Section 106 planning obligations

What are planning obligations?

Planning obligations are also referred to as 'section 106' or 's106'. They are made by deed under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and are similar to covenants.

They allow a local planning authority to enter into a legally-binding agreement with a landowner or developer to provide something or to restrict the use of a development. They relate to a person's land, binding whoever owns it, and the obligation becomes a land charge.

S106 Agreements ensure that developers contribute towards the infrastructure required to make a development acceptable in planning terms. 

When can the local planning authority seek planning obligations?

The obligations are subject to three tests in the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 (as amended). It dictates that a planning obligation may only constitute a reason for granting planning permission for the development if the obligation is:

• necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms
• directly related to the development
• fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the development

S106 planning obligations are necessary to secure a variety of infrastructure, including:

• affordable housing
• contributions for schools
• health and social services
• habitat mitigation 

And where onsite and offsite infrastructure provision is needed to make a development acceptable in planning terms.

Viewing S106 obligations 

We have created a database for S106 obligations using the software Exacom for public access.

Accessing the database

The following link will take you to the database, allowing you to search for planning obligations that have been agreed. 

Start your search

What data is available?

Currently, you can search for S106 financial obligations by:

• ward
• parish
• town
• convenant type (the specific obligation, for example, affordable housing)

You can also see the relevant covenants and clauses within the S106 obligations and inspect the deeds relating to those applications. It provides a helpful record of the legally-binding agreements made with a landowner or developer linked to a permitted development.  

The data is updated daily, ensuring that the presented information is always current, and you can also print the data.

What is not available?

Work is ongoing to ensure that all the financial and non-financial data presented in the database is accurate and up-to-date. We will complete it as soon as possible and update this webpage regularly to advise of the latest status. 

Until then, we will postpone any requests for s106 payment information for specific applications until the completion of the s106 database. 

Future improvements to the database

Currently, only the agreements are available for viewing. But we aim to offer a detailed picture of the NNDC's collection, management and spending of all types of planning obligations gained through:

• Section 106 obligations
• Infrastructure Levy (IL)
• payments made under S111 of the Local Government Act 1972 (for example, GI RAMS payments) 

The database will allow users to see where Section 106 and IL sums have been allocated and spent.