Managing growth

New developments bring new homes, jobs, and economic growth to the area.

However, they can also put additional strain on existing infrastructure and services, such as:

• schools
• community and leisure facilities
• roads and transport systems
• health services
• the environment

To ensure council services continue to function effectively, developers are often required to contribute towards new or improved infrastructure to mitigate the impact of development.

Planning obligations

Planning obligations are a way for developers to contribute to the necessary facilities and infrastructure that support the growth of West Northamptonshire. These contributions can be financial, or in some cases, developers may directly provide infrastructure through construction work.

Section 106 agreements

Planning obligations are formalised through Section 106 agreements - legal documents that ensure the impact of development on local infrastructure is kept to a minimum.

Having a strong policy, backed by up-to-date evidence, is crucial when securing Section 106 contributions.

These contributions must be:

• necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms
• directly related to the development
• fairly and reasonably related in scale and nature to the development

Our approach to securing Section 106 contributions is detailed in various policies within the local planning framework. For a comprehensive list of these policies across West Northamptonshire, please refer to our Supplementary Planning Documents pages.

In addition to these policies, our adopted "Creating Sustainable Communities: Planning Obligations Framework and Guidance" outlines our strategy for securing Section 106 contributions for:

• education
• libraries
• digital infrastructure services

To request a copy of this document, please email [email protected].

This document was formally adopted as policy by the former county council in January 2015. To support this framework, the Council also commissions Pupil Generation Forecast surveys, which provide the evidence needed to estimate the number of school children a development might generate.

We will review and update adopted policies and the evidence base as needed to maintain a transparent and consistent approach to securing planning obligations.

Infrastructure Funding Statement

Under the Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) (England) (No.2) Regulations 2019, all councils receiving developer contributions must produce an annual Infrastructure Funding Statement (IFS).

The IFS summarises the Section 106 (and CIL) financial contributions secured and received from new developments, aimed at supporting the necessary infrastructure for growth. This document is intended to provide clarity and transparency for local communities and developers regarding infrastructure spending.

Our Infrastructure Funding Statements are published annually and detail the progress in securing, collecting, and spending Section 106 funds during the reporting period from 1 April to 31 March. The IFS also outlines planned Section 106 expenditure for the next reporting period and beyond.

For previous IFS reports issued by the former district councils before 1 April 2021, please visit the planning pages for the relevant geographic area. The IFS reports published by the former county council and Northampton Borough Council for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 are available below:

Travel plan guidance

We expect both commercial and residential developments to produce travel plans as part of the planning process, to help meet transport modal shift targets in the area.

The commercial and residential travel plan templates provide the required structure and content for travel plans that the council expects for approval.

To request copies of these documents, please email [email protected].

The templates follow the advice provided in the Department for Transport guidelines and serve as a definitive guide to the council's expectations.

Last updated 12 August 2024