DEVELOPERS TIGHTEN BELTS BY REDUCING SECTION 106


Developers are tightening their belts by reducing Section 106 commitments by up to 60% by showing planners their balance sheets, according to Planning.

Open Book Agreements are becoming more common place in marginal large scale developments, according to CB Richard Ellis's (CBRE) senior director of planning, Ian Anderson.

He said CBRE has acted in this way, confidentially, on behalf of three developers this year.

He said: "The ultimate planning gain is that development occurs. A hole in the ground has no planning gain whatsoever."

In the open book approach developers have development valu ations audited by the DVS - the commercial property services arm of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). The figures remain confidential but Anderson said it enables developers to agree to Section 106 obligations quicker.

He said CBRE recently helped a developer lower its list of 13 local authority 106 requests to four.

He added: "It is an education exercise. They (local authorities) have got their policy on Section 106 and that is what they stick by. To get them over that you need to use this approach. It provides certainty for everybody." www.communities.gov.uk