Planning - Section 106 agreements
Question: I would like to ask the Council about its policy on s106 agreements which are part of a planning permission.
Response by Cllr Johhny Thalassites: Thank you very much for your question at Full Council relating to Section 106 agreements, under Section 106 of the Town and County Planning Act 1990. It was, I’m sure, useful to many residents to hear you discuss Section 106 agreements, which are designed to mitigate any damage to the community from development and improve community assets as a result of development.
As set out in a verbal response to your question, the Council’s policy on Section 106 agreements is in line with Government guidance on the subject. Section 106 agreements run with the land and are legally binding and enforceable. The Council wishes to make the negotiation of such agreements as transparent as possible, so a potential developer can see the scale of what obligations may be required if a planning application is submitted. To that end, there is planning guidance on the subject that gives a number of standard formulae relating to different infrastructure requirements such as education, health, employment and affordable housing contributions. The money accrued is spent in line with the legal agreement.