Building new homes stretches existing infrastructure such as roads, schools, social care and libraries. That means that developers of new homes are required to contribute towards mitigating these factors. This is done by legal contracts between the parties, called Section-106 agreements.
Essex County Council sets the guidelines for these contributions that it expects district councils (such as UDC) to collect from developers of new houses to pay for expanding county council services for the residents of those new homes. It was created because of “concerns about inadequate infrastructure” obligations as a part of new development.
Quick Summary
ECC have a simplified model for calculating the majority if developer contributions to the infrastructure that the county is responsible for. The details are in their guide (download links at bottom of page) but in summary the levies per new home are:
| Contribution area | ECC developer levy per new home |
| Education (Pre-School.Primary, Secondary, 6th Form) – see Education Contributions below | £8,614.14 |
| Adult Learning | £97.42 |
| Libraries | £281.48 |
| Archive & Record Keeping | £52.80 |
| Youth Services | £541.67 |
| Adult Social Care | £241.00 |
| Waste Management | £305.00 |
| Greenspace Land Allocation | £513.00 |
| Total per new home | £10,646.51 |
Highways/Road Contributions
Highway obligations are determined on a site-by-site basis because each location has specific and different highways needs.
Education Contributions
For each new school place generated, a developer is expected to pay:
| Education Service | Contribution per School Place |
| Early Years & Childcare | £13,698 |
| Primary School | £11,361 |
| Secondary School (11-16) | £17,217 |
| Post 16 / 6th Form | £18,436 |
Number of new school places generated per home
The following table shows the expected number of new students generated per new home for Essex.
| Dwelling Type | Pre-School | Primary | Secondary
(11-16 yrs) |
6th Form |
| House (Market Priced and Affordable) | 0.090 | 0.300 | 0.200 | 0.040 |
| Flat (more than 1 bed) | 0.0.45 | 0.150 | 0.100 | 0.020 |
| Flat – 1 Bed | – | – | – | |
| Care Home/Elderly | – | – | – | |
| Student Accommodation | – | – | – |
The average mix of new homes for a larger development in Uttlesford is:
- Market House 70%
- Affordable House 22%
- Flat (more than 1 bed) 5%
- Flat – 1 Bed 2%
- Care Home/Elderly 1%
- Student Accommodation 0%
This provides an effective developer contribution yield of £8,614.14 per new home for education, broken down as:
- Pre-School £1,442.40
- Primary £3,220.84
- Secondary £3,254.01
- 6th Form £696.88