Section 106 Agreements
S106 Agreements are made under the planning acts to ensure new developments provide the required services, infrastructure and amenities to serve new and existing communities.
They are known as planning agreements or planning obligations. They are legally binding, connected to a planning permission and made between the council and developers/landowners.
What can they cover?
Normally an agreement can:
- Restrict the development or the use of land
- Require on site facilities - e.g. affordable housing; a new play area
- Require off site facilities - e.g. improvements to the local highway network such as junction improvements, or off site landscaping
- Require payments - e.g. towards the provision of sports, leisure and open space facilities by some one else or extra school places
Which type of agreement is best for you?
- Unilateral Undertakings are presented to the council by the applicant setting out what he/she is prepared to do or contribute if planning permission is granted. These are best suited for straightforward issues such as the sport and open space contributions required for small housing developments
- Bilateral Agreements are negotiated by the council, the applicant and anybody else with an interest in the land. The process can be lengthy and will involve lawyers on both sides. They are most appropriate for large developments and complicated issues
Legal tests
The council can only seek these sorts of items if they are:
- Necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms
- Directly related to the development
- Fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the development
How are contributions spent?
The council takes great care to make sure that the money collected from agreements is spent appropriately. How it is spent is set out in our annual report on how we use the money for the benefit of the community.
Section 106 Agreements Annual Progress Report 2018-2019 [pdf] 975KB
Contributions for development in Ashford and the Rural Areas
If you want to carry out new development in Ashford Borough you may be required to enter into a S106 agreement or undertaking. The agreement or undertaking could include one or several of the items listed below. When they apply depends on the size of the site the amount or type of development and whether the site is in Ashford or its rural area.
Ashford Borough possible contributions summary
- Adult Social Care
- Libraries
- Affordable Housing
- Local Needs Housing
- Allotments
- Monitoring Fee
- Carbon Off-Setting
- Outdoor Sports Pitches
- Cemeteries
- Primary Schools
- Children's and Young People's Play Space
- Public Art
- Community Learning
- Secondary Schools
- Controlled Parking Zone
- Strategic Parks
- Health Care
- Town Centre Commuted Parking
- Informal/Natural Green Space
- Voluntary Sector
- Junction 10A
- Youth Services
- Legal Costs
Why are contributions indexed?
Since the policy documents that require contributions were adopted by the council, the costs of providing things such as play equipment or laid out open spaces has changed. We use national price indices [pdf] 85KB to calculate the change in the cost over time and the undertaking must include the correct costs at the time it is signed.
