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On the 14^th March 2019 the Planning Aid Wales team travelled to Colwyn Bay to host the fourth in this year’s series of Network Events.  The event focused on the Community Benefits of Planning and S106 Agreements.  Delegates attended from a number of different Town and Community Councils across the North Wales region together with Regeneration Officers from the local Council.

Speakers presented different perspectives which helped build a shared understanding of issues surrounding S106.   Karen Probert and James Davies from Planning Aid Wales both gave introductory talks and set the scene.

David Delaney, Law Consultant, Aaron and Partners presented the legal framework around S106 and CIL including information on trigger points for planning contributions, pooling restrictions and the various limitations encountered.

Rhys Davies, Director, Cadnant Planning provided a developer’s perspective and highlighted the importance of Place Plans in the process.  Place Plans help developers gain greater certainty in the planning process.  It was suggested that developers are more likely to have successful dialogue with a community who have worked on a Place Plan as they are seen as pro-active and have a good understating of how they wish planning contributions to assist their communities.

Emma Price, Director from Studio Response presented a wide range of case studies from her public art experiences and how creative place making can be achieved though S106 contributions.  Emma explained the importance of getting artists involved at the pre-application stage and discussed the way in which artists uncover the history of a place to develop site specific and place responsive artwork.

The event closed with a practical and interactive workshop session where delegates considered a range of different project types that could be recommend at the pre-application stage for S106 contribution.