Section 106 Agreements

Section 106 Agreements

Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows a local planning authority to enter into a legally-binding planning obligation with a developer in association with the granting of planning permission. The obligation is termed a Section 106 Agreement.

Agreements under Section 106 are normally required to mitigate impacts arising from large scale developments, and provide the means of ensuring the provision of necessary services and infrastructure, such as highways, recreational facilities, education, health and affordable housing to support new large scale developments.

Section 106 agreements can be used for the following purposes:

• To restrict the development or use of land
• To require specific operations or activities to be carried out in relation to the land
• To require payment of a sum or sums of money - e.g. towards future maintenance costs
• To require land to be used in a certain way

The obligation can either be a bilateral agreement between the Council and the land owner or unilateral undertakings by the land owner or developer. The scope of such agreements must meet the following three tests as set out in the Community Infrastructure Regulations 2010 

1. Necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms
2. Directly related to the development
3. Fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the development

Each section 106 agreement is attached to a specific planning permission and you can therefore search for a specific agreement by entering the planning application number into the council's planning application search tool.
» Planning Application Search 

» Guidance on searching for Section 106 Agreements by Planning Application Number (MS Excel spreadsheet, 103kb)
Please note that this document contains two worksheets: one with search instructions; the other with a list of agreements.

» Section 106 Financial Transparency Schedule January 2012 (pdf)
Please note that the Transparency Schedule will be updated again in the new financial year (i.e. after 1st April 2012).

Please note that the receipt of Section 106 contributions is commonly contingent on works starting on site and the respective planning consent, therefore, being implemented. Other triggers for delivery of Section 106 contributions include completion of works or occupation of a site. In some instances, a development may not proceed and the Section 106 contribution would therefore not be required.

Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a new power which enables a charge to be levied on the net increase in gross internal area floorspace arising from development in order to fund infrastructure that is needed to support development in the area. For more information on CIL CLICK HERE

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