Draft Development Contributions SPD - September 2022

Support is offered for the approach to cross boundary developer contributions which is considered pertinent in North Hertfordshire in view of some of the adopted Local Plan’s strategic residential site allocations being located in close proximity to the boundary of other local authorities which may place greater pressure on infrastructure in the adjoining local authority than in North Hertfordshire.

Section 7.5 does not provide any detailed guidance to provide clarity and transparency on the Council’s approach to securing developer contributions for indoor sports facilities other than advising that developments will be expected to contribute proportionately towards the provision of additional facilities and signposting to the Indoor Sports Facilities Strategy for identifying projects. Sport England would have expected the SPD to have provided advice on the following matters:
• Quantifying the need for new indoor sports facilities;
• Identifying whether the identified need can be met by existing facilities;
• Determining whether provision should be made on-site or off-site;
• Identifying how developer contributions should be calculated;
• Determining the projects that developer contributions will be secured towards (where off-site provision is made).

To assist local authorities, Sport England has published its CIL and Planning Obligations Advice Note (2018) https://www.sportengland.org/how-we-can-help/facilities-and-planning/planning-for-sport/community-infrastructure-levy-and-planning-obligations-advice-note which provides detailed advice on how the above matters should be considered and the appendix includes examples of how the process could typically work in practice. It should be noted that this advice note will be updated to account for the implications of the 2019 CIL Regulation amendments as the note is no longer up-to-date in this respect. In terms of calculating the demand generated by new development and the cost of meeting this demand (which can be used as a basis for calculating developer contributions), unless the Council has developed an alternative local approach which is responsive to the Council’s evidence base and would accord with the local plan’s policy, the NPPF and the CIL Regulations, Sport England would advocate the use of its established Sports Facilities Calculator (SFC) for calculating the demand for indoor sports facilities. The SFC was used as part of the Council’s Indoor Sports Facilities Strategy for estimating future demand and is used by many local authorities for estimating the demand for sports facilities generated by new developments and the capital cost of meeting this demand. The calculator has also been used in recent years for providing advice to the District Council on the demand for indoor sports facilities generated by major residential developments. Details of the SFC are on our website at https://www.sportengland.org/how-we-can-help/facilities-and-planning/planning-for-sport/sports-facility-calculator

It is therefore requested that section 7.5 is amended to provide more detailed advice covering the matters identified above. This will help ensure that the approach set out in the SPD is consistent with the tests in Regulation 122 of the CIL Regulations and would reduce the risk of challenge in practice. It would also provide greater clarity and transparency for all parties involved in the process.

Furthermore, paragraph 7.5.2 signposts to a series of management and programming actions in the Indoor Sports Facilities Strategy and advises that this should be used to identify projects for future developer contributions. However, it is the list of site specific projects in the strategy’s action plan that are relevant to this rather than management and programming related actions. This should be corrected.

Sport England would be happy to provide further advice to the Council to assist in addressing the matters raised above. For information, in terms of recent good practice by other local authorities in terms of the approach taken towards sport in SPDs covering planning obligations, as a local example I would signpost to East Hertfordshire District Council’s adopted SPD on Open Space, Sport and Recreation https://www.eastherts.gov.uk/planning-building/planning-policy/supplementary-planning-documents.

Sport England supports the content of paragraph 7.5.1 in relation to supporting the retention of existing leisure facilities and requiring appropriate levels of leisure/sports facilities to be provided in new development. This approach is consistent with paragraph 98 of the NPPF especially as it is supported by the District Council’s Indoor Sports Facility Strategy which provides a robust evidence base for supporting the retention of existing facilities and justifying developer contributions being sought through new development towards new or enhanced indoor sports facilities.

Sport England supports the content of section 8.4 of the SPD in relation to requiring provision to made for outdoor sport in new development through developer contributions or on-site provision. The reference in paragraph 8.4.28 to considering financial contributions in lieu of on-site provision where the full amount of required open space cannot realistically be delivered on-site is welcomed as this scenario is likely to apply to most residential developments when outdoor sports provision is considered. The reference to using the Council’s evidence base and consultation with bodies such as Sport England to inform such decisions is welcomed as this will help ensure that such decisions are fully informed by the most up-to-date evidence and advice.

Outdoor Sports Facilities
Support is offered for reference being made to the Council updating its Playing Pitch Strategy & Action Plan 2018 and this being used to inform new playing pitch provision as the Council’s most up-to-date evidence base for outdoor sport should be used for informing provision that will be made by new development. This would accord with Government policy in paragraph 98 of the NPPF.
The reference in paragraph 8.4.20 to the use of Sport England’s Playing Pitch Calculator for estimating the demand that will be generated from new development is welcomed as this would provide a robust tool for estimating demand if used in conjunction with the Playing Pitch Strategy & Action Plan.
However, I would make the following comments:
• The use of the Fields in Trust standards for playing pitches and other outdoor sports is not consistent with the Council’s Playing Pitch Strategy & Action Plan’s guidance which does not advocate the use of these standards. This should be considered as developers may be confused about whether they need to follow the advice in the Playing Pitch Strategy & Action Plan’s as advocated in paragraph 8.4.6 or apply the standards as advocated in paragraph 8.4.7. The removal of playing pitches and other outdoor sports from the open space standards section would address this.
• While the use of Sport England’s Playing Pitch Calculator is welcomed, the team data used in the calculator derives from the 2018 Playing Pitch Strategy which is now out of date. Furthermore, applicants do not have access to the calculator. It will therefore be important that the Council reviews its Playing Pitch Strategy as soon as possible to ensure that the most up-to-date team data is used plus familiarises itself with how to use the calculator so that advice on the calculator outputs can be provided to developers. Sport England would be willing to provide advice and support to the Council in this regard.
• For accuracy, in paragraph 8.4.6, reference should be made to the Playing Pitch Strategy & Action Plan setting out outdoor sport needs across the district and will be used to inform new outdoor sports facility provision. This is requested to recognise that the scope of the Playing Pitch Strategy extends beyond playing pitches to cover all of the principal outdoor sports;