Meeting with Local Authorities and NBDL
Back to listEnquiry
- Meeting with
- Local Authorities and NBDL
- Date of meeting
- 22 January 2015
- Enquiry type
- Meeting
Advice to Local authorities and the applicant involved in the Navitus Bay Wind park project in respect of s106 agreements, following a discussion at the issue specific hearing held 21 January 2015.
Advice given
In respect of s106 agreements the PINS guidance (Procedural Guide Planning appeals England, 1 April 2014, (available at http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/pins/procedural_guide_planning_appeals.pdf ), is as follows:
?Counterpart documents are legal documents identical in all respects except that each is signed by a different party or parties. This is not appropriate to planning obligations, since these are public law documents which are entered on the planning register and the local land charges register and are often copied to residents and other interested people. The planning obligation should be conveniently available as one single document executed by all the relevant parties.
There may be circumstances where it is agreed in advance by the parties that counterparts are the only practical option. In these cases, both the Inspector and the local planning authority should be satisfied that certified copies of all the individually signed documents have been provided (by a solicitor or other suitably legally qualified person).?
Therefore a single document is considered best, however counterparts can be acceptable if the correct documents are provided as evidence. The s106 should include a clause explicitly providing for the deed to be executed in counterpart.
An example counterpart clause would be "This [agreement OR deed] may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of which when executed [and delivered] shall constitute a duplicate original, but all the counterparts shall together constitute the one agreement.?
This communication does not constitute legal advice and parties should seek their own independent legal advice.