Developers will have to contribute to a fund that will pay for community centres, play areas and footpaths in the island's more deprived areas, under a proposal in the new short-term Island Plan.
If the plan is accepted, those developing property will pay around 3% of the total development value (£30,000 on a £1m project) into a new 'Sustainable Communities Fund'.
This fund would then invest in new community infrastructure, such as community buildings and services, public open space, play space, tree-planting and landscaping, or footpaths and cycle routes.
The vast majority of this funding would be focused in town.
The fund is an attempt to balance varying levels of deprivation around the island, with most deprivation - based on data from the last census - centred in and around town.
Pictured: An index of deprivation in Jersey, based on the 2011 census.
The latest Island Plan - which has been shortened from its usual ten-year period to only cover 2022-2025 because of the uncertainties thrown up by covid and Brexit - says: “It is clear that distinct parts of the island have differing levels of access to housing, space and services.
“In Jersey, the concentrations of deprivation in town, and particularly in the north of town, are of island-wide significance.
“While focusing development within the built-up area, and within town in particular, continues to reflect good sustainable development practice, this development must be shaped in a way that actively responds to the challenges posed by deprivation.”
The plan does recognise that developers already contribute to the community through Planning Obligation Agreements attached to their planning permission. However, it adds, these are usually focused on or around the development so don’t necessarily benefit the island as a whole.
It says: “To address this, and to ensure that developers fairly, consistently and proportionately contribute to improving wider community infrastructure and environment - which it both benefits from and burdens - the Island Plan proposes a new Sustainable Communities Fund.
“This fund will be designed to capture a small proportion of the private value uplift arising from the development process and invest it back into the community.
“This investment will be aimed specifically towards town, where the investment is needed most.”
In a 2019 consultation on the strategic issues that the next Island Plan should address, 58% of islanders surveyed either agreed or strongly agreed with the principle of such a charge being established.
Pictured: It is mooted that around 3% of the value of any development would have to be paid into the Sustainable Communities Fund.
Giving more details of the fund, the plan says: “The fund will be delivered by a planning charge or levy that is able to capture the land value uplift created when planning permission is granted. Such a charge would be fairly applied at a published standard rate, based on the amount of new floorspace to be provided.
“While the contribution from individual developments would be small (potentially around 3% of development value), cumulatively the charge could establish a meaningful fund.
“While the focus of the fund will be to achieve improvements to town, in developing the framework for its collection and distribution, consideration will be given as to how a proportion of the fund may be re-allocated to other parishes where higher volumes of development has taken place, thus ensuring that local improvements may be made outside of town, when they are also needed.”
If the fund is approved, it is hoped that it will be up and running before the plan ends at the end of 2025. It is also expected that restrictions will be put in place, through regulations, to ensure that developers are not charged twice for the same infrastructure.
Responding to the new proposal, Brian McCarthy, Managing Director of property company C Le Masurier, said that he was concerned that any additional contribution could make projects unviable.
Pictured: C Le Masurier Managing Director Brian McCarthy: "We need to dispel the myth that all developers are fat cats"
"Developers are already making such contributions under Planning Obligation Agreements so this would be an additional charge which most developers simply will not be able to afford," he said.
"To put it into context, this would equate to a contribution of over £2m for a development such as Merchants' Square.
"With rising construction costs, POAs, percentage-for-art contributions, developers having to pay 20% taxation on development profits and now a Sustainable Communities Fund, I fear the impact on viability of projects would be substantial and may prevent regeneration and development projects actually coming forward.
"We need to dispel the myth that all developers are fat cats."
You can have your say on the short-term Island Plan HERE.
FOCUS: Fields earmarked for affordable homes in short-term Island Plan
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