Viability, Obligations and Commercial

Deferred contributions and the security an authority accepts

Where an authority agrees to defer a section 106 financial contribution it will want security. The choice between a bond, a guarantee, a legal charge and an occupation restriction decides the real cost.

Sales value evidence an authority will accept

A small movement in value per square metre swamps most cost arguments, which is why an authority's reviewer starts there. State the selection criteria, show every adjustment, and date the valuation.

Healthcare contributions and the integrated care board ask

Most healthcare contribution requests fail either because they seek revenue funding or because the site lies outside the catchment they rely on. Test the evidence before you negotiate the figure.

Measuring gross internal area for a levy calculation

Internal circulation, plant rooms and undercroft parking all count towards chargeable floorspace. A levy figure built from a net sales schedule gets corrected upwards.

Levy abatement where an earlier permission was implemented

Abatement credits levy already paid when a section 73 permission changes liability. The in-use floorspace deduction is a different mechanism with a different test, and the two are constantly confused.

Transfer prices for affordable units and how they are set

The price a registered provider pays for affordable units is fixed in the section 106 agreement. The mechanism chosen decides who carries build cost inflation and whether the units ever transfer.

Nomination agreements and the affordable housing condition

The section 106 says how many affordable units. The nomination agreement says who lives in them. Developers who find out late find out two weeks before occupation.

Does paying for pre-application advice pay for itself

Pre-application advice pays when the answer could change the scheme. Where the policy position is already clear, the fee buys a letter restating what you knew.

Planning performance agreements: what to put in one

A performance agreement buys predictability on a complex application, not a permission. The clauses that matter are dated milestones, named officers and a section 106 timetable.

21 October 2026Read article →

CIL liability notices and who actually pays the levy

If nobody assumes liability for the Community Infrastructure Levy, it apportions to the owners of the land. The notice sequence, the deadlines and the exemptions that have to be claimed.

Marriage value and site assembly in a viability appraisal

Assembly costs are real, but most of them do not reduce what a scheme can contribute. Where acquisition costs, ransom premiums and created marriage value each belong in the appraisal.

Varying a planning obligation after five years

After the five year relevant period, a statutory application under section 106A replaces negotiation, and a refusal can be appealed under section 106B. What the authority can decide and what it cannot.

Social infrastructure contributions and how they are justified

Contribution requests are built from a yield factor, a capacity claim and a published cost. The arithmetic is usually right, so the argument belongs on the capacity evidence and the statutory tests.

Pooling restrictions and clawback in planning obligations

Regulation 123 and the five obligation pooling cap went in September 2019. What remains is the statutory test in regulation 122, the infrastructure funding statement, and careful drafting against duplication.

Indexation of section 106 contributions and which index applies

The index family and the base date decide how far an indexed contribution moves. Name the series exactly, set the base date to the prices the figure is expressed in, and recalculate every demand.

Phasing a scheme to manage section 106 triggers

Phasing moves when obligations fall due rather than how much they total. Define phases by land parcel, build in a revised phasing plan mechanism, and tie affordable delivery to occupation within each phase.

Spending the levy: the neighbourhood proportion

Parish councils receive 15 per cent of levy receipts, or 25 per cent with a neighbourhood plan. The spending test is wider than the rest of the levy, and the decision is taken in public.

Viability evidence at the plan making stage

Whole plan viability testing decides what policy a scheme can be asked to carry. Applications that comply with an up-to-date plan are assumed viable, which changes where the argument happens.

Open book viability and what can properly be redacted

Publication is the default, and the exceptions are about individual inputs rather than whole documents. Write the appraisal for a public audience from the first draft.

Abnormal costs in a viability appraisal: what survives review

Abnormal costs are challenged less for being unreal than for being counted twice. The benchmark land value is where that argument is won or lost.

Job density and GVA assumptions in an economic case

An economic impact assessment rests on the floorspace per job ratio and the gross value added figure behind it. Where those assumptions break, and how to present net additional effects an officer can rely on.

Flexibility and disaggregation in the sequential test

Main town centre uses outside a centre need a sequential test whatever their size. What flexibility on format, scale and parking really requires, and where disaggregation stops being a reasonable ask.

Grampian conditions where land is outside your control

Where the neighbouring landowner will not sign a section 106, a Grampian condition is the only mechanism left. What makes one deliverable rather than merely lawful.

Appealing a CIL charge: grounds and deadlines

A review by the collecting authority comes first, then an appeal to the Valuation Office Agency or the Planning Inspectorate depending on the dispute. None of the deadlines can be extended.