Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of routinely using S106 agreements to pay for new sewage treatment plants in order that large developers always make a direct contribution to upgrades of the water and sewerage network to support new housing.

National planning policy sets out that local planning authorities should include policies in their Local Plan for making sufficient provision for water and sewerage infrastructure.

A developer can be required to enter into a section 106 agreement, as a requirement of obtaining planning permission, to make their development ‘acceptable in planning terms’. The section 106 requirement might, for example, require a contribution towards the provision of water and sewerage network upgrades needed due to the development.

Separately, developers also pay water companies for new connections to a water main, with water companies entitled to reclaim reasonable costs.