How to check what a section 106 agreement delivered
Planning obligations are public documents and councils must report on them annually. Reading the triggers before the totals is what turns a general grievance into a specific question.
The section 106 agreement for the estate down the road is a public document, and so is the council's annual account of what it did with the money. Finding out what a section 106 agreement delivered takes three steps: get the deed off the planning file, read the triggers rather than the totals, and then check the authority's infrastructure funding statement for what was received, allocated and spent. Most of the frustration people feel about planning obligations comes from never having done the first step.
Finding the agreement on the planning file
Start with the application reference. Every planning permission granted subject to an obligation should have the deed, or a reference to it, held with the application documents on the council's online register.
Not every authority publishes the deed itself. Some list it as a document type with no file attached, some redact signature pages, and older agreements from before online registers began are often held only in paper. Where the document is missing, ask the planning department directly and, if that fails, make a request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, which cover information on measures affecting the environment and carry a 20 working day deadline.
Planning obligations are also registrable as local land charges, so a search against the title will reveal the existence of an agreement even where the planning file is thin.
Ask for the plan attached to the deed as well as the deed itself. Obligations frequently define land by reference to a coloured plan, and without it the wording is unreadable. Ask too whether the deed has been varied since it was signed, because a deed of variation is a separate document and is often filed under a different reference.
Reading the heads of terms and the triggers
Skip the recitals and go to the schedules. Each obligation has three components worth isolating: what is promised, when it becomes due, and what happens if it is not performed.
The trigger is the part people miss. A contribution due "prior to occupation of the 50th dwelling" on a scheme built out in phases may not have fallen due at all if the site stalled at 40 units. A commitment to transfer land "on practical completion of the community building" depends on a building that may never have been started. Read every trigger before concluding anything has gone wrong.
Then check the indexation clause. Most monetary obligations are index linked from the date of the agreement to the date of payment, so the sum in the deed is not the sum received. That is also why the figure in a committee report rarely matches the figure in the accounts, in the same way that CIL charging schedules are indexed rather than fixed.
Finally look for the repayment clause. Many deeds require unspent contributions to be returned to the developer, with interest, if not applied within five or ten years of receipt. That clause creates a deadline for the council and is the single most useful thing to know when asking questions.
The annual infrastructure funding statement
Since the 2019 reforms to the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations, authorities that receive levy income or planning obligations must publish an infrastructure funding statement each year, by the end of December, covering the previous financial year.
The statement is a reporting document rather than a plan, and it should tell you four things: the obligations entered into during the year, the money received, the money allocated to particular projects, and the money spent with a description of what it was spent on. It also reports contributions retained from earlier years.
Read it alongside the deed rather than on its own. The statement aggregates, so a single school contribution appears inside a category total. What the statement gives you is the question to ask: if the deed says £180,000 for primary school places at a named school and the statement shows nothing allocated to that school, you have something specific to raise.
Where the authority has not published a statement, or has published one that omits the categories, that is itself worth pursuing with the monitoring officer. And compare two consecutive years rather than reading one in isolation, because the retained balance carried forward tells you more than any single year's receipts.
Asking the authority for a compliance position
Write to the section 106 monitoring officer, by name if the council publishes one, with the application reference, the date of the deed and a numbered list of the obligations you are asking about.
Ask four questions for each.
- Has the trigger been reached, and on what date?
- What sum was received, including indexation, and when?
- To what project has it been allocated, and has it been spent?
- What is the repayment date under the deed, if unspent?
Keep the tone administrative. Monitoring officers deal with a large volume of enquiries and a precise list gets answered where a general complaint does not. If the reply is unhelpful, the same questions can be put as an information request, and the answers then have to be given within a statutory period.
Monitoring fees are now a normal part of these agreements, which means the authority is being paid to keep exactly the records you are asking for.
When an obligation has not been delivered
A third party cannot enforce a planning obligation. The agreement is between the authority and the parties with an interest in the land, and only the authority can take action.
What the authority can do is seek an injunction, or in some cases carry out the works itself and recover the cost from the person bound by the obligation, since the obligation is enforceable against successors in title. Pressing the council to use those powers is the practical route.
There are three levers. Raise it with the ward councillor and ask for it to be put to the relevant scrutiny committee. Ask the monitoring officer for the compliance position in writing, which creates a record. And where the authority has failed to administer the obligation at all, complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which can find maladministration even though it cannot order the contribution to be collected.
Be alert to modification as well as breach. An obligation can be modified or discharged by agreement, and after five years an application can be made under section 106A with an appeal to the Secretary of State if it is refused. Viability-led renegotiation of affordable housing happens this way, and it is a public process, so it appears on the register and can be commented on. The same instinct that makes it worth asking questions at a developer's consultation event applies here: the moment to engage is while the application is live.
For community groups drafting their own response to a live scheme, the council's Statement of Community Involvement sets out what consultation the authority has committed to. Browse all 66 PlanScope report types and start a draft if you are on the applicant side and need the evidence base that supports the obligations being negotiated.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I find a section 106 agreement?
With the application documents on the council's online planning register, filed against the permission it relates to. Where the deed is not published, ask the planning department and then make a request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, which carry a 20 working day deadline. Obligations are also registrable as local land charges.
What is an infrastructure funding statement?
An annual report that authorities receiving Community Infrastructure Levy or planning obligations must publish by the end of December, covering the previous financial year. It sets out obligations entered into, money received, money allocated to projects and money spent, along with sums retained from earlier years. Read it alongside the deed rather than on its own.
Why does the contribution received differ from the figure in the deed?
Because most monetary obligations are index linked from the date of the agreement to the date of payment. The sum in the schedule is a base figure, not the amount that arrives. Check the indexation clause and the index named in it before comparing the deed against a committee report or an annual statement.
Can a resident enforce a section 106 obligation?
No. The agreement binds the parties with an interest in the land and the local planning authority, and only the authority can enforce it, by injunction or by carrying out works and recovering the cost. Residents press the authority instead, through councillors, a written request for the compliance position, or an Ombudsman complaint.
What happens to contributions the council never spends?
Many deeds require unspent sums to be returned to the developer with interest if not applied within a stated period, commonly five or ten years from receipt. Find that clause and note the date, because it gives the authority a deadline and gives you a concrete question to ask the monitoring officer.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.