What is infrastructure planning & S106 Agreements?

What are S106 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

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