Planning obligations

Planning Obligations are legal agreements between a developer and the local planning authority, made to ensure that new development does not put a strain on existing services and facilities like open space, recreation and leisure facilities, roads, schools, libraries or other community services.

Our  Planning Obligations Standards (PDF) [324KB] sets out the planning obligations requirements we may seek in association with new development. This includes education provision, library facilities, fire service provision, green infrastructure, public rights of way, and home to school transport obligations.

In September 2019, amendments to the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations came into force requiring all local authorities to annually disclose revenue and spending in relation to funding received from developer agreements (Section 106 and/or Section 278 Agreements).

This means that we are required to publish an  Infrastructure Funding Statement (IFS) (PDF) [280KB]. This reports on income and expenditure for:

• Education
• Green infrastructure and public rights of way
• Highways and public transport
• Libraries

These documents are updated regularly to keep them up to date and accurate.