Council asks homeowners for infrastructure contributions 

A council in Dorset has extended the concept of section 106 contributions for infrastructure funding from developers to cover individuals adding extensions to their own homes.

Purbeck district council is charging levying of almost £1,000 per bedroom on all residential extensions seeking planning approval, to help finance the 20-year, £30.45m Purbeck transportation strategy.

The council’s policy has been in place since early 2007 but has only recently attracted wider notice following an item on BBC Radio 4’s “You and Yours” programme.

Guidance on development contributions published jointly by Purbeck council with Dorset county council states that home extensions incur a charge of “£993 per extra bedroom or room having the capacity to be a bedroom” as a contribution to transport infrastructure.

There is evidence nationally that such development will inevitably create extra trips on the highway network

Alan Davies, Purbeck council’s development and building control manager

The figure is calculated on the assumption that the average three-bedroom house generates seven trips a day on the highways and that each extra bedroom will increase highway usage proportionally.

Alan Davies, Purbeck council’s development and building control manager, said: “Statistically, there is evidence nationally that such development will inevitably create extra trips on the highway network. This being the case, the district council considers it reasonable that contributions should be made in order for highway improvements to be implemented.”

Davies added that he believed councils in West Sussex and Winchester were already applying a similar type of approach to Purbeck’s and that several other local authorities are planning to follow suit.