (school roll fore­casts embed­ded with­in the guidance)

The above links may change over time as the Plan­ning Author­it­ies revise their guid­ance and fore­casts. The most up to date pub­lished ver­sion of the Plan­ning Author­ity guid­ance rel­ev­ant to the loc­a­tion of the pro­posed devel­op­ment should be used.

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan 2021 Non-stat­utory guid­ance Policy 11 – Developer Obligations

This doc­u­ment is avail­able in large print on request. Please con­tact the Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity on 01479 873535. It is also avail­able to view at www​.cairngorms​.co​.uk

Pub­lished by Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity 14 The Square Grant­own-on-Spey PH26 3HG

Email: planning@​cairngorms.​co.​uk Tel: 01479 873535 Fax: 01479 873527

www​.cairngorms​.co​.uk

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