NO ESCAPE FROM 106

摘要

The Court of Appeal has issued a decision reinforcing the position that parties will, in the absence of exceptional circumstances, be held to the commitments they have made in a planning obligation (a bilateral section 106 agreement or unilateral undertaking). Section 106 obligations are a prominent piece of the development puzzle. Developers are required to enter into them to mitigate the impact of the proposed development so that it is "sustainable" in line with the government's aim for the planning system. Obligations range from sustainability measures to payments for the provision of additional school places to the construction of large pieces of infrastructure such as roads. Developers are often forced to accept unreasonable demands of local authorities in order to secure a planning permission, and many take the view that they may be able to escape these obligations further down the line. However, case law is very clear that parties will be held to their bargains when they enter into such obligations.