Part 5: Transparency and accountability in the process

Planning obligation negotiations need to be conducted as openly, fairly and reasonably as possible. The Government is keen that authorities introduce procedures that make it more explicit how negotiations and their outcomes will be treated and reported. The ODPM PPG17 Good Practice Guide gives guidance on these aspects. A number of authorities have formalised the position by producing a procedural note or local code of practice, describing how they intend to handle the negotiation process.

Transparency can be helped by using a number of standard agreements and clauses. To help with this, Sport England have put together a number of standard template documents and are listed below;

Community Use Templates

These are in the process of being reviewed and revised and will be displayed here shortly.

Standard Conditions

These are in the process of being reviewed and revised and will be displayed here shortly.

Spending Contributions

Any local framework should state how contributions will be treated once received. Common issues include;

• Placing contributions for sport in ring fenced accounts;
• Using monies to fund identified projects in a published programme (see step 3);
• Investing contributions to obtain interest prior to local expenditure;

Refunding contributions if relevant schemes are not commenced within a defined period (the periods commonly used here are 5, 7 or 10 years);

The time period above may vary for different types of facility

Most local authorities place their local frameworks on their web site. Documentation on expenditures made under the scheme should also appear in the same form.

In terms of accountability authorities should:

• Make available heads of agreement for large schemes in development control committee papers;
• Account at six monthly intervals to scrutiny committees on receipts and expenditure;
• Produce publicity leaflets showing types of schemes paid for; and
• Monitor application of the framework and seek constant improvements.