< Back to overview of local delivery vehicles
Many new communities will not benefit from unified landownership, a master developer, a local authority with the financial headroom to take on this role. Even where planning permission exists, there may be no organisation responsible for coordinating delivery over the 20–30 year lifespan of the project, funding strategic infrastructure, sequencing development and addressing long term stewardship. Few new communities will be delivered under ideal institutional conditions. The challenge is therefore not to replicate a single delivery model, but to ensure that the critical functions of place leadership are secured regardless of the delivery vehicle or land ownership structure.
One option would be for the local authority to enter into a formal collaboration agreement with landowners/promoters already controlling the land, but not to set up a formal legal entity for an LDV. This informal LDV would act as a steering committee for the new Garden City but would not itself, act as the master developer, or appoint the master developer. All legal agreements to progress the project would be between the local authority and any landowners or promoters with a controlling interest in the land. This approach might be particularly appropriate where the land was already under the majority control of a private developer or developer consortium. A ‘framework’ S106 agreement could be co-developed with development consortia partners to lay the ground for more formal arrangements in future. This would consist of a standardised Section 106 template followed by more bespoke site specific arrangements. Such an approach could be used to achieve land equalisation agreements.
Land equalisation agreements
Land equalisation agreements between land owners enable the sharing of infrastructure costs across different land ownership parcels. The masterplanning process for large scale sites will inevitably lead to winners and losers in terms of the original landowners, as individual plot boundaries may not relate to the final layout of the new Garden City. Owners whose plots contain the most housing would achieve a higher land value than those whose land should accommodate a school, park or local centre as the result of the masterplanning process. Similarly, the direct delivery costs of strategic infrastructure serving the entire site, such as major roads, drainage systems, schools and even utilities should be shared equally across parcels rather than paid by the specific landowner where it is located.
Planning policies in adopted local plans and supplementary plans could make clear that consents in such areas will only be issued if agreements contain equalisation or pooling mechanisms. Adopted policies are the tool that local authorities have to influence legal agreements made directly between third party landowners and promoters. These legal agreements mean that all landowners receive an equal prices for their land regardless of its final end-use or any costs associated with the wider site’s delivery. Such agreements are likely to be complex and involve multiple trigger points for payment and may also have significant tax implications which should be considered as early as possible in their establishment. As councils do not have statutory powers to impose equalisation agreements on developers, these remain an informal route to delivery. Furthermore, such agreements rely on consensus around the precise infrastructure needs and costs as well as affordable housing provision set out in planning policies that will ensure that a new Garden City meets local aspirations and requirements.
Below are some examples of policy approaches to land equalisation:
- Wichelstowe (see Case Study 4), Tadpole Garden Village and New Eastern Villages in Swindon
- Milton Keynes East, Milton Keynes
- Handforth Garden Village, Cheshire East
- Strategic Development Locations, Wokingham Borough Council
- Cranbrook Plan, East Devon (See Case Study 2)
- Brentwood Planning Obligations SPD
- Dunton Hills Garden Village SPD
- Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation Planning Obligations SPD
- East Midlands Freeport Strategic Infrastructure and Contributions SPD
- Bury Development Frameworks for Strategic Site Allocations at Elton Reservoir and Walshaw
