Section 106 agreements

Here you will find out about section 106 agreements.

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Planning obligations under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 are a mechanism which make a development proposal acceptable in planning terms that would not otherwise be acceptable. They are focused on site-specific mitigation of the impact of development.

Common uses of planning obligations are to secure affordable housing and to specify the number, type and timing of this housing, as well as to secure financial contributions to provide infrastructure or affordable housing.

A S106 obligation can also:
  • restrict the development or use of the land in any specified way
  • require specified operations or activities to be carried out in, on, under or over the land
  • require the land to be used in any specified way
  • require a sum or sums to be paid to the authority on a specified date or dates or periodically
Looking for a copy of a S106 agreement?

Search by reference number
Our Section 106 agreements are available to view by entering the application reference number into our Public Access Planning Register. Once you have selected the relevant application the agreement will be displayed in the Documents section.

Search on a map
If you are unsure of the application reference number please locate the site/property on our Interactive Self-Serve Section 106 Agreement Map.

Once the map is open enter an address in the search field (top left) and click the magnifying glass. A search result will highlight the planning reference and this gives a link to the public access system. Click on more information and the legal agreement will be shown within the list of documents for the planning application. Full user guidance notes are provided on the map along with a contact email if you cannot find the Section 106 agreement and believe it is missing.

Search by postcode/house name
If you know the house name/number and postcode you could find the property on the My Place search. Once you have identified the property click on Planning Applications and Appeals for a list of relevant applications and futher details.
When you apply for a S106 agreement you must also pay a monitoring fee and any applicable legal charges.

The form below should be completed by any developer who wishes to proceed with a Section 106 Agreement or Unilateral Undertaking. It should be read in conjunction with the attached notes and the Council’s Guidance Notes and Protocol on Section 106 Planning Obligations 2015.  
Monitoring fees for S106 and UU's 
CIL regulations allows Local Planning Authorities to charge monitoring fees towards the cost of monitoring obligations and for the additional work and resources involved with publishing developer contributions. It will apply to all obligations whether these are by agreement or submitted as unilateral undertakings. The monitoring fee must be paid on signing the S106 agreement. Payment can be made using the 'Pay for section 106 agreement' link below. Please remember to state the invoice number and planning application reference on all payments.
 
The Protocol on Section 106 Planning Obligations July 2015 shown above lists the monitoring fees.

Legal charges for S106 and UU's
The Council will require the developer to contribute towards the costs of preparing the planning obligation or checking any draft agreement or unilateral undertaking. As from 10th January 2022 Northumberland County Council’s legal fees charged to external parties have been brought in line with neighbouring authorities. Please note: Legal fees are handled by the Legal Team. They will send a communication to request the payment at the appropriate time, this will contain instructions on how to make the payment.

View the full list of Legal Services fees
A Section 106 planning obligation may be changed (known as a Deed of Modification) or discharged in two ways.

  • Within five years of the date of the completion of the obligation, at any time, by agreement between us and the person or persons against whom the obligation is enforceable. For a request for the agreement to be amended within five years, you will need to set out reason why this is necessary;
  • After five years beginning with the date the obligation was legally completed (or a later date specified in the obligation itself).
In both cases, the proposal for modification or discharge should be submitted to us by a formal application. There is an application fee of £316 (and potentially legal charges).  The relevant application form must be completed and a copy of the the appropriate ownership notice submitted for the application to be valid. Once accepted as a valid application there is a time limit for the application to be decided within 8 weeks. Payment can be made online.

We will determine the application in one of the following ways:
  1. If the obligation is no longer needed to serve its original intended purpose, it may be discharged;
  2. If we consider that the obligation is still needed to serve its original intended purpose, but that this can be achieved by modifying the obligation in the way proposed in the application, we can agree to modify the obligation;
  3. If we consider that the obligation still serves a useful purpose, we can refuse to discharge the relevant obligation.
The following table shows all S106 financial contributions held and received by the Council.

Section 106 Contributions Table

They are a mixture of commuted sums, site specific amounts and infrastructure amounts to mitigate the impact on the development. Financial contributions are made at different stages of a development, often upon commencement and/or phased at different 'trigger' points. To learn where S106 contributions come from read the Section 106 obligations overview from the Planning Advisory Service.
Financial and non financial developer contributions 2022/2023 summary.

An Infrastructure Funding Statement (IFS) is a document that must be published each year by a “contribution receiving authority”. Northumberland County Council are a contribution receiving authority as we receive money or in-kind obligations from Section 106 agreements. This report covers the period 1st April 2022 to the 31st March 2023.

View the NCC Infrastructure Funding Statement for 2022-2023

Previous versions:
View the NCC Infrastructure Funding Statement for 2021-2022
View the NCC Infrastructure Funding Statement for 2020-2021
View the NCC Infrastructure Funding Statement for 2019-2020
Find out who can apply and what funding is available.

To apply for Affordable Housing monies, please refer to the Affordable Housing protocol guidance and application form on the Affordable Housing web page. To apply for Sport and Play monies please refer to the Funding for Sport and Play web page.