District says no to town council's please for extra planning cash say

The district council has thrown out a plea from Buckingham town councillors to give them more say in how money raised from planning gain is spent.
The Aylesbury Vale District Council officesThe Aylesbury Vale District Council offices
The Aylesbury Vale District Council offices

Town councillor Robin Stuchbury presented a motion on the subject to Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) this week.

The motion, which was written by Buckingham Town Council as a whole, said that the correct way to spend money raised from Section 106 agreements with housing developers should be discussed with parish councillors at an earlier stage.

An excerpt read: “There have been too many instances where early involvement with Section 106 negotiations would have been beneficial.”

But AVDC dismissed the motion saying that parish and town councils are already consulted in a number of ways on how to spend the money in their communities.

A Section 106 order is an agreement between planners and developers – which allocates money to enhance communities affected by their scheme.

Speaking after the meeting Mr Stuchbury said that local people will have to pay more as a result of the system.

He said: “This means that for the foreseeable future all new residents on these developments will have to welcome management charges, all because the council wouldn’t consider an alternative.”