Developers could face 60-year road maintenance payment demands

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 19 Oct, 18:02 · Archive

Worcestershire County Council proposes requiring developers to pay for decades of future maintenance costs on enhanced highway features.

Worcestershire County Council's cabinet is due to consider a new 'commuted sums' policy on Thursday, requiring developers to pay towards decades of future maintenance costs for roads, street lighting, landscaping and other highway features.

A commuted sum is a one-off payment made by a developer to cover the future maintenance costs of infrastructure that eventually becomes the council's responsibility. The council currently has no formal policy for charging developers for non-standard assets created through Section 38 and Section 278 highways agreements. Under the proposed policy, developers would be charged where they install features requiring higher levels of maintenance than the council's standard specification, including bespoke paving, specialist street lighting, trees and landscaped areas.

The council argues the move would prevent taxpayers being left with long-term costs of maintaining expensive infrastructure. Cabinet papers state the policy is necessary 'to ensure transparency, consistency, and financial security for maintaining non-standard highway assets'. It would allow developers to use higher-quality or distinctive designs whilst ensuring 'the whole-life upkeep of these enhanced items will not fall on the public purse'. The proposed approach follows guidance published by the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport in 2024, with payments based on projected costs of maintaining and replacing assets over their lifetimes.

How it is being reported

• Developers could be made to pay 60 years of road maintenance costsDevelopers could be required to pay towards decades of future maintenance costs for roads, street lighting, landscaping and other highway features under proposals due to be discussed by cabinet this week.Malvern Gazette · 19 Oct, 17:34
• Developers could be made to pay 60 years of road maintenance costsDevelopers could be required to pay towards decades of future maintenance costs for roads, street lighting, landscaping and other highway features under proposals due to be discussed by cabinet this week.Worcester News · 19 Oct, 17:34

In this story: Worcestershire County Council · Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport · Worcestershire

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