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Section 106 agreements and Unilateral Undertakings (UU) are legal agreements between developers and the local council and are the means we use to secure the contributions
S106 agreements are linked to a specific planning permission and therefore the responsibility to discharge all parts of the agreement lies with the land owner/developer
S106 agreements are transferrable between developers when the land is sold on. It is the responsibility of the original owner to inform us of the sale of the land, and provide us with the name and contact details of the new owner.
S106 agreements are required when a development impacts on the local area in such a way that cannot be addressed through planning conditions.
for example, a new residential development may increase the number of pupils attending a primary school, therefore financial contributions may be required to fund the expansion of that school
some contributions are specific to certain needs of the local area in which the development is being built, and others can be more general and can cover the broader area of the district.
Not all developments require a S106 agreement or Unilateral Undertaking. It depends on the scale of the development and the location. Developments that require a S106 include:
major developments of 10 units and above
developments that will impact the strategic highway network such as the Duke of York and Whitfield Roundabouts.
They must meet certain legal tests. They must be:
necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms
directly related to the development; and
fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the development.
For development within the Thanet Coast and Sandwich Bay area, a specific contribution is required and is calculated upon the number of bedrooms.
Each contribution is calculated on a case by case basis and is agreed between us and the developer (and Kent County Council as appropriate).
There are two standing charges for each S106 agreement.
S106 standing charges
Fee
Cost
Reason
Legal fees
£275 per hour but subject to a minimum charge of £1,300 for a new agreement and £680 for a variation
Towards the council's proper and reasonable legal and administrative costs for the preparation, execution and registration of the S106 Agreement.
Monitoring fees
£250 flat rate for Unilateral Undertakings/S106 for SPA mitigation £500 per trigger event on all other S106 agreements for financial obligations and non-financial obligations
Towards the council's costs of monitoring the compliance of the development with the terms of the S106 Agreement. This fee is applied when discharging both a financial and non-financial obligation.
it is the responsibility of the developer to advise us when they have reached each trigger point and are ready to pay their financial contribution or discharge their non-financial obligation
depending on the S106 agreement or Unilateral Undertaking, the developer contributions will either be paid to Dover District Council or Kent County Council or both
within the signed agreement, there will be a schedule which sets out the financial and non-financial obligations to be discharged and when - these are called 'trigger points'.
once notification has been received, the S106 officer will be in contact with indexation calculations (if required in the legal agreement), and an invoice will be raised
once an invoice is received, payments can then be made - please do not pay your contributions without an invoice
S106 planning obligations are attached to the land, so future owners and occupiers may be bound by them. This means conveyancing solicitors often request copies of S106 agreements and evidence that obligations have been met.
Most S106 agreements are available on the S106 planning map. Search using the postcode linked to the planning application.
To request a formal compliance letter for a specific agreement, email developer.contributions@dover.gov.uk (opens in new tab) . The fee is £150 per agreement. You will receive a response within 10 working days of a valid request.
We can only identify and confirm obligations recorded as paid or discharged. We do not carry out full checks of each agreement. If you have further queries, specify the relevant obligation and we will provide any additional information we hold.
