The Planning etc (Scotland) Act 2006 is due to bring in changes to Planning Agreements (also commonly called “section 75 agreements”), including:
- Unilateral obligations become an option, as well as obligations that have been agreed with the planning authority. Therefore, developers may offer some unilateral commitments. This provides an additional route for developers to use in negotiation with a planning authority or to support arguments during an appeal.
- The scope of obligations that can be imposed will be redefined, making a payment by itself one form of planning obligation. This is different from the current situation where a payment is defined only as being incidental or consequential obligation to another planning obligation.
- If a planning obligation is breached a planning authority will have the power to serve notice of its intention to undertake operations to remedy such breach. The authority will then be able to undertake those operations and recover its reasonable costs for the work from the person(s) who were in breach.
- Modification or discharge of an agreement will be open to a statutory application to the planning authority, who must decide whether or not the agreement is modified or discharged within a set period. If no decision is made, or the authority refuses the application (retaining the agreement in its original form) then there will be provision for appeal to Scottish Ministers.
Additionally, good neighbour agreements are to be introduced, which will be agreements between land owners and community bodies. These will impose obligations relating to operations or activities on land, the use of land and the provision of information to the relevant community body but will not impose payment requirements. They are then enforceable by the community body, rather than by the planning authority.
If you would like to discuss how the changes may affect an application for planning permission or a Planning Agreement you may be negotiating, please contact Marion Davis in bto’s Planning Team.