New development often has a direct impact on it’s surroundings which creates a need for:
- additional infrastructure, or
- improved community services and facilities.
Section 106 (S106) is 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. The s106 can only be for site specific measures such as Highways improvements, tree planting etc which are necessary because of the development. If the development is large scale S106 obligations may included provision of a new school for instance.
Community Infrastructure Levy is a development tax to pay for the city’s infrastructure. This is not site specific and can be used in accordance with agreed priorities. It is set at a standard rate and a proportion is devolved to the local area to allocate as they wish.
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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.
The scope of such agreements is laid out in the Government’s Circular 05/2005.
Matters agreed as part of a S106 must be:
- relevant to planning
- 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.
Priorities
Obligations will be negotiated on a site‐by‐site basis and the priority given to the differing types of obligation will be at the discretion of the Local Planning Authority. However, as a general rule the provision of affordable housing, followed by legitimate site‐specific obligations identified by Neighbourhood Partnerships or through Neighbourhood Plans will be given priority over other obligations.
Key issues to be considered are as follows:
- Adopted Development Plan Documents
- Adopted Neighbourhood Plans
- Neighbourhood Partnership comments
- Financial viability of the proposed scheme
- Individual site characteristics
This approach will ensure that Paragraph 204 of the NPPF and Regulation 122 of the CIL Regulations are applied consistently and that obligations are related to the site from which they are sought.
Community input into s 106 Planning Agreements
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. see link to list
Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
CIL is a levy that Local Authorities with an up to date Development Plan (an Adopted Core Strategy in Bristol’s case) can introduce.
It requires developers to make a payment to the Council based on the size of their development in square metres. CIL will apply to most development in excess of 100 square metres. CIL also applies to development of less than 100 square metres that results in the provision of one or more dwellings. 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. Some development uses are zero rated.
The amount of CIL payable will be determined at the point of granting planning permission. It will be index linked from the year that the CIL was introduced to the year that Planning Permission is granted.
The Council can then use the proceeds of the levy to provide local and sub-regional infrastructure necessary to support growth. 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.
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.
Proportion of CIL allocated to the area where development takes place
A meaningful proportion of the CIL is devolved to the locality for allocation to local priorities. This proportion is set at 15% by the Coalition Government. A neighbourhood which has adopted a local Neighbourhood Development Plan will be allocated 25%. This money is allocated to the Neighbourhood Partnership, not to the Neighbourhood Planning Forum to decide what it should be spent on.
See Bristol City Council webpages on CIL
Infrastructure Delivery Programme 2010 including infrastructure schedule 2012
See link to DCLG (Department of Communities and Local Government) guide on CIL
Planning Obligations
link to BCC document
How CIL differs from S106
How CIL differs from S106
CIL differs 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.