1. Planning Obligations & Section 106
Tom Rawsterne
Planning Contributions Project Manager
Nottinghamshire County Council

2. Planning Application process
NCC
Grant with conditions
Planning application
LPA
Grant
Refuse
Internal depts.
Natural England
Environment Agency
Highways Agency
Planning Obligations & Section 106

3. What is s106? Planning Obligations & Section 106
- Term comes from Section 106 of Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended);
Planning Obligations can take the form of either;
agreements negotiated between local planning authorities and persons with an interest in a piece of land (usually a developer), or
unilateral undertakings made by the party with the interest in the land.
Ultimately they are intended to make acceptable development which would otherwise be unacceptable in planning terms.
Planning Obligations & Section 106

4. How does s106 work?
Planning obligations are intended to make development acceptable by;
Prescribing the nature of development
Compensating for loss or damage created
Mitigating a development’s impact
Planning Obligations & Section 106

5. Planning Obligations – what it is reasonable to ask for
ODPM Circular 05/05 set out five tests against which planning obligations should be assessed for their acceptability in policy terms.
Since April 2010 the five tests have now been reduced to the following three. A planning obligation must be;
(i) necessary to make the proposed development acceptable in planning terms
(ii) directly related to the proposed development
(iii) fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the proposed development
Planning Obligations & Section 106

6. Key facts; Obligations created run with the land
Contributions can be in kind or a financial contribution
Contributions can not be used to remedy existing deficiencies
Financial contributions received usually have to be spent within a specified period – normally 5 years. Money ‘ring fenced’ in specifically named accounts.
The decision on whether to request contributions via s106 agreements rests with the determining authority – County Council for minerals & waste and County applications, districts for all others
Very important to maintain good relationship with districts
Planning Obligations & Section 106

7. Areas of collection via s106
Community
facilities
Education
services
Monitoring fees
Natural Heritage
Affordable
housing
Minerals & Waste
Planning Contributions
Highways
& transport
Archaeology
Open space
County Council areas
District Council areas
Planning Obligations & Section 106

8. S106 and NCC
Nottinghamshire County Council Planning Contribution Strategy
Adopted 2007 as guidance document – updated annually
Outlines NCC policy re: s106
Advice to LPAs & developers re: types and levels of contributions required
Aim is to persuade LPAs to adopt policy into their Local Development Framework documents
Each authority currently takes a slightly different approach – intending to make this uniform
Planning Obligations & Section 106

9. Planning Contributions: Future Direction
COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY
CIL regulations introduced 6th April 2010
NSDC already developing its CIL
S106 restricted in use – esp. after April 2014
Maintain PCS policies and input to charging schedules by linking with districts’ Infrastructure Delivery Plans
Effect on County Council – no power to collect CIL for education and highways
Importance of working with all districts as they develop their CILs
Establishing “SLAs” vital to secure future service provision
Planning Obligations & Section 106

10. Key issues in Mansfield
Communication – now much improving
A formal recognition that County Council services are important and that they benefit Mansfield residents
And these would be helped greatly by…
Planning Obligations & Section 106

11. Key Issues in Mansfield cont’d
…FORMAL ADOPTION OF OUR PLANNING CONTRIBUTIONS STRATEGY