Some developments have potential to cause harm to their surroundings, or increase pressure on physical and social infrastructure in communities.
To avoid or reduce these negative impacts and make the development acceptable, Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) can ask the applicant or developer to provide facilities (like public open space) or make improvements (such as to make a road junction safer). Applicants can also be asked to pay money instead, for the Council to use to make improvements or provide facilities.
This is known as a ‘Planning Obligation’ and is negotiated through the planning application process. Planning permission can’t be granted until a legal agreement (called a Section 106 or S106 Agreement) is signed.
A Guidance Note is available to download, which has further information on planning obligations, including detailed references to local and national planning policy. For more details about S106 Agreements, available balances and how money is spent, refer to the S106 Reports page and the S106 spending protocol available to download.
It’s important that applicants allow for planning obligation costs and other development costs when designing a development and negotiating land purchase. See the Viability page for more about this.
Planning Authorities can also use a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) if they have adopted a CIL charging schedule. This is a set charge per square metre on some types of development. If the Planning Authority has an adopted CIL charging schedule, they can’t also ask for contributions towards the same things through S106. Conwy doesn’t have a CIL charging schedule at the moment. For more information about CIL see the Community Infrastructure Levy page.