Requests to vary S106 agreements

What are S106 agreements?

Section 106 agreements are legal agreements that are often used by us on major and complex applications to secure public benefits (planning obligations) from applicants that are necessary to make the proposed development acceptable.

There are a wide range of public benefits that are secured as planning obligations via S106 agreements, but benefits that are frequently secured in this way include affordable housing, public realm works and various financial contributions (such as towards inclusive economy and carbon off-setting).

You can find out more about S106 agreements and their use on our Planning obligations (Section 106) page.

Varying a S106 agreement

Typically proposals to vary S106 agreements will form part of a S73 application to make minor material amendments to an existing planning permission. In such cases the council will not require a separate fee to cover planning officer costs to handle the variation of the original S106 agreement. However, the council's legal costs and those associated with procuring third party specialist advice, where this is reasonably required, will still need to be paid by the applicant.

Occasionally an applicant may consider it necessary to seek to vary a S106 agreement outside of a S73 application, typically where circumstances such as development viability have changed substantially since the original grant of permission, but where no material amendments are proposed to the development itself. In such circumstances the council charges the following fees for handling the request to vary the current S106 agreement.

The fees are reflective of the planning officer costs associated with responding to your request. Please note that they are not inclusive of the council's legal costs, which will be separately calculated by our solicitors and will be payable on completion of a deed of variation or closure of the solicitors file where a deed of variation is not entered into.

They also do not include any third party specialist advice that the council may reasonably need to procure to independently assess your proposed variation (such as viability advice). Where third party specialist advice is required, it will continue to be the expectation that the applicant will meet the costs incurred by the council.

For further advice on the timescales for negotiation of revisions to an original S106 agreement you should contact the original case officer using the contact details on the original decision letter.

You can also contact the Planning Team at [email protected]. Timescales will be reflective of the complexity of the original S106 and the proposed variations and will need to be estimated by officers on a case by case basis.

How to apply

Requests to vary a S106 agreement without making a S73 application should be submitted by email to [email protected]. Payment of the appropriate fee should be made concurrently via the link below. Please ensure the payment reference includes the site address and the reference number for the originally approved development. Confirmation of fee payment should be forwarded to the Planning Team immediately on receipt.

Pay request to vary S106 agreement fee