There was a report in the business press this week about an NHS Trust in Leicester going to court to try to get a developer to pay a contribution for funding health treatment and services.

The Court decided that the developer could not lawfully be required to contribute towards NHS services in this case.

NHS Trusts receive government funding on the basis of the number of patients in the area but it isn’t back dated so for the first year when new residents move from one NHS area to another, the funding may be in the wrong place.

In Court the Trust couldn’t prove that the people moving into the new development were from outside the area and therefore that the funding gap existed so their request for developer contributions was rejected.

As Simon Ricketts, from Town Legal has said “Local residents have a right to expect that new development does not lead to unacceptable burdens on local services, but there are legitimate limits on the costs which can be borne by development. After all, the needs of new residents in a development were previously being met, and funded, elsewhere.”

As we know from personal experience, the contributions from developers are agreed when outline planning consent is given.

This is a combination of funding for new roads, schools, affordable housing, health facilities, leisure facilities etc. which can be either part of the new development or financial payments to the relevant organisations to be spent in the area.

These financial contributions can be Section 106 payments or part of the Community Infrastructure Levy and it is up to the local Planning Authority (the District Council) to agree the amounts to be paid and to ensure that the developers meet their obligations and that the money is spent in the way it was intended.

The Wantage and Grove Campaign Group will be discussing “What are developer contributions and how are they spent?” at their AGM.

This has been postponed from 1 June due to illness of committee members and will now take place on 22 June at 7.30pm at Wantage Methodist Church.

Given that since 2011, permission has been given for about 7,500 homes in OX12, it will be good to find out how much money has been promised and where and when it will be spent.

As the headline in the advertising for the event states, where has all the money gone?