Section 106 (S106) agreements play a vital role in shaping sustainable communities by ensuring that developments contribute to essential infrastructure and services. However, recent research highlights a growing challenge: billions of pounds in developer contributions remain unspent by local authorities. At Brookbanks, we believe understanding the purpose of these agreements, and how to recover unspent funds, is critical for developers and stakeholders alike.
Grounded in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, S106 agreements are legal obligations designed to mitigate the impact of development. They must be:
Typically, these agreements cover contributions for highways, education, affordable housing, and community facilities. They are binding on the land and can be modified or discharged under certain conditions.
According to recent Home Builders Federation (HBF) research, local authorities in England and Wales are holding over £8 billion of infrastructure payments by developers, including more than £6 billion from S106 agreements and nearly £2 billion from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). Alarmingly, only £20.6 million has been returned to developers in the last five years
.
Several factors contribute to this issue:
For many developers, recovery of unspent contributions is not a priority. Reasons include:
Actively pursuing unspent contributions offers significant advantages:
To maximise recovery opportunities:
We’ve launched a dedicated Section 106 recovery service to support developers in reclaiming unspent contributions. Our team will:
To learn more watch the full webinar, or contact Ben Wakeling at ben.wakeling@brookbanks.com and connect on LinkedIn.
Explore how structural and building services design overlap across RIBA stages, why coordination matters, and how our integrated approach improves building engineering outcomes.
The UK’s housing delivery challenge is well-documented. Yet amid the national conversation about planning reform, infrastructure, and build-out rates, one group consistently punches above its weight: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) housebuilders. SMEs are a vital part of the solution, but they face very real and persistent hurdles development strategies.
At Brookbanks, we know EV charging becomes far more manageable when it’s approached as part of a wider development picture rather than an isolated task. Rising regulatory demands, limited capacity, cost pressures and the realities of underground or enclosed parking all interact in ways that can affect programme, viability and long‑term performance. This article looks at the recurring challenges we see across residential, commercial and mixed‑use projects and the practical steps that help developments meet Part S requirements, manage grid limitations, integrate load‑balancing and smart‑charging systems, and plan for solar PV and battery storage. The aim is to provide clear, grounded insight that helps teams design EV strategies that genuinely stand up to modern development demands.