Issue - meetings

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 8, to allow members of the public to ask questions about the Council’s activities.  The following question was received:

(a)   Question submitted by Mr D Webb to the Portfolio Holder for Growth

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 8, Members of the Public were able to put questions about the Council’s activities.  The following question was received:

(a)    Question submitted by Mr Webb to Councillor Munro, Portfolio Holder for Growth:

“In light of the County Council’s Infrastructure Monitoring Reports and confirmation from a County Council planning officer that no SEND contributions were secured in the 2020/21 reporting year also, can the Council explain why it has not obtained any SEND contributions through planning developments in over five years and if this is a moral failure of the districts most vulnerable children?”

Councillor Munro responded using Microsoft PowerPoint which included the following information:

“The question posed by Mr Webb is a bit confusing as it specifically asks about the year 2020/2021, but then goes on to ask about the following five years and as it is framed assumes there are no further updates to the County’s infrastructure reports since the 2020/2021 he has made reference to Derbyshire County Council which is required to produce an annual Infrastructure Funding Statement (IFS) under the provisionsof Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations (CIL) 2010 (as amended).

The last IFS that is available on DCC’s website is for the year 2022/2023, with superseding years also available to view. 

The IFS for 2021/2022 shows that DCC collected SEND contributions totalling £76,769.99 from only 1 of the 8 district and borough councils in the reporting period.  That being as shown next Amber Valley Council.

The IFS for 2022/2023 shows that DCC collected SEND contributions totalling £345,556.55 from only 2 of the 8 district and borough councils in this reporting period.

I can confirm that there was no SEND contributions collected specifically from Bolsover District Council in the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 periods published.

Notwithstanding this, the wider context of how, why and when SEND contributions are requested is important, as they are one of a number of S106 categories that the County Council seek from developers. DCC will only make requests for education contributions on major planning application categories for residential development, so where there is an evidential need to do so. Similarly, Bolsover DC will only consider these contributions in the planning balance when a specific request by DCC as the education authority is made 

To determine whether Bolsover District Council have met with the requests sought by DCC in relation to education and SEND the question posed we should look at all planning permissions granted in the past 4 years, rather than simply relying on the 2020/2021 or 2021/2022 IFS published by DCC.

In that context, in the 4 years inc. 2021/2022, 2022/2023, 2023/2024, and 2024/2025 there were 17 major planning applications for residential development determined by Bolsover District Council which may have generated a request from DCC for a SEND contribution.

2021/2022

1. 20/00166/FUL - DCC Ed response 14/05/2020 – no SEND contribution requested

2. 20/00185/OUT - DCC Ed response 22/06/2020 - no contributions sought

3. 20/00590/FUL – Conversion to 12 no. 1 bed flats  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34