Section 106 SPD

What are s106 planning obligations?

Planning obligations (also known as section 106 agreements of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) are private agreements made between local authorities and developers or undertakings offered unilaterally by a developer, that are attached to a planning permission to help make development acceptable in planning terms.

Planning obligations can prescribe the nature of development (for example, requiring a given portion of housing is affordable), compensate for loss or damage created by a development (for example, loss of open space), or mitigate a development's impact (for example, through increased public transport provision).

The use of planning obligations is currently guided by government circular 05/2005. This states that obligations should only be used where five tests are met. It enables local authorities to pool obligations to ensure that larger items of infrastructure, such as new school places are provided, and states that any standard charges should be set out in adopted planning guidance.  The new Community Infrastructure Levy Regulation 122 (which came into effect on 6 April 2010) has reduced the five tests described in Circular 05/2005 to three tests.

Section 106 SPD

The council and planning applicants can use the Section 106 Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) to guide negotiations for Section 106 planning contributions. Contributions may be required before planning permission can be granted.

We are reviewing our existing S106 SPD which was adopted by the council on 24 July 2007 to ensure that

• The charges remain relevant and proportionate to needed infrastructure.
• We can continue to demonstrate a strong link between the charge and the infrastructure to be provided.
• The standard charges are consistent with core strategy policies and priorities.
• It incorporates the tariffs set out in the Aylesbury and Canada Water AAPs.
• The need for other area-specific infrastructure is reviewed, for example at Elephant and Castle, Bankside, Borough and London Bridge and Peckham.
• The SPD reflects changes in legislation and emerging policy.

Section 106 SPD Scoping report

Under the requirements of the act and as set out in Planning Policy Statement 12 - Local Spatial Planning (PPS12), a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of all Local Development Documents is now mandatory. The Sustainability Appraisal (SA) process is used to test the potential social, economic and environmental impacts of development plan documents to ensure the policies being put forward will contribute to achieving sustainable development.

The scoping report is the first stage in the Sustainability Appraisal process and it sets out evidence (also known as baseline information). Using the baseline information it identifies the key sustainability issues that will be addressed in the SPD and the targets and indicators, which will be used to measure the impact of the plan on the area in the future.

We are currently consulting on a scoping report for the Section 106 SPD from Monday 5 July 2010 to Monday 9 August 2010.

View the Section 106 SPD Sustainability Appraisal Scoping report.