Planning obligations (also known as Section 106 agreements) are made between us and developers.
They can be attached to planning permission to make development acceptable that wouldn’t otherwise be allowed. It’s the land itself that is then bound by a legal agreement.
They can also restrict the development or use of the land, or ask that specific operations or activities be carried out.
Normally agreements will include obligations for payment of money to us as mitigation for impacts of a proposed development, including providing for community infrastructure and affordable housing needed under planning policies.
What you need to do
We've set out what infrastructure improvements will be needed to meet the needs of new development in the district in our Local Plan and our Infrastructure Delivery Plan:
We strongly recommend that you get advice from us at the pre-application stage. This will stop delays and make sure that you submit enough detail for us to assess your application.
You should also check to see if you are in one of our Special Protection Areas for mitigating the effects of development on habitats. If you are then you'll need to pay a fee for this.
If a legal agreement is needed we advise submitting a draft agreement with your planning application.
Obligation fees
As well as legal fees, a non-refundable monitoring fee to cover admin costs and monitoring reports must be paid when the s106 agreement is complete.
This will be included in the agreement as an obligation. Because planning obligations run with the land; all owners, leaseholders and mortgage holders must be signatories.
We strongly advise that independent legal advice is taken before making a planning obligation - you might want them to draw up the agreement.
| Type | Fee |
|---|---|
| Obligation for one project (unilateral) | £600 or £200 per hour if it's five or more hours work |
| Agreement for a number of obligations | £800 or £200 per hour if it's five or more hours work |
| S106 monitoring fee for 1-10 residential properties | £121 per property |
| S106 monitoring fee for 11-99 residential properties | £6,062 |
| S106 monitoring fee for 100 or more residential properties | £12,125 |
You'll also need to pay for any Land Registry searches that are needed and any legal costs we incur when we check the obligation agreement.
We'll confirm all fees with you and send an invoice for payment. Any fees paid for work undertaken are non-refundable.
What happens next
Once your obligation agreement has been completed and you've been given planning permission, you'll need to check the obligation for timings of payments and delivery of infrastructure.
If you have any questions you can contact our planning team.