Planning conditions, agreements and developer contributions

Last updated: 2 July 2025

Planning conditions are the conditions imposed on planning permissions to make otherwise unacceptable developments acceptable. Conditions can be used to restrict what can be done on land or require the developer to get specific approval for aspects of the development before development can be commenced or occupied. 

However, the starting point for any development proposal should be to identify ways to avoid harmful impacts on wildlife, such as looking for alternative sites or redesigning the scheme. The next step is then mitigation of any impacts that can’t be avoided, and as a last resort compensation should be used to offset any unavoidable remaining impacts (eg wildlife features replaced, usually off-site). This ‘avoid, mitigate, compensate’ approach is known as the mitigation hierarchy. 

Conditions are therefore used to prevent or mitigate unacceptable effects of a development. For example, a new housing development may only be considered acceptable if environmental impacts are avoided, reduced or compensated for. If the applicant proposes that new trees are planted to replace trees that need to be removed, a condition can be used to secure details of the new trees (eg their species, number and location), when they should be planted and how they should be looked after. Without a condition like this, the applicant may not carry out the required planting in the most effective way, or they may not do it at all.  

Conditions can also be used to ensure further details and information are provided which are not available at the time of the decision. For example, an applicant could be required to submit landscaping details or building materials to the local planning authority (LPA) for approval before the development can begin. Enough information should be available to make a good decision, but it can be reasonable to accept that some information will not be known until a later stage. This can still be considered and controlled by the use of conditions. 

Ecological assessments should be carried out before planning permission is granted to identify the likely impacts of the development on wildlife and recommend any necessary measures to avoid, mitigate or compensate for those impacts. A planning condition can then be used to secure the measures necessary to protect wildlife interests. Conditions may also be used to require further surveys to be carried out, for example just before work starts on site.

The Development Management Practice Note 20 ‘Use of Planning Conditions’ sets out six tests that all planning conditions need to meet. It states that planning conditions should only be imposed where they are: 
 

1. Necessary  

2. Relevant to planning 

3. Relevant to the development to be permitted  

4. Enforceable  

5. Precise  

6. Reasonable in all other respects 

Reasons for using each condition must be provided by the LPA. It is very important that conditions are worded in a certain way so it is clear what is being asked for. This enables the LPA to take appropriate action if the applicant doesn’t do what the condition says.  

Any proposed condition that fails to meet one of the six tests should not be used, even if the applicant suggests or agrees to it, or it is suggested by the members of a planning committee or an interested party. 

Statutory consultees (such as the Natural Environment Division of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs) and anyone else commenting on a planning application, can suggest draft conditions or issues that should be controlled by conditions. The exact wording doesn’t need to be provided. The LPA will then decide whether to use such conditions.  

Some planning conditions require the applicant to do certain things or submit further details before the development can be carried out. For example, details of a landscaping scheme for a housing development might need to be submitted for the approval of the LPA before the development can begin. This process is known as the ‘discharge’ of conditions. 

In most cases the LPA must notify the applicant of its decision to discharge a condition or not within eight weeks, or a longer period for more complex matters, as agreed between the two parties.  

If the submitted details are considered acceptable, the LPA will approve the discharge of conditions application in writing and the development can proceed in accordance with the approved details.  

An application can be made to the LPA to vary or remove a condition under Section 54 of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011. 

Whatever the outcome of the application, the original planning permission and its conditions will continue to exist and will still have effect until any new permission is granted and implemented. 

Permission granted under Section 54 constitutes a new, independent permission to carry out the same development as previously permitted, subject to any amended conditions. The LPA may also impose new conditions, provided that they don’t materially change the proposal and the conditions could have been imposed on the earlier permission. 

The new planning permission sits alongside the original one, so it is up to the applicant to decide which permission to implement.  

Decision notices for the grant of planning permission under Section 54 should include any new or amended conditions, and restate the conditions imposed on earlier permissions that are not yet discharged or varied.  

Under the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, a Section 76 planning agreement is a legally binding agreement, usually between the applicant or landowner and the council, to secure specific planning obligations necessary to make proposed development acceptable. A planning agreement must be signed and completed before planning permission can be issued. 

Planning agreements are agreed to by the applicant and are used to secure a variety of positive obligations that can’t be secured by condition. These can include affordable housing, green space and financial contributions towards the provision of measures to mitigate the negative impacts of a development. For example, an applicant could sign up to a woodland management plan to help offset the impact of a development proposal for new woodland holiday lodges. 

Planning agreements can be used to secure off-site mitigation, whereas planning conditions can only be imposed on land within the application site boundary, or land which is in the applicant’s control.  

Planning agreements may take the following forms:  

Unilateral agreement – the applicant is the sole party to the agreement. 

Bi-lateral agreement – the applicant and council are signatories to the agreement. 

Multi-lateral agreement – the applicant and council are signatories as well as other parties such as the landowner (if different from the applicant) or government departments. 

Planning agreements should only be used where it isn’t possible to address unacceptable impacts through a planning condition and must meet all the following tests: 
 

1. Necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms 

2. Directly related to the development 

3. Fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the development 

The LPA must secure all necessary planning obligations via a Section 76 agreement prior to issuing a planning permission.  

Once a planning agreement is signed, the council will register it on the Statutory Charges Register as required by Section 245 of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011. The purpose for this is to make the planning agreement publicly available and ensure that its provisions are enforceable against successive owners of the site to which the agreement relates to. The council will notify the Land Registry of any modifications to, or discharge of, the planning agreement. 

Under Section 77 of the Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, an applicant, or the future owner/occupier of the land, can apply to the LPA to have a planning agreement either modified or discharged (meaning it will cease to have effect) after a period of five years from when it is signed and completed, or such other period specified in the agreement. 

Developer contributions are a form of planning obligation and can be used to help local councils deliver the infrastructure needed to support development in their areas, such as parks and green spaces, transport, healthcare, community facilities and flood defences. The Strategic Planning Policy Statement for Northern Ireland provides advice on the use of developer contributions at paragraph 5.69.  

Developer contributions are secured through planning agreements and under Article 122 of the Roads (Northern Ireland) Order 1993 (for infrastructure works).  

Developers may decide to offer community benefits to communities likely to be affected by their development. This may include payments to the community, in-kind benefits and shared ownership arrangements. However, community benefits are voluntary and are not legislated for in the same way as planning agreements/developer contributions. For this reason, community benefits are not material considerations in the determination of planning applications. 

The Strategic Planning Policy Statement