Viability, Obligations and Commercial – Page 7
Section 106, CIL, viability assessments, affordable housing thresholds and retail tests.
Viability, Obligations and Commercial articles – page 7
173 articlesCommuted sums for off-site affordable housing
National policy treats off-site payments as the exception, so the case has two halves: why not on site, and why this figure. Both need evidence before the section 106 is drafted.
Marketing evidence for a change of use: what councils accept
Councils reject marketing evidence when premises were offered at alternative-use value or on terms no operator would take. What to price at, how long to run it and what the enquiry log must show.
Justifying the loss of a designated employment site
Marketing evidence is the price of entry, and most of it fails on price rather than duration. The stronger case usually comes from obsolescence and from the council's own supply figures.
Regulation 122 and what a planning obligation must satisfy
Three tests decide whether a contribution can lawfully be required. Most disputes are about the third, and most of those are won with the council's own evidence base.
Late stage viability reviews and how the surplus is split
A late stage review turns a viability argument made at application stage into a payment calculated years later. The clause wording decides how much that payment is.
Vacant premises: business rates, planning and reoccupation
Vacancy does not by itself extinguish a lawful use, but long closure, physical decay and an intervening use can. Here is what to check before taking on empty premises.
Infrastructure funding statements: what your council collected
The annual infrastructure funding statement shows what a council took in developer contributions, what it spent and what is still sitting unspent. Here is how to read one.
Meanwhile use and temporary permissions: the commercial case
Check whether you need permission before applying for it. Class E covers most meanwhile uses. Where it does not, duration is the negotiation that decides the business case.
Open space and play space contributions on small schemes
A contribution must be necessary, directly related and fairly proportionate. On schemes under ten units many requests are formulas without evidence. Five questions to ask.
Nutrient neutrality: mitigation credits and what they cost
In affected catchments a scheme cannot be permitted until the nutrient budget balances. The four mitigation routes, what to ask a credit seller, and how to programme it.
Student accommodation and its planning contributions
Student schemes do not produce Class C3 dwellings, so affordable policy applies indirectly if at all. What the use class decides, and what the section 106 usually carries.
Build to rent: affordable provision and the covenant period
Build to rent affordable homes stay with the operator, so the obligation has to work for fifteen years. Here is what the covenant, the discount and the clawback need to say.
Overage and clawback clauses in a planning agreement
Overage gives the council a share of value that appears after permission. The trigger definition is the whole clause, and the rest is arithmetic worth pinning down.
Health contributions and the primary care case
Health contribution requests convert your unit mix into patients and then into premises cost. Each step is checkable, and the link to a named project is where most fail.
Pupil yield and education contributions on a housing scheme
Education contributions are a yield factor times a cost multiplier, minus the places that already exist. Each part of that sum can be checked, and often reduced.
Unilateral undertakings: when to use one instead of an agreement
A unilateral undertaking is given by the landowner alone under section 106. It is faster than a bilateral agreement and central to appeals, but it cannot bind the council to anything.
Section 106 monitoring fees: what a council may charge
The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 put section 106 monitoring fees on an express statutory footing. The argument now is about method, amount and payment terms.
Affordable housing commuted sums: how councils calculate them
Commuted sums for off-site affordable housing are calculated by transfer value or residual appraisal. The method, the base date and the index matter more than the headline figure.
Loss of employment land: the marketing evidence test
Councils refuse employment land release on the evidence rather than the principle. Marketing period, asking price and target audience decide whether the exercise is accepted.
Retail impact assessment: trade diversion and vitality
Failing the impact test is a mandatory refusal. The arithmetic is less contentious than the assumptions behind sales density, catchment and diversion.
The retail sequential test: town centre first in practice
The sequential test asks you to show no suitable town centre or edge of centre site exists. Most failures come from a search area drawn too tightly.
Confidentiality and publication of viability evidence
National guidance expects viability assessments to be publicly available. The categories of redaction that survive scrutiny are narrower than most developers assume.
Review mechanisms in a section 106: early and late stage
A review mechanism re-tests scheme economics after permission and adjusts affordable housing accordingly. The drafting decides the outturn more than the headline percentage does.
Setting the developer return in a viability appraisal
Profit is an input you choose and justify, not a result. Here is how the guidance range works, why affordable units carry a lower return, and where double counting hides.
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