Conservative councillors in Wokingham Borough have received unanimous support for proposals for the local authority to track agreements entered into with developers.
At Wokingham Borough Full Council meeting on 18th January 2024, councillors from all parties backed a Conservative motion for a regular report on whether and how developers are meeting agreements to provide funding, affordable housing or infrastructure.
Known as Section 106 (s106) agreements, these require developers to meet obligations to mitigate against the impact of development in order to secure planning permission.
These agreements are binding, and the local authority can take action against a failure to meet their obligations.
However, Rebecca Margetts, Conservative councillor for Finchampstead South, brought forward a motion to require Wokingham Borough Council to regularly report showing progress on s106 agreements.
This follows the failure by developers to deliver community facilities in Arborfield Green following the approval of a planning application for 2000 homes in 2015.
Under s106 agreements made at the time, sport and recreational facilities, a community centre, a supermarket, allotments and more were meant to be delivered in time for the occupation of the 1000th home, which was in 2019.
Despite this, none of the promised facilities have been built.
At the Council meeting, Cllr Margetts’ motion was approved without a debate, which occurs when no-one wants to oppose a proposal.
Cllr Margetts has campaigned for delivery of the village centre since she was elected in 2021. In November 2022 she presented a petition to Wokingham Borough Council from local residents demanding that developer Crest Nicholson deliver on its promised Arborfield Green village centre.
Cllr Margetts said:
“The planning application decision for Arborfield Green was granted in 2015 and residents soon began moving into new properties from 2017 onwards. Now, in 2024, we have a community and village who have none of the promised facilities, who have to get in their car to visit a supermarket and have not been provided with the vision they bought into when purchasing their new properties.
“The developers continue to build further parcels, more residential properties, yet progress is glacially slow with the community facilities that the developers are legally required to deliver. There have been some mitigating circumstances in the past, but our Council must hold developers to account. Our residents deserve better, and we must learn from what has happened at Arborfield Green and ensure that moving forward that this must not happen again.
“The motion I proposed and which received unanimous cross-party support will provide transparency and accountability, so that legal agreements should not be allowed to slip, and developers meet the obligations that are legally binding on them.”
