Reflections on 10 Years of Councillor Training

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Notes

Training in Planning for Councillors. Available at http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_planning/documents/page/odpm_plan_606422.hcsp

Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 makes provision for developers and local authorities to enter into Planning Obligations. Essentially these are legal agreements with the purpose of securing works or other measures to enable the proposed development to proceed. Normally these agreements are used for securing matters such as off site road improvements necessary for the development.

Planning Policy Guidance Note 3, Housing (Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, 2000), is one of 25 information notes provided by central government that spell out national planning policy. PPG3 is due to be revised over the next couple of years as a result of the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Among the proposals in PPG3 is a commitment to higher-density housing developments in order to deliver the government's policy of sustainable development by taking less new land for building. Combined with another policy commitment to reduce the numbers of off-street parking places provided in residential areas, this guidance has been politically controversial at local government level, where existing neighbours have objected strongly to higher density and more on-street parking.