Have your say on Section 106 charges

UPDATE: S106 charges are gone

Section 106 agreements can be a nightmare for developers – they’ve been known to add months to the planning process, stalling work and potentially adding avoidable costs to a project or even leading to the abandonment of others altogether.

Also known as ‘developer contributions’ the charges vary significantly and are usually used to make a development proposal that would otherwise have been rejected as being unsuitable in planning terms acceptable. For example, you may be asked to pay some money to provide infrastructure or affordable housing.

Now you’ve got a chance to change this. The government is seeking your views on plans to speed up the process and make it cheaper and easier to build new properties or bring disused buildings back into use in England.

The new Section 106 proposals include:

• Setting clear time limits so section 106 negotiations are completed in line with the existing eight to 13-week target for planning applications to be processed rather than letting them slow the whole planning process down
• Requiring parties to start discussions at the beginning of the planning application process, rather than the current system where negotiations can often start towards the end
• Creating a dispute resolution process where negotiations stall, preventing development
• Using standardised documents to avoid agreements being drafted from scratch for each and every application
• Introducing potential legislation in the next parliament to give the new measures teeth.

Make your voice heard by responding to the consultation. Who knows what you may achieve? Note that the proposed changes only apply to England and not to Wales.

See December 2014's update: Section 106 charges gone.