Martin Elson

Martin Elson is a qualified planner with a specialised interest in planning for culture, in particular physical infrastructure such as libraries, archives, museums, arts and sports buildings. He has recently acted as client advisor on the Treasury-funded Cultural Planning Toolkit project [Living Places]. Martin is the author of a number of reports on standard charges in the cultural area, originally for libraries and archives and, more recently, for arts and museums. These have been taken up by a number of authorities across the country.

Detail session 6

Window tax? – Use of developer contributions for library buildings

Many areas are experiencing housing growth or regeneration and as a result existing library buildings and library services need to be upgraded or replaced. There is a range of sources of possible funding for such developments and one of the key opportunities to mitigate the impacts of new development is the use of planning obligations. In 2008 the report Public Libraries, Archives and New Development: A Standard Charge Approach was prepared for the MLA by Martin Elson. It explores the standard charge approach, as recommended by the MLA, for libraries and archives. In this session Martin will explore how authorities can ensure that this valuable source of funding is maximised and some of the issues that need to be considered.