WATCH OUT FOR SECTION 106
WATCH OUT FOR SECTION 106
BE ready to respond if the council hits you with a Section 106 Agreement. These are legally-binding agreements that local authorities often impose and they can cover a wide range of things.
They often come out of the blue and late in the application process and can even arrive up to two weeks after planning consent has been granted. Moreover, once agreed, you cant appeal against a Section 106 Agreement for five years.
For farmers trying to get planning permission on barn conversions the Section 106 Agreements are usually there to put constraints on usage and numbers of visitors. If the barn is being turned into a tea-room, for instance, it may specify that if visitor numbers exceed a certain figure a slip-road will have to be installed.
Equally, the local authority may say that planning consent is conditional on the building only being for personal use – meaning that you cant sell it or get a mortgage on it.
What do the experts advise?
• Avoid a Section 106 coming out of the blue by keeping in touch with the planning officer. When you think that you and the planners are near to agreement ask the planning officer whether he is likely to impose any planning conditions and, if so, what they are.
• Never sign a Section 106 Agreement without studying it thoroughly. "Theres a temptation to want to get on with gaining consent and think youll deal with the Section 106 later," says Barry Davies. "Dont."
• All aspects of a Section 106 are negotiable. You may sometimes have a case for asking for a reasonable planning condition rather than a Section 106.
Section 106 agreements can come out of the blue, so be ready for them.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Tony Kernon Tel: 01367-850123 Fax: 01367-850136
E-mail: kernon@tinyonline.co.uk
Barry Davies Tel: 01536-524808 Fax: 01536-415095
E-mail: daviesco@skynet.co.uk
British Institute of Agricultural Consultants
Tel: 01795-830100
Fax: 01795-830243
E-mail: info@biac.co.uk.
Web-site: www.biac.co.uk (includes list of members)
Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Tel: 020-7222 7000 Fax: 020-7222 9430
E-mail: info@rics.org.
Web-site: www.rics.org
(includes list of members).
ROUGH COSTS*
• Simple change of barn use from agricultural to commercial – £1000-£2500 (+£1000 if a traffic survey has to be carried out).
• More complex, eg opening a tea-room/restaurant/crafts in traditional building/adventure playground – £2000-£5000 (+ £2500-£3000 on highways).
• Very complex, eg rural visitor/shopping centre in traditional buildings/farm park/ go-karting (or if rectification of previous works carried out without planning consent) – £10,000+.
* These are the costs of getting planning permission, including experts fees. They dont include building costs.