What is Section 106?
Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows a
planning authority to enter into a legal agreement with a developer
(called a Section 106 Agreement), in relation to a planning
application.
They may also be known as Planning obligations, Planning gain,
planning benefits or community benefits.
The rules are that they should always be:
- Necessary
- Relevent to planning
- Directly related to the proposed development
- Fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the proposed
development
- Reasonable in all other aspects
There is a fundamental principle that planning permissions must not
be bought or sold.
These agreements allow us to mitigate the impacts of a development
and ensure necessary infrastructure is provided.
What might be in a Section 106 Agreement?
Agreements may be restrictive (i.e. restricting what land may be
used for) or may require the developer to provide something (i.e.
public open space).
All residential developments are required to provide open space.
Developments with more than 19 dwellings generally provide this as
part of the site. Smaller developments usually make an ‘off site’
contribution, these contributions are used within the vicinity of
the development to improve open space facilities.
Developments of 3 or more dwellings will be required to provide
towards Affordable Housing (Housing that is provided, with subsidy,
for people who are unable to resolve their housing needs in the
local private sector market because of the relationship between
housing costs and incomes). 30% of a development should be
Affordable Housing and normally it will be provided on the site
itself.
Other provisions can include education, pedestrian and cycle
schemes, highways, public transport, community facilities and other
things that will be directly affected by the development.
How are contributions allocated and spent?
Given that any agreements should be directly related to the
development, any off-site contributions should be spent within
areas affected by the development.
For open space contributions, the allocation must be in line with
the District’s Open Space Needs Assessment in conjunction with any
other audit data. Town and Parish plans, comments and requests may
also be taken into account as long as they fit in with the rules
under ‘What is Section 106?’.
Often in rural areas where there is little or no formal open space
the funds are allocated by the Parish Council in agreement with
Waveney District Council.
Occasionally an off-site contribution for affordable housing is
made, ideally funds are spent within the vicinity of the
development. The funds are always used to resolve housing
difficulties within the District.
Education contributions will be required where the schools within
the catchment of the development do not have sufficient
capacity.
Other obligations may be met via Suffolk County Council or other
organisations best placed to provide them.
How can Town and Parish Councils and other organisations
get involved?
All planning applications are available to view on the WDC website
via the Public Access Planning Information system and Town and
Parish Councils are consulted on applications in their area. You
can give us any comments within 21 days of consultation.
A valuable way to be involved is to make us aware of future
projects in areas where there is likely to be development – the
Section 106 Officer keeps a list of projects which could possibly
make use of S106 contributions (see contacts).
If you are a Town or Parish Council you may wish to consult with
your community and come up with a plan of open space and community
projects in your area. This can be included when identifying where
off-site contributions should be allocated.
My organisation owns an open space which has been allocated
S106 funds, what do we do now?
Please get in touch with the Section 106 Officer to discuss how
these funds can be used. You could refurbish or add equipment to a
children’s play area, or add a flower bed and seating on a peaceful
open space. There are no forms to fill in, just give us a call to
discuss the best way to use the funds.
We hope you have found this information useful
You can also view the:
If you have questions not answered on these pages or would like the
information in a
leaflet format (pdf 40K) (opens new
window) , you are welcome to contact: -
Section 106 Officer
Waveney District Council
Town Hall
High Street
Lowestoft
Suffolk
NR32 1HS
01502
523052