Member
Hefin David Caerphilly
WQ88943 (e) Tabled on 06/09/2023

Will the Minister confirm who is responsible for making the recommendation of a Section 106 Agreement as part of the Development of National Significance (DNS) process?

Answered by Minister for Climate Change | Answered on 12/09/2023

Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (“the Planning Act”) provides that persons with an interest in land may enter into a planning obligation, either by agreement with the Local Planning Authority (“LPA”) or unilaterally by offering binding commitments. 

When planning obligations are drafted to refer to individual planning applications the legal obligations they contain can address concerns the LPA may have about specific impacts of a development proposal. 

Planning obligations should only be used where it is not possible to mitigate the impacts of development through a planning condition.  The use of planning obligations is subject to legal tests, which are set out in the Community and Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010.  They must be:

·       necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms;

·       directly related to the development;

·       fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the development.

For DNS proposals the applicant is responsible for engaging with the LPA at an early stage in the process to establish if planning obligations will be required.  In order to be validated and accepted by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (“PEDW”) DNS applications must be accompanied by a written statement, regarding the status of discussions between the applicant and the local planning authority in respect of planning obligations.

DNS applications are examined by a Planning Inspector, appointed by PEDW on behalf of the Welsh Ministers.  The Planning Inspector provides a report with their conclusions and recommendations for consideration by the Welsh Ministers.  The Inspector’s report will note whether a planning obligation has been submitted by the LPA and developer.  The report will advise if the planning obligation meets the relevant legal tests and whether the Inspector has taken it into account in making their recommendation.

The Welsh Ministers’ final decision letter will subsequently indicate whether a planning obligation was taken into account in the determination of a DNS proposal.