At Monmouthshire County Council's (MCC) planning meeting on Tuesday 3rd March, the committee accepted a report which plans to introduce an administration/monitoring charge for Section 106 planning agreements.

There are currently no charges levied by the council in terms of general administration and monitoring of the agreement system around Section 106.

The planned charges would help the council recover its costs in this area and would remain separate from the legal costs for drafting, approving and amending a Section 106 agreement. These will continue to be recovered by the council's legal team.

The aim of charging is to make sure that the system of using developer obligations to secure contributions, either in kind or financial, is cost neutral.

With this in mind, the preferred suggestion is to set a charge at 3 per cent of the total financial contribution from each planning obligation. This would sit in line with other local authorities in Wales and is calculated to cover the council's costs.

This charge has no effect on householder developments and affordable housing schemes which require less monitoring. A nominal, minimal charge of £150 to cover the basic costs will cover these cases.

The planning committee's recommendation will go before Monmouthshire County Council's cabinet for a final decision.