MORE than £1m raised through agreements with developers was invested in the borough over the course of a year.

The money was spent on play areas, parks and sports facilities as well as the Victoria Wood statue and a Dutch addition to the Irwell Sculpture Trail.

The council received £813,307 over same year through Section 106 contributions which developers agree to during the planning process.

These contributions are often used for education, health and recreation provision to ensure the impact of residential developments is accounted for.

No money was spent on education last year but hundreds of thousands of pounds were spent on highways, employment and and public art.

Most of the money spent from this pot last year went to recreation provision, nature reserves and open spaces.

The highest sum for recreation improvements was awarded to St Mary’s Park which benefited from close to £73,000.

Further investment went to Whitefield bowling pavilion, Radcliffe skate park and Ramsbottom Civic Hall garden.

A report detailing how much money was spent and how much was raised through Section 106 agreements between April 2017 and March 2018 was presented to the planning committee last week.

It explained: “Obligations often involve the payment of financial contributions, for example recreation contributions, compensation for the loss of employment land and contributions towards ecological enhancements.”

Companies are sometimes required to provide affordable houses within their developments but payments can be made to the council in lieu of on-site provision.

In total up to March 31 2018, more than £2m has been received for affordable housing which the council spent in accordance with Bury’s Affordable Housing Strategy.

Last year, the council received £489,500 in affordable housing contributions.

A total of 24 on-site affordable homes were built in 2017/18 as a direct result of planning policy requirements.

These are in addition to 55 affordable homes completed by registered housing providers over the same period.

This means that 29 per cent of all new homes completed during this period will be sold at an affordable price.

However, eight properties at Prestfield Road were sold at market value in breach of a Section 106 agreement.

So far £100,000 has been paid in lieu of this but legal action has been taken to recover a further £163,413.

The local authority still had £4m of unspent contributions on March 31 last year.