How do the dates in the data format related to agreement dates

[mattlucht]

Feedback from London workshop.

There are many different dates when dealing with Section 106 agreements -- its not clear which dates should be used for the entry-date, start-date, and end-date.

[HarrietFisher]

The digital guidance needs to be really clear on what each date means.

Entry date - this is the date that the record is created by entering the data into the monitoring system
Start date - this the date that the S106 has been signed and sealed (could be the same or different to the entry date)
End date - this could be one of many things:

1. the date the planning application was withdrawn or permission expired, rendering the s106 obsolete
2. the date the s106 was superceded or amended and replaced with a newer s106
3. the date that the developer has paid the contribution to the authority and obligation has been discharged/satisfied
4. the date that the council (may be members, may be senior officials) decide what to allocate (earmark) the contribution to
5. the date that the contribution was transferred to a 3rd party (e.g. another council department, the county council, a parish council, or an infrastructure provider e.g. highways england)
6. the date that the contribution was actually spent and the infrastructure built and provided

I'm interested in the last of these - I want to know what infrastructure is actually being delivered, by who, and when (and how much it cost).

I suspect the data available can only take us so far as number 5, when the money has been transferred out of Planning.

ACTION - TO DECIDE WHICH DATE WE WANT TO INCLUDE IN THE DATA FORMAT, AND TO REFLECT IN THE REGS ACCORDINGLY.

[HarrietSander]

There is also the spend by/expiry date of individual S106 contributions to consider, whereby Councils are obliged to hand back any unspent financial S106 contributions to the developer or landowner by the spend deadline (normally 60 months).

Additionally, there is the potential to track/monitor the progress of S106 obligations at the different stages (signed, paid, transferred, infrastructure item or project allocated, spent and infrastructure item delivered/provided). It could almost act as a tracking mechanism, increasing the transparency, openness and accountability of S106 contributions. However, this may over-complicate the S106 register as it exists in its present form, and will require considerable input from local Councils.