Government updates planning guidance to speed up section 106 negotiations

The updated guidance now promotes the use of standard templates and wording so that local authorities do not have to start drafting the full agreement from the beginning. This model wording can be taken from previous agreements or ones published by other bodies and should be made publicly available.

Local authorities and developers are encouraged to "make use of the skills of officers from other local planning authorities or contractual arrangements to make use of external third party experts", according to the government's response to the consultation (13-page / 318KB PDF).

The guidance also confirmed that negotiations should be concluded within statutory time limits and if an extension is required then this needs to be agreed in writing. Other recommendations are for all parties to discuss the planning obligations at the pre-application stage and to use an open book approach to "promote greater transparency" throughout the process.

"These changes are important and welcome. The updated guidance to help speed up of section 106 negotiations is something I particularly welcome given the delays that often occur at that stage in the grant of permissions," said planning expert Richard Ford of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-law.com.

The consultation sought to analyse if completing section 106 agreements delayed the planning application process and to seek potential measures to speed this up. The consultation responses showed that organisations believed that negotiating the section 106 agreement was a "significant source of delay within the planning process" and supported the view that the government should consider making legislative changes to the current framework to resolve delays when negotiating these agreements.

The government has also announced a commitment to implementing the zero carbon homes standard in 2016. It was announced that developments with 10 homes or fewer will need to satisfy the strengthened on-site energy performance standard but will not need to support any further off-site mitigation measures.

The government said it will continue to encourage development on brownfield land by way of Local Development Orders and will provide financial support to those councils who successfully bid in January for funding to help them prepare LDOs, which the government said will help deliver 200,000 homes on brownfield sites.