Developer Contributions
Developer Contributions is a term used to describe the range of payments that developers make towards the delivery of infrastructure. The main forms of developer contributions are:
- Section 106 Planning Obligations
- Section 278 Highway Agreements
- Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)
Planning Obligations
Local authorities should consider whether otherwise unacceptable development could be made acceptable through the use of conditions or planning obligations.
Planning conditions should be kept to a minimum and only imposed where they are necessary, relevant, enforceable, precise, and reasonable.
S.106 planning obligations and S. 278 agreements should only be used where it is not possible to address unacceptable impacts through a planning condition.
The use of S.106 planning obligations are limited to specific tests which are set out under regulation 122 of the CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended) which states:
“a planning obligation may only constitute a reason for granting planning permission for development if the obligation is:
- Necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms;
- Directly related to the development; and
- Fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the development."
Find out more about the Council’s approach to planning obligations by referring to the Council’s Planning Obligations SPD (December 2023)
Community Infrastructure Levy
The Council adopted the Brentwood CIL Charging Schedule in September 2023 and brought it into effect on 15 January 2024. Therefore, CIL liable developments within the borough also contribute towards infrastructure through the levy, which is a fixed charge levied on new development.
The aim of CIL is to support the delivery of infrastructure that is required to support planned growth in the area. However, it is only possible to take forward a CIL Charging Schedule if:
- the Council can provide evidence of an infrastructure funding gap; and
- can provide viability evidence to show that the proposed levy rate would not put the delivery of the relevant plan at risk (the Brentwood Local Plan 2016-2033).
The Council outlines the infrastructure that will be funded by CIL receipts within its Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) Schedule, 2021. The IDP Schedule was a key evidence document, used to support the Brentwood CIL Charging Schedule at Examination, and illustrates the existence of an infrastructure funding gap. The Schedule also sets out which infrastructure items the Council currently identifies as being funded by CIL.
The Council’s CIL Viability Assessment Update (August 2022) tests the viability of a range of CIL rates against typologies of development that align with the types of development that would contribute towards the delivery of the Brentwood Local Plan 2016 - 2033. Using a range of assumptions, including planning obligation costs, the report recommends a range of CIL rates, which were tested at Examination, and later adopted within the Brentwood CIL Charging Schedule.