Section 106 Agreements

With large development schemes often accompanied by the provision of new amenities for the local community, planning applications now regularly involve landscape, visual or ecological issues. These are grouped under the titles of Conditions, Section 106 Agreements and Unilateral Undertakings.

In general, Conditions and Section 106 Agreements relate to the application site in some way and involve two parties, while a Unilateral Undertaking is offered by the applicant and need not be directly related to the application site.

To illustrate this complex legislation, in one recent case a client wanted to extend an existing factory on the edge of an East Anglian market town. The site was close to a river used for recreation by local people. The planning permission granted contained a Condition to plant a tree belt within the site to screen views of the factory extension from adjacent houses. In addition, a Section 106 agreement was made with the local authority to plant more trees on land outside the permission site, to help screen views of the new building from the river. Our client also offered to improve access to the river and manage the land for the benefit of wildlife, and chose to legally bind himself with a Unilateral Undertaking.