Legal Agreement & Infrastructure Payments (CIL)
The Section 106 agreement (or Unilateral Undertaking) has become a standard feature of planning permissions in recent years. Such agreements can have important financial implications, and successful negotiations can make the difference between development being viable or otherwise.
How we can help you:
We have much experience of negotiating Section 106 agreements, and interpreting tariffs to our clients' best advantage. Importantly, we have valuers and affordable housing experts on hand to appraise schemes in detail, and identify what levels of planning obligation are viable.
The groundrules have changed recently, and an increasing number of planning authorities are adopting Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) schemes. Unsure about CIL? Find out more.
Our Expertise:
Negotiating Section 106 agreements is a specialised skill. It requires a full understanding of the planning authority's priorities, the relevant Government guidance, the valuation implications of accepting different levels of planning obligation, and of legal drafting; and the ability to negotiate with planning officers and consultees.
We have all these skills within our Planning team. Where additional support is required, we are readily able to secure it from colleagues elsewhere within Savills - our Valuation and Housing Consultancy teams, for instance. We work closely with lawyers who are specialists in drafting Section 106 agreements/Unilateral Undertakings.
Once a planning permission has been granted, it is often necessary to discharge planning obligations and conditions before the project can proceed. Working with the scheme architect and other members of the professional team, we take responsibility for this process.
The whole field of infrastructure funding is constantly changing, and we are at the forefront of developments with CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) and TIF (Tax Increment Funding), and the evolving role of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).
