About section 106 agreements and unilateral undertakings
Section 106 Agreements and Unilateral Undertakings are types of planning obligation made under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Both are referred to as S106 Agreements.
They are legal agreements between the local authority and the developer.
A planning obligation can:
- restrict the development or use of land
- mean you must carry out specific operations or activities on the land
- mean you can only use land in a certain way
- require the payment of financial contributions
Types of obligation commonly include provision of:
- affordable housing
- open spaces and recreational facilities including enhancement and maintenance
- play equipment
- cycleways
- highways
- health
- ecological mitigation
- travel plans
- education
Only a small number of planning applications need a planning obligation before we grant planning permission.
The land itself is bound by the planning obligation which will be a legal charge on the land, so the obligations transfer automatically with any change in ownership.
We cannot determine your planning application until S106 Agreement has been completed or a Unilateral Undertaking has been received. If you cannot achieve this in 8 or 13 week life of the planning application, we will not grant you planning permission.
You are most likely to need an S106 agreement for:
- housing developments of 10+ dwellings
- commercial developments of 1,000+ square metres
You can find out more about S106 agreements and planning obligations:
- on the Planning Portal
- at GOV.UK
