Securing community benefits through the planning process

This project looked at planning obligations (Section 106 agreements) to determine how councils decide what community benefits to secure through that process, how effectively they are using the system and whether improvements could be made.

It found that there is a wide variation in what councils gain through Section 106 agreements and that, as a result, some communities could be missing out. The report recognises that there are often valid reasons for the disparity and acknowledges some limitations inherent in the process. But overall it concludes that, in order to operate the system most effectively, councils need detailed policies setting out what they expect to achieve through Section 106 agreements, as well as processes to ensure that applications are dealt with consistently. The involvement of councils’ corporate centre is another important factor in improving performance on Section 106.

In order to help councils make these improvements, this study has resulted in four products:

• A summary report which outlines the key findings: Securing community benefits through the planning process
• A value for money self-assessment guide which is aimed at planning departments and helps them assess how effectively they are using planning obligations.
• A route map to improved planning obligations which is also aimed at planning departments and describes the steps that councils need to adopt to improve their approach to Section 106.
• The corporate awareness checklist is aimed at chief executives, leaders and councillors and raises awareness among that group of the potential contribution of planning obligations.
• View the press release: Councils could achieve more for their communities from planning agreements