Cheshire East Council (CEC) currently has £7,971,263 in their S106 account.
A report prepared for the Corporate Scrutiny Committee has revealed that the Council currently holds £146,783 for Alderley Edge, £900,000 for Wilmslow and over half a million pounds for Handforth in their S106 account.
Section 106 agreements, also known as Planning Obligations, are legal agreements with the Council under Section 106 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990. These are legally binding agreements between the Council, the developer and any other parties with an interest in the site to be developed and often include a financial contribution.
The purpose of Section 106 agreements is to regulate the future development of the land, compensate the local community for any impact caused by a development and help shape the new development - for example, to make sure a certain number of houses are affordable homes.
This money set aside for Alderley Edge includes a payment of £59,283 from the development at 17-23 London Road, where Tesco Express is located, which is to be put towards the proposed village centre enhancement scheme - proposals for which are still under development.
Plus £87,500 for the development of Eden Park off Macclesfield Road to be used towards the provision of affordable housing in a rural area. The Council is waiting for a suitable opportunity to spend the money in Alderley Edge.
Speaking about the money allocated to Alderley Edge, Cllr Frank Keegan said "I will be working towards using this money for improvements within Alderley Edge - my preference would be on Festival Hall to reduce any potential borrowing for a refurb of the Hall.
"We already have a pot of £300k so another £150k would improve the hall. Important not to waste it - we had money from the St Hilary development, £350k which got appropriated by Macclesfield Borough Council for a rural affordable housing scheme."
Cllr Wesley Fitzgerald, former Leader of Cheshire East Council and ward councillor for Wilmslow West and Chorley, spoke about S106 money at last week's Wilmslow Town Council meeting.
He told Wilmslow Town Council "When planning applications are put in, usually by development companies, to fulfil a planning contract they may be asked to provide funds for the improvement of various services around the area where they are developing.
"This goes into a holding fund at Cheshire East which does need a good shake up from time to time because money doesn't get spent. In the Wilmslow Lacey Green Ward there is currently standing £546,138 and in Wilmslow West £42,901. So there is money there which you need to investigate for the benefit of Wilmslow."
Cllr Keith Purdom, Chairman of Wilmslow Town Council, commented "This is a complete surprise. Is there a timescale for coming up with plans to make use of this money?
Cllr Fitzgerald responded "I don't think there is actually which is why this money wallows there unless somebody actually comes up with bright ideas. It needs chasing."
3,660,345 of the total £7,971,263 held by Cheshire East Council is identified as non-time limited funds and £4,310,917 is identified as funds time limited for expenditure.
Income from S106 funds has increased from £265,643.00 in the financial year 2011/12 to £1,422,462.00 in 2012/13, whilst expenditure also increased during that period from £143,417.00 to £528,448.36.
How would you like to see the £146,783 allocated to Alderley Edge spent, to improve our village? Use the comment box below to share your views.
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What a lot of money to have rattling in the pot. Have the new benches already been paid for?