Planning (Wales) Act 2026

Prospective

165 Planning obligations E+W

(1) Any person interested in land in Wales may, by agreement or otherwise, enter into a planning obligation in relation to the land.

(2) A planning obligation is an obligation, enforceable in accordance with section 166, which—

(a) restricts the development or use of the land in a specified way,

(b) requires specified operations or activities to be carried out on the land,

(c) requires the land to be used in a specified way, or

(d) requires one or more payments to be made to the planning authority in whose area the land is situated.

(3) The reference to development in subsection (2)(a) includes—

(a) in the case of an infrastructure consent obligation, anything that is development for the purposes of the Infrastructure (Wales) Act 2024 (asc 3) (see section 133 of that Act);

(b) in the case of a development consent obligation, anything that is development for the purposes of the Planning Act 2008 (c. 29) (see section 32 of that Act).

(4) A planning obligation—

(a) may be unconditional or subject to conditions, and

(b) may impose a restriction or requirement mentioned in subsection (2)(a) to (c) either indefinitely or for one or more specified periods.

(5) If a planning obligation requires one or more payments to be made, it may—

(a) require the payment of a specified amount or an amount determined in accordance with the instrument by which the obligation is entered into,

(b) require payment on one or more specified dates or periodically, and

(c) if it requires periodical payments to be made, require them to be made indefinitely or for a specified period.

(6) A planning obligation may only be entered into by an instrument executed as a deed which—

(a) states that the obligation is a planning obligation for the purposes of this section,

(b) if the obligation is an infrastructure consent obligation or a development consent obligation, contains a statement to that effect,

(c) identifies the land to which the obligation relates,

(d) identifies every person entering into the obligation and states what each person’s interest in the land is, and

(e) specifies the authority by which the obligation is enforceable (“the enforcing authority”).

(7) The authority specified as the enforcing authority must be the planning authority in whose area the land to which the obligation relates is situated.

(8) But if the obligation relates to land in the area of a joint planning board, the enforcing authority may instead be the council of the county or county borough in which the land is situated.

(9) If the enforcing authority is not a party to the instrument by which the planning obligation is entered into, the parties to the instrument must ensure that a copy of it is given to the enforcing authority.

(10) In this section “specified” means specified in the instrument by which the planning obligation is entered into.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 165 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 409(2)