HERTFORDSHIRE County Council has agreed to ask housing developers to contribute less towards the cost of extra schools.

Currently – under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 – developers can be asked to make a financial contribution towards the provision of a school as part of the planning process.

The amount of their contribution is determined, in part, by the size of the school building required, based on a range set by the Government (known as the BB103 range).

Until now Hertfordshire County Council has specified generously-sized schools and has calculated the amount they would like housing developers to pay based on the upper end of the range.

But now councillors on Hertfordshire County Council’s Cabinet have agreed to revise those figures downwards to be in line with other local authorities.

As a result of the change, during negotiations with developers the cost of building a two-form entry primary school, for example, would be estimated  to be £1.5 million lower than currently.

It is believed this change in approach will give the Council a more credible position when negotiating with housing developers over the level of their contribution.

At the meeting, on Monday, executive member for education, libraries and localism Cllr Terry Douris said the move was a “pragmatic approach” that would ensure the Council remained credible in the building world.

Council Leader Cllr David Williams said that it was important to balance the high expectations for the County’s students with the need to be credible with the building community.

He acknowledged schools had already been built within the Hertfordshire area in line with the lower end of the range.

And he reported that staff there had been very pleased with the classroom environments, with any reduction in space being compensated by new ways of working.