Police in Adur receive £100k-plus from developer contributions
Developer contributions totalling more than £100,000 have been released to police in Shoreham and Sompting by Adur District Council.
The contribution of £104,376.97 was released to Sussex Police by the council’s cabinet at a joint strategic meeting on Thursday, February 6.
The contribution was part of the section 106 agreement between the council and developer Persimmon Homes for a 469-home development on land west of Sompting, which was approved in 2021,
Sussex Police suggested they would spend £14,368.80 on officer kit/equipment for, and £21,473.65 on the fleet of the Peverel/Sompting Neighbourhood Policing Team, according to a report presented to the committee.
The force also said £66,245.12 would be spent on premises/reprovision and £5,067.49 on staff kit/equipment at the Shoreham Police Station.
Cabinet member for finance and resources Saffa Jan (Lab, Peverel) said: “It is really good to see the s106 funds will provide some extra police resources over in Sompting. We have been troubled by low-level crime recently and hopefully this extra resource will go towards addressing that”.
A section 106 agreement is designed to allow developers to pay money towards services and infrastructure in an area to offset the impact of approved development.
Some other contributions from this development included in the approved agreement from 2023 included about £100,000 to the NHS, and some £2.7million to West Sussex County Council to go towards building a new primary school in Lancing
The money is mostly paid to the planning authority, Adur District Council, and then other bodies generally have to apply to have that money released to them by the council before it can be used, with any release over £100,000 requiring approval from the cabinet.