Planning obligations

In certain situations, in addition to the imposition of planning conditions, the Council may require an applicant to enter into a planning deed (commonly known as a S106) with financial and/or non-financial clauses. Any clauses must meet the 3 tests set out in Regulation 122 of the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act as noted in the previous section. 

These agreements can range from being fairly simple/standardised Unilateral undertakings (with just a few clauses) to complex deeds with multiple financial and non-financial clauses. 

Discussions on potential clauses can also be had as part of our pre-application advice service, with detailed negotiations usually occurring on a case by case basis with the planning case officer towards the end of the determination period of a planning application. 

As such, in most cases these agreements will be ‘unique’ to the application/proposal in question. However, there is a common type of agreement which commonly applies to smaller proposals for additional residential units which are located within controlled parking zones (CPZs). This is known as a “car-free” or “car-capping” unilateral undertaking and is designed to mitigate against additional parking pressures resulting from the new residential developments in question. 

If you are proposing this kind of development, then a template agreement is provided below which you can fill in and submit with your application. This may reduce legal costs and the determination period for the application. 

Download a template Car Capping Unilateral Undertaking (Docx, 26KB)

Note that completing this agreement does not necessarily mean that your development will be approved. As this is a legal document, you may also want to take independent legal advice before completing it.

Completing a Planning Deed 

A unilateral undertaking can only be entered into by the OWNER(s) of the land to be developed.

Each owner (if there are multiple) and all those with a significant interest will need to be party to the agreement. If the land is charged to a mortgagee, for example, they will need to be made a party and so it is recommended that they be engaged at an early stage.  If the land is owned by a registered company, then the director(s) will usually be required to sign up to the agreement. 

Please note that: 

• if only one director is available, then that director may sign if his signature is witnessed
• if the land is owned by an individual, then their signature must also be witnessed
• if you have a mortgage, your lender may want to use their standard signature block

In order to determine who owns or has an interest in the land, you may be able to obtain the relevant title(s) from the Land Registry.

You will need to send the following documents to the planning department:

• two copies of the signed and dated unilateral undertaking containing original signatures with a copy of the application site plan shown edged red attached after the second page
• up to date Land Registry title to the land

Please note that a charge will be levied on completed agreements as our legal services will need to check and handle the signing and sealing of any planning deeds/agreements.