Offsetting the environmental impact of development
New developments in Cheltenham borough have the potential to affect internationally important biodiversity sites, in particular the protected Cotswold Beechwoods Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
The Cotswold Beechwoods SAC is mainly designated for its woodland flora and is very popular with visitors. The SAC sits within Stroud district, Tewkesbury borough and Cotswold district. It’s owned and managed by a number of owners.
Unfortunately, sites such as this are being damaged by visitors, for example walking, biking or exercising their dogs. That damage is likely to increase as more houses and holiday accommodation are built, leading to more visitors. It is crucial that ways are found to prevent and mitigate this damage.
Cheltenham Borough Council has a legal duty to assess the impact of planning applications on the SAC. We have worked with other local authorities and Natural England to prepare a recreation mitigation strategy for the SAC.
Planning applications
If you’re applying for additional dwellings in the borough, you will need to pay a contribution to offset the impact of your development. This money will be used to help pay for mitigation measures for the SAC such as rangers and signage and alternative natural green spaces. You’ll find more information about mitigation measures in the strategy.
How to make a financial mitigation contribution
The cost of the contribution towards ecological mitigation for the SAC has been calculated at £673 per dwelling.
The simplest way to make a financial contribution is to use a Unilateral Undertaking S106 form, which states that the applicant will pay the council the relevant sum for each unit of accommodation plus an admin fee.
Short form
The short form has a fee of £125 to cover admin and legal costs.
If using a short form you will also need to send us the mitigation contribution. Please pay online when you submit your form.
- Unilateral Undertaking S106 short form 1: Planning application
- Unilateral Undertaking S106 short form 2: Planning permission already granted under GPDO, regulation 77 approval application
Long form
The fee for this form is £510 to cover admin and legal costs, including £200 by way of a monitoring fee.
If using the long form you can defer payment of the mitigation contribution until commencement of development. You will need to notify us of commencement of development.
- Unilateral Undertaking S106 long form 1: Planning application
- Unilateral Undertaking S106 long form 2: Planning permission already granted under GPDO, regulation 77 approval application
Notes on using the Unilateral Undertaking forms
If you wish to use these options for your site, please complete the correct form and submit this with your application, together with landownership evidence of signatories and the relevant admin fee. You can pay the admin fee online.
- Please do not date the S106 templates. The Unilateral Undertaking will be dated once we have checked the draft and obtained confirmation in respect of landownership
- Please ensure a plan of the application site edged red is attached
- Please ensure signatories sign both the plan of the site and the signatures page
- Please ensure if the signatories are individuals that their signatures on the signatures pages are witnessed by someone who is not a family member. It is not necessary for signatures on the plan to be witnessed
Other options for mitigation
Alternatively, often for major developments, applicants can submit their own “shadow” Habitats Regulations Assessment. This should detail the likely recreational impacts caused by the development and the mitigation that will be put in place to address those impacts, such as onsite mitigation.
Please contact your case officer for more information.