Section 106 agreements
What are section 106 agreements?
A section 106 agreement may be used for:
• restricting the development or use of the land in any specified way;
• requiring specified operations or activities to be carried out in, on, under or over the land;
• requiring the land to be used in any specified way; or
• requiring a sum or sums to be paid to the authority
Where can I find a copy of a section 106 agreement?
Copies of all Section 106 agreements, including any supplemental agreement and deed of variation, are available on the planning register. They are attached to the relevant planning permission and filed under the documents tab.
Section 106 compliance
Information on the delivery of Section 106 obligations can be viewed via our planning obligations portal.
You can use the planning obligations portal to find out:
• Section 106 income due per parish/ward/development site
• Section 106 income received per parish/ward/development site
• Works in Kind obligations due per parish/ward/development site
• Works in Kind obligations delivered per parish/ward/development site
Request for Section 106 written confirmation
To obtain written confirmation that financial and non-financial Section 106 obligations have been satisfied, please complete our request form. We will only respond to requests made using our online request form. If you require information on more than one development site, a request form is required for each site.
Our response target is 10 working days, but it may take longer depending on the complexity of the request and Section 106 agreement.
Please note we will only respond on covenants due to the Local Planning Authority, any covenants due directly to Cambridgeshire County Council please contact them directly using developer.funding@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
How are financial obligations complied with?
Section 106 agreements often require the payment of contributions to the Council. Each contribution is subject to indexation in accordance with the terms of agreement with the trigger for each payment set out in the relevant schedule.
When a contribution payment is triggered, the Council will calculate the indexed sum and send this calculation to the developer for agreement before an invoice is issued.
Where payment is not made by the date required by the invoice the Council reserves the right to raise a further invoice in relation to late payment interest in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
How are non-financial obligations complied with?
Section 106 agreements often require owners to submit details to the Council. These will often (but not always) be defined as a ‘Scheme’.
If you are responsible for complying with a section 106 agreement that requires the submission and approval of details please complete this form and submit all related documents and plans or provide the reference to plans already submitted and approved by the Council.
Each submission will require a separate form (i.e. a form cannot contain details relating to both an affordable housing scheme and a self-build scheme)”.
Once the Council has received a submission this will be assigned to a Planning Officer who will consult with the relevant departments before a formal decision letter is issued. Decisions will be made within 8 weeks from the date of receipt unless alternate timescales are provided for in the agreement.
How are 106 agreements modified?
Planning obligations can be renegotiated at any point, where the local planning authority and developer wish to do so. In the first instance please contact the Greater Cambridge Planning Service using planning@greatercambridgeplanning.org to discuss
Where there is no agreement to voluntarily renegotiate, and the planning obligation predates April 2010 or is over 5 years old, an application may be made to the local planning authority by a person against whom a planning obligation is enforceable for the obligation:
(a) to have effect subject to such modifications as may be specified in the application; or
(b) to be discharged.
These applications are commonly known as Section 106A applications.
How much does this cost?
Whilst there is no direct fee for an application seeking to modify a planning obligation, the Council will likely formalise the changes through a deed of variation the cost of which being covered by the applicant.
How is an application made?
The application can be made on this form [DOC, 60KB] which requires:
- the applicant’s name and address;
- the address or location of the land to which the application relates and the nature of the applicant’s interest in it,
- sufficient information to identify the planning obligation which the applicant wants to have modified or discharged;
- the reasons for applying for the modification or discharge;
- other information that the authority considers necessary to enable them to determine the application.
The completed application form will need to be accompanied by a map of the land that is subject to the planning obligation.
What is the time period for determination?
The application has to be determined within 8 weeks of receipt of the application unless an extended period is agreed.
What might the Council decide?
The authority may either determine:
- That the planning obligation shall continue to have effect without modification;
- That the obligation no longer serves a useful purpose and shall be discharged; or
- That the obligation continues to serve a useful purpose, but as it would serve that purpose equally well if it had effect subject to the modifications specified in the application, it shall have effect subject to those modifications. In this case, the modified obligation is enforceable as if it had been entered into on the date on which notice of the determination was given to the applicant.
What are the principles to be applied where an application is made?
There are four essential questions to be considered:
- What is the current obligation?
- What purpose does it fulfil?
- Is it a useful purpose? and if so,
- Would the obligation serve that purpose equally well if it had effect subject to the proposed modifications?
Section 106A involves a precise and specific statutory test and does not bring in the full range of planning considerations involved, for example, in an ordinary decision on the grant or refusal of planning permission.
What if the Council refuses the application?
Applicants have a right of appeal against a decision by the Council to refuse a Section 106A application. These provisions are set out in Section 106B of the Act.
However, the right of appeal applies only where the planning obligation is at least five years old.