Purpose

Worcestershire County Council (WCC) as a local authority enter into section 106 legal agreements (planning obligations) with developers to collect funding for infrastructure requirements1 arising from development across Worcestershire. 

This funding is monitored and reported in an annual funding statement.

Planning obligations are legal obligations entered into to mitigate the impacts of a proposed development. Planning obligations are normally secured through a legal agreement under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) and are a mechanism through which development proposals can be made acceptable in planning terms. 

It is an administrative burden on the County Council to monitor such Agreements. The law permits local authorities to seek a proportionate and reasonable contribution toward the monitoring and reporting of planning obligations through section 106 Agreements. 

For more information please see:

• Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2019. 
• this is further reinforced within National Planning Guidance in September 2019. Please see Planning obligations (GOV.UK), Paragraph: 036 Reference ID: 23b-036-20190901

When planning obligations for transport and education infrastructure are included in a legal agreement, WCC will seek monitoring fees towards the monitoring of such obligations. The fees are based on:

a) the actual work undertaken to administer and ensure compliance with the agreement and

b) the development size

The monitoring fee has two elements:

• a fixed admin set up charge whereby we must undertake an action once and
• a charge based on the size of the development as larger developments generally attract a greater level of work;  this second charge is further multiplied by the number of trigger points to reflect this; this ensures the fees charged are proportionate, reasonable and reflect the actual cost of monitoring

The monitoring fee and all elements of it will be reviewed annually in line with appropriate cost increases.

1 Infrastructure requirements that fall specifically to the county to deliver