Medway Developer Contributions and Obligations Guide

We agree with the affordable housing threshold as it aligns with the provisions of the Arches (Chatham) Neighbourhood Plan, Policy HO1.

Development viability appraisals should be provided on an "open book" basis where applicable. Any applicant who is not prepared to do this will nullify any rationale for lowering any S106 obligations. The presumption being that without verifiable evidence relating to site-specific economics, there is no justification for reducing S106 obligations. In such cases, the scheme will be considered viable and capable of meeting all planning obligations.

We stress that the LPA should publish the S106 agreement prior to granting planning permission, in line with the mandatory procedural requirement under Article 40(3)(b) of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (DMPO). This allows the public to know the obligations secured, and to comment upon them if they wish, before planning permission is granted. The case of Greenfields (IOW) Limited v Isle of Wight Council [2025] EWCA Civ 488 is a helpful reference.

It is unclear how the 1,000 metres of the heritage/tourism sites threshold is measured. Is it as the crow flies or actual walking distance or radius from the centre point of the heritage/tourism site?

Strongly disagree that all developments of more than 10 units should be subject to a S106 tariff for the Great Lines Heritage Park. This is inappropriate given that future occupants of developments that are not within walking distance, such as Rainham, are least likely to use it. It should only apply to developments within 700m of the Great Lines Heritage Park at a standard tariff of 10%. Furthermore, it needs to be made clearer how the 700m distance is measured (e.g. crow flies, actual walking distance or radius) and from where within a development (e.g. centre of the development site or the principal ingress/egress point). We would encourage that S106 should be sought for parks, gardens and other types of open spaces designated as Local Green Space in a Neighbourhood Plan - a standard tariff and distance threshold would be helpful in this respect.

We believe that S106 contributions towards public realm improvements should also be sought for Local/Rural Centres as set out in Policy S16 and Appendix A of the Submitted Medway Local Plan 2041, in addition to the core retail areas of Medway's town centres. Local/Rural Centres often fall outside the scope of major regeneration funding schemes yet they are important for satisfying day-to-day needs of the local population. Any enhancements that could be funded via S101 contributions would improve the vitality, vibrancy and access to these more localised forms of retail centres.