Completing a unilateral undertaking

A unilateral undertaking is a simplified version of a planning agreement made under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. It requires that if planning permission is granted and implemented, the required habitat mitigation contribution must be paid.

An undertaking will be appropriate subject to the following requirements:

• The undertaking can only be entered into by the owner of the land to be developed. If the applicant does not own the land they will need to ask the owner to enter into the agreement or secure the payment through a Section 106 Agreement which the land owner will also need to enter into
• Where the land is owned by more than one person, each landowner must enter the agreement.
• If there is a mortgage on the property, the Mortgagee will also be required to sign the Unilateral Undertaking

Content of a Unilateral undertaking

The Council has prepared a standard unilateral undertaking template which includes:

• The per house tariff – to be paid upon commencement of development. No dwellings shall be occupied until the tariff is paid.
• A combined administration and monitoring fee 

Click here for the Standard Unilateral Undertaking template (Word, 486 Kb).

All unilateral undertakings include a flat rate administration and monitoring fee charge in order to meet the costs associated with any drafting, checking, overseeing and approving the unilateral undertaking.

Information required to be submitted

The unilateral undertaking should be submitted with the planning application and include the following information:

• The completed unilateral undertaking
• The mandatory Unilateral Undertaking Plan 1
• Location plan showing the application site edged in red
• HM Land Registry Title Register and Plan, dated no more than three months before, which can be purchased online at www.landregistry.gov.uk. If the title is unregistered, please arrange for a solicitor to complete a Certificate of Title for Unregistered Land.
• If a title transfer has been requested but not yet completed by Land Registry, a certified copy of the TP1 form must be submitted in lieu of Title Register and Plan. Copies of the Title Register and Plan must be submitted as soon as the transfer has completed.

Instalments policy

Where a development is for up to 25 dwellings, the tariff is due for payment in full within 30 days of the date of commencement following an invoice being issued for the sum due.

For developments of 26 dwellings or more an instalments policy has been developed to allow for stage payments.

Number of dwellings	Payment due
26 to 149 dwellings	Full payment within 3 months of the Commencement Date or prior to occupation of 50% of the dwellings whichever occurs first
150 to 299 dwellings	Full payment within 6 months of the Commencement Date or prior to occupation of 50% of the dwellings whichever occurs first
300 or more dwellings	The first instalment of 25% at 6 months from the Commencement Date or prior to Occupation of 20% of the Dwellings whichever occurs first
	The first instalment of 25% at 6 months from the Commencement Date or prior to Occupation of 40% of the Dwellings whichever occurs first
	The first instalment of 25% at 6 months from the Commencement Date or prior to Occupation of 60% of the Dwellings whichever occurs first
	The first instalment of 25% at 6 months from the Commencement Date or prior to Occupation of 80% of the Dwellings whichever occurs first

For outline planning permissions, the instalments will be determined at reserved matters application once number of dwellings has been confirmed.