Planning obligations

Planning obligations SPD and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

What is a planning obligation?

A planning obligation is a legal agreement between the planning authority, the developer and other interested parties. By law they must be:

  • 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

They may involve restrictions or obligations on the developer to secure planning permission. For example, the developer of a large housing site may make a contribution to build a new classroom at the local school.

An obligation cannot require the developer to solve an existing problem but it can ask for a contribution if the development will make it worse.

View or download Section 106 myths and facts (PDF)

Development cannot go ahead unless the developer has fulfilled planning obligations either by submitting a unilateral undertaking or entering into a Section 106 agreement with us.

The Section 106 agreement specifies when payments or in kind contributions will be made. The trigger varies between developments and often relates to the commencement date or specific occupancy rates.

Planning Obligations Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)

We have prepared the Planning Obligations SPD (PDF) that sets out the type and scale of planning obligations, or Section 106, required to support sustainable development. This SPD is a material consideration in the determination of planning applications and was adopted on 4 June 2024 by our Executive (view meeting details).

Why is the Planning Obligations SPD required?

Policy HQ2 of the adopted Local Plan requires developments to make appropriate contributions to provide new physical, social and environmental infrastructure or the enhancement of existing infrastructure, where necessary to mitigate the impact of the proposals.

Section 17.2 and Policy HQ2 of the Adopted Local Plan commits us to prepare a supplementary planning document on planning obligations to provide detail about our approach to securing developer contributions in the absence of a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Charging Schedule.

The Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) also supports this process, as it sets out the infrastructure that will be required to support the delivery of the allocated housing and employment growth in the Local Plan.

What does the Planning Obligations SPD include?

The guidance within the SPD will improve transparency and enable developers to understand the type and scale of planning obligation requirements for each type of infrastructure sought from an early stage in the development process and to make appropriate provision when formulating costs and undertaking financial appraisals. 

There is also information in the SPD about the implementation and administration of Section 106 and the approach to viability appraisals to establish whether the level of contributions proposed by the developer is the maximum that can be reasonably delivered.

The costs and charges quoted in this document are subject to change and will be index linked where necessary.

Documents

Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

The Community Infrastructure Levy (the ‘levy’) is a charge which can be levied by local authorities on new development in their area. It can be an used in helping to deliver the infrastructure needed to support development in their area. The levy only applies in areas where a local authority has consulted on, and approved, a charging schedule which sets out its levy rates and has published the schedule on its website.

We currently have no plans to introduce a Community Infrastructure Levy. This website will be updated if this position changes in the future.