TEST Valley Borough Council has nearly £28m in unspent developer contributions which should be used to provide community benefits when new homes are built. 

According to figures released following a Freedom of Information request by the Home Builders Federation, the borough authority has £27.9m which it has not spent. 

A report into the FOIs from the federation, reveals that of the 171 local authorities which responded to the requests, TVBC is ninth on the list for having the most unspent funds from Section 106 agreements - South Gloucestershire Council was at the top with £58.2m.

The top 10 councils collectively hold over £436m in unspent Section 106 contributions from developers.

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The 171 respondents hold a total of £1.4bn in unspent contributions. 

The Home Builders Federation extrapolated these figures to account for the 50 per cent of councils that did not respond to the request, allowing the federation to estimate that across England and Wales, there is likely to be as much as £2.8bn held in unspent contributions from home builders.

Test Valley Borough Council was also ranked as the council with the fifth-highest amount of unspecified unspent developer contributions, totalling £21.3m. Overall, unspecified developer contributions across the councils that responded came in at over £500m.

Home builders are required to make Section 106 contributions to local authorities as part of the process of securing planning permission, to mitigate the impact of development and provide community benefits to accompany the new homes provided.

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The purpose of the funding is to invest in community services, facilities and affordable housing to ensure local people benefit from development within their area.

The report reaffirms the need for developers’ contributions to be spent according to their negotiated purpose and within their agreed time limit, rather than returned to developers or left unspent.

A Test Valley Borough Council spokesperson said: “The council’s adopted Local Plan sets out how we will promote the growth the borough needs to accommodate and aims to ensure that new developments meet the social and economic needs of our communities, whilst at the same time protecting the borough’s natural and built environment.

"It is therefore right that as the growth we have planned for comes forward, developers help to deliver the infrastructure needed to support our growing communities and economy.

“The council has a long track record of securing a wide range of infrastructure from developers, especially for our larger residential sites. This is provided directly, through payments made in line with our Community Infrastructure Levy or through financial contributions which the council secures through the planning process.

"These funds are used to provide a range of facilities such as play areas, sports facilities and open spaces.

“These benefits can be delivered by the borough council, or by allocating funds to others including Hampshire County Council and parish councils. The financial contributions not only allow for these facilities to be provided in the first place but can also include funds to ensure they are properly managed and maintained.

"Given the scale of some of the developments in the borough sometimes there is a gap in time between receipt of contributions and delivery of the infrastructure while, for example, planning permission is sought. It is therefore misleading to think that the council does not spend developer contributions, and they do quite rightly include funds which are reserved for maintaining infrastructure.”