For our strategic policy on developer contributions, see Policy CS8 (and supporting text) in our Core Strategy Development Plan Document.
We've adopted a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) that places a levy on new developments in Rutland towards meeting the cost of infrastructure.
Developers sign agreements under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
The agreements make their developments acceptable in planning terms.
Agreements mainly cover affordable housing and exceptional cases. Exceptional cases are where any of these are essential to make the proposed development acceptable:
Find out more in the Supplementary Planning Document on Planning Obligations 2016
Councils cannot generally seek affordable housing contributions on sites of less than ten dwellings - the main exceptions to this are:
Rutland is a designated rural area, and we require financial contributions for affordable housing from sites of six to ten dwellings in all parishes except Oakham and Uppingham.
The affordable housing contribution at 30% is currently (from 1 April 2024) £233 per metre squared, per market dwelling. The cap per dwelling is 107 metres squared, based on the average gross internal development area.
This will increase from 1 April each year for new agreements, in line with indexation agreements. You can find indexation agreement details in the supplementary planning document.
This is so new agreements start with a figure that allows for indexation since the standard rate for affordable housing commuted sums was calculated.
A range of affordable housing thresholds are in place across different settlements. These are the the lowest level (inclusive) at which affordable housing is required, and also affects whether affordable housing is required on site.
There are rules to deter the underdevelopment and artificial development of sites. There are also exceptional reasons for off site provision on larger sites, and the vacant building credit.
As long as it's not an exception site, the 30% requirement is taken as read.
Thresholds and their sources:
| Parish | Smaller site threshold | Major site threshold | Source document |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oakham | Not applicable | 10 on site, half a hectare or more | Oakham and Barleythorpe Neighbourhood Plan (policy 3) |
| Barleythorpe | Six to nine on site | 10 on site | Oakham and Barleythorpe Neighbourhood Plan (policy 3) |
| Uppingham | Not applicable | 11 or more on site | Report number 119 |
| Cottesmore | six to ten on site | 11 or more on site | Policy COT H3 - Cottesmore Neighbourhood Plan |
| Other | Six to ten off site | 11 or more on site | Report number 119 |
Planning obligations in Section 106 agreements run with the land they're related to. This means any outstanding obligations will be transferred with the land, if it's sold - so planning obligations can affect the value of land.
This information is recorded as a local land charge on the land charges register. This will be revealed when a potential buyer of an individual home or entire development site submit a search.
Outstanding planning obligations are legally enforceable against the obligated land's registered owner. This also applies to successors in title. We will enforce against non-payment of a Section 106 contribution if a developer reaches a trigger point without paying us within the required timescales.
Planning obligations will not normally be enforceable against individual units within larger development sites. This is not to say that section 106 obligations will not impact your property - for example, where an open space management company does not maintain the open spaces and play areas as set out in the agreement.
Find Section 106 Agreements and Unilateral Undertakings on our Public Access System
You can search using:
You'll find them in the application's documents tab.