Dudley park upgrade plans paid for with stashed cash

Work at King George V Park, Wordsley, will go ahead using £24,800 from property developers who agreed to pay for improvements in areas where they build homes.

Dudley is to splash cash in the Lawnswood Road green space from agreements linked to applications approved as far back as May 2004.

The deals, called planning obligations, are enforced under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act.

Councillor Damian Corfield, Dudley cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: “Section 106 contributions are often multi-faceted with large sums allocated to many different projects. In this case we have held on to and combined several smaller elements of these S106 payments together to generate a significant total amount.

“That amount is now being used to fund this hugely beneficial project for the community in Wordsley, and an example of very smart use of section 106 money.”

The park will get upgrades including resurfacing of the multi-use games area, the reinstatement of the bowling green and a revamp of the children’s play area.

The cash will come from four developments which were approved between 2004 and 2011.

Latest figures published by Dudley Council show at the end of March 2024 a total of £2.8m of unspent S106 money was sitting in the authority’s bank.

In the financial year which ended on the same date the council’s income from S106 payments was £61,580.

In the same financial year the council spent £1.05m of S106 cash, mostly on education facilities while a further £956,810 had been allocated but not spent.

Hoarding S106 funding is common practice for local authorities despite most agreements having a time limit which means the money has to be spent within a specific period or paid back to the developer.

According to a report published by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) in autumn 2024, a total of around £6bn of unspent S106 cash was held by councils in England and Wales – with the average council holding £19m.

The HBF is calling for greater transparency in local government about why spending is delayed and how long councils are holding on to cash for.

Neil Jefferson, CEO at HBF, said: “Each year developers contribute around £7 billion to local authorities for the provision of local infrastructure, affordable housing and education, recreational and health facilities but some councils are increasingly failing to invest this cash into the services that so desperately need it.

“Investment in new housing delivery brings unrivalled economic and social benefits to communities but too many of these advantages are going unseen by local people. With the government desperate to find money to invest in infrastructure to drive growth, it is nonsensical to have billions sat in council bank accounts.

“Furthermore, a lack of infrastructure provision is often cited as a reason to oppose development, yet this pipeline of billions of pounds of unspent infrastructure funding is too often underappreciated in debates about the impact of new development.”