Section 106 (S106) is how we refer to the works that developers have to do, or to make a financial contribution towards, in order that their development does not adversely affect the local community.
Section 106 (S106)
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Section 106
The name refers to
S106 of the
Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which allows a Local Planning Authority (LPA) to enter into a legally-binding agreement or Planning Obligation with a landowner in association with the granting of planning permission.
The obligation is termed a
Section 106 Agreement.
These agreements are a way of delivering or addressing matters that are necessary to make a development acceptable in planning terms.
They are increasingly used to support the provision of services and infrastructure, such as highways, recreational facilities, education, health and affordable housing.
The scope of such agreements is laid out in the Government’s Circular 05/2005.
Matters agreed as part of a S106 must be:
- necessary to make the proposed development acceptable in planning terms
- directly related to the proposed development
- fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the proposed development
- reasonable in all other respects.
A Council’s approach to securing benefits through the S106 process should be grounded in evidence-based policy.
Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) 4
Achieving positive planning through the use of planning obligations.
Bristol City Council has drawn up a
Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) for developer contributions SPD 4
The SPD comprises two parts.
- Part One sets out the Council’s
overall approach to Planning Obligations;
- Part Two details the policy
justification, threshold and where relevant, the formulae used to calculate the
appropriate level of obligation for the various areas where the Council may
wish to seek obligations.
This covers the following areas where
developer contributions may be sought:
- (ii) Educational Facilities
- (iii) Recreational Facilities
- (v) Travel Plan Initiatives
- (vi) Park and Ride Facilities
- (vii) Highway Infrastructure Works
(including fees for processing Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs))
- (viii) Site Specific Measures
- (ix) Economic Contributions from New
Development
- (x) Areas of Public Realm
- (xii) Community Forest
Initiative
- (xiii) Library Facilities
Community input into Planning Obligations
Under the Statement of Community
Involvement the Planning Authority has set out the way in which local community
groups can come to a view on what Planning Obligations should apply.
See p
21 in the Statement of Community Involvement.
The community can set their views out at Pre Application stage and these should be incorporated into the Community
Involvement Statement.
The Planning Officer will take into
account these views when negotiating the obligations with the developer.
S106 Financial Contributions List
A full list of s106 developer
contributions is kept by the Planning Obligations Manager.
This is updated and
is currently issued to the Ward Councillors and NPN Administrator monthly.
NPN
planning groups can ask for the relevant S106 information for their ward from
the Planning Obligations Manager or NPN Administrators.
Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
Extracts from briefing note by
Planning Obligations Manager
CIL will be a levy that Local Authorities
with an up to date Development Plan (an Adopted Core Strategy in Bristol's case) can
introduce.
It will require developers to make a payment to the Council based on
the size of their development in square metres.
The Council can then use the
proceeds of the levy to provide local and sub-regional infrastructure necessary
to support growth.
If Bristol
were to seek to introduce a CIL, the earliest that it is likely it could be in
place is Spring / Summer 2011.
In the two years following this, Section 106 and Bristol’s SPD 4 would
then be scaled back.
It is proposed that CIL will apply to all
development in excess of 100 square metres.
CIL will also apply to development
of less that 100 square metres that results in the provision of one or more
dwellings.
The amount of CIL payable will be
determined at the point of granting planning permission.
It will be based on
the gross size of the development in square metres, which will be identified on
the Planning Application form, and the CIL rate per square metre, which will be
identified in the Charging Schedule.
It will be index linked from the year that
the CIL was introduced to the year that Planning Permission is granted.
CIL must be spent on infrastructure,
which in simple terms means something that requires construction of some sort.
Obvious examples include schools, parks, roads, flood defences, park and ride
sites, libraries, doctor’s surgeries, fire stations, railways etc.
It is not clear
whether CIL can be used for ongoing revenue support, for example funding
supported bus services.
CIL can be spent by the authority that
collects it.
The collecting Authority can also choose to pass CIL receipts to
other infrastructure providers in order to contribute towards the provision of
infrastructure that it could not provide itself.
For example CIL could be
forwarded to the Fire Authority if a new fire station was required, a
neighbouring Local Authority if new infrastructure was required in their area
that benefited the collecting Authority, or a Government body such as the
Environment Agency if new flood defences were required.
If Bristol
were to introduce a CIL, a mechanism for allocating receipts would need to be
put in place.
How CIL will differ from S106
How CIL will differ from S106
CIL will differ from Section 106 in a number of ways:
- The purpose of CIL is to contribute towards the provision of infrastructure required to support growth, whereas Section 106 is for the mitigation of the impact of a specific development.
- All eligible development will be required to pay CIL.
- CIL will not be a matter that can be appealed through the planning system, and there can be no negotiation on it.
- CIL will not be related to the development from which it came, as it is intended to fund infrastructure required to support growth across the development plan area. Consequently the Section 106 link between contribution and spend will be broken.
- CIL will not have a time limit on its spending.
- It must be spent on infrastructure
(i.e. the provision of Capital Schemes) and Local Authorities will be under a duty to report (on an annual basis) how much CIL has been received, how much CIL has been spent and on what, and how much CIL is held.
The consequences of scaling back S106
Section 106 Agreements will be scaled
back.
The Government proposes that the existing tests of reasonableness will
become statutory rather than guidance, as they are at present.
It is proposed
that Planning Obligations could only be required where they were needed to solely mitigate the impact of the development.
This means that Obligations, such as the
provision of highway access works or funding towards, for example a pedestrian
crossing, that was only required because of a development would still be
covered under Section 106, as would items like the provision of public realm
that would eventually be adopted by the Council.
However, the proposed scaling back would
prevent tariffs from being based on Section 106.
For Bristol this would mean that collecting
contributions to Park and Ride, Open Space, Libraries and Education would no
longer be allowed through Section 106 and would have to form part of a CIL.
Developer contributions (either financial
contributions or on site provision) will continue to be made through Section
106.
Related Documents
Related documents
Community Infrastructure Levy
