'Social tax' on build deals likely

And more could be forced to provide affordable homes and play areas.

A Bradford Council working party has come up with 17 recommendations following a 12-month review of the authority's practices.

They include ensuring major residential and commercial developments encourage public transport use - by paying for bus pass schemes, providing bus shelters or paying towards new buses and train carriages.

But the group also agreed the implementation of some legal agreements could be deferred until rental values reached a certain level so as not to harm regeneration.

It recommends that area committees, parish councils and neighbourhood forums be kept informed of all the relevant legal agreements and their progress. Council-lors on planning panels would also get extra training on imposing the agreements under planning laws.

Coun Val Slater (Lab, Royds), who headed the working party, said: "Such agreements and, in some cases, lack of them, can have a significant impact on the lives of local people and long-term prospects of a local area.

"I look forward to a far-reaching improvement plan that addresses each of the 17 recommendations and goes some way to deliver long-term benefits to the Council and the community."

Coun Slater said more Police Community Support Officers - of which there were 136 at the beginning of the year in Bradford, some partly funded by the Council - was one way of helping combat any increase in crime or anti-social behaviour due to a major development.

She said: "In some ways we have been letting developers get away with it. Often they say they can't afford what we are suggesting - such as providing affordable housing. It is quite rare for a council to go into this in such depth."

The proposals got a mixed reaction from developers. Dr Harold Robinson, of Shipley-based Magellan Properties, which is fronting the Bradford Channel plan, a £350 million city-centre urban village based on the Will Alsop masterplan, said: "The imposition of any or all of these proposals will simply slow down the release of land for development or make it so expensive as to be non-viable thus restricting the regeneration of the city."

But Alec Newsham, chairman and co-founder of Newmason Properties, said: "Section 106 agreements can feel like a tax on property developers at times. But we like to see that the money is being spent wisely.

"If the Council is being imaginative and looking at different ways of spending money levied on developers I think it is fantastic.

"Developers would rather the money be used to benefit the area where they are building than for something like affordable housing."

The Shipley company is redeveloping the town's Victoria Mills, which is subject to more than £2 million in legal agreements - mostly to be used for social housing.

A report on the planning agreements was due to be debated by the Council's Corporate Improvement Committee today.

• Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 lets a planning authority agree a legal obligation with a developer. This can often require them to minimise community impact and provide benefits such as a play area or affordable housing.