Recreational Open Space Provision and Commuted Payments

Supplementary Planning Guidance for the Unitary Development Plan
February 2006

A unitary development plan is a statutory document that sets out a council's development policies. It is supported by supplementary planning guidance notes that explain how various aspects of the UDP will actually work.

Stockport council's UDP, adopted in 2006, contains a policy explaining how recreation and open space will be provided for in new development. In 2006, supplementary planning guidance (SPG) was published explaining how this policy actually works.

The SPG has been used successfully by the council to secure open space in new developments and has been robust enough to survive a legal challenge through the High Court.

When it was developing the UDP, the council carried out a comprehensive survey of recreational and other open spaces. This work identified areas where there was a shortage of open space. This breakdown was based on its eight committee sub areas and  the results helped the council work out how the UDP policies would be applied.

The policy splits proposals into three categories:

• Proposals which will generate over 100 people
  
• Proposals which will generate between 50-100 people
  
• Proposals which will generate under 50 people.

Depending on its size, each proposal has to make provision for a specific amount of open space.  The policy requires all residential developments to satisfy their open space needs, firstly on site. However, in cases where the proposal is too small to require any meaningful open space on site, applicants are required to satisfy their open space needs through the payment of a commuted sum to allow for the provision of open space elsewhere

The SPG provides information on how commuted payments are to be calculated, these included capital and maintenance costs.

To view a full copy of the supplementary planning guidance click here