As the era of austerity rumbles on, an increasingly controversial element of the planning system is the question of how much developers should contribute towards physical and social infrastructure improvements in return for the grant of planning permission. There are growing calls for the state to secure a larger share of the increase in land value when planning permission is granted, and recent changes to planning policy certainly indicate that the government is moving in that direction.

Under the present system, councils aren’t allowed to ask for payments towards whatever they want – instead, the requirements for what can legitimately be funded through planning obligations are set out in law. 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.

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