The Planning Inspectorate’s guidance on Statements of Common Ground for appeal hearings and inquiries has recently been updated to include ‘topic specific SOCGs’, specifically for technical subjects such as viability:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statement-of-common-ground/statements-of-commonuncommon-ground-for-inquiries#topic-specific-socgs
Topic Specific SOCGs are supplementary to the main statement of common ground submitted for appeals, specifically geared at ‘more technical subjects … such as viability’.
While the guidance is new, in reality Viability Statements of Common Ground (or Appeal Viability Statements) are commonly used to explain the chronology of viability negotiations, and summarise key inputs and areas of agreement and disagreement for the Planning Inspectorate during an appeal.
A standard statement of common ground is generally unable to provide enough detail to cover out issues such as viability, which has many inputs and draws on detailed valuation and cost work. As such a separate statement is necessary.
S106 Management have been providing such documents for many years, and consider them an important part of any appeal where viability has been negotiated during the course of an application.
They provide an easy to follow narrative, and quick reference summary table, with cross references to the necessary chronology and documentation for easy reading.
Viability assessment during and after applications can be an extensive, complicated process including many documents, ongoing negotiation on individual inputs, and often reflects the many small revisions to plans and schemes that occur over time.
It is also common that not all documents or correspondence involved are uploaded to the planning file, either through oversight or due to commercial sensitivity, and therefore it is easy for a third party to find the chronology and agreed matters confusing, or missing vital parts, without additional narrative and guidance.
As such, for the benefit of the Inspector reviewing the case, and any other third parties involved in the appeal process, a viability statement of common ground is extremely important for transparency, and to focus the Inspector’s time and input on any non-agreed issues.
The process of agreeing a viability statement of common ground also allows for any outstanding issues to be resolved through some element of negotiation or update during the appeal process, further reducing potential areas of disagreement, and streamlining appeals. This there after allows the negotiation and completion of appropriate s106 agreement or unilateral undertakings.
The key to any successful appeal is to simplify and reduce areas of disagreement.
While the guidance relates to hearings and inquiries, a viability statement of common ground can equally be helpful for Inspectors inwritten representations appeals. Given the latest guidance on the timing of s106 agreement or unilateral undertakings during written representations appeals, there is less room for resolution of outstanding matters after the appeal is submitted; arguably therefore it is even more important to have a clear agreed statement of common ground so matters are clear for the Inspector and any s106 agreement or Unilateral Undertaking is fully justified.
For more detail see: https://www.s106management.co.uk/pages/negotiations-and-appeals
Or our case studies page for our numerous successful appeal outcomes: https://www.s106management.co.uk/case-studies
If you are submitting an appeal which involves viability, even if S106 Management were not the original assessor, please do contact us to discuss how we might assist.
