b'6 Local Government LawyerShould S106 agreements beKiely believes that the legal preamble atThis is not necessarily down to the standardised? the beginning of a S106 agreement should becapacity of the local authority legal team and replaced by secondary legislation, allowing forcan often be the result of an applicants failure While the sector is unenthused by thenegotiation to focus on obligations. to engage in a timely manner.Governments regulatory tweaks, there areEchoing Kiely, Andrew Taylor believesJohn Gregory meanwhile acknowledges some areas where further legislative reformthe sector needs standard, mandatorythat s106 agreements invariably [hold] would be welcome. templates.everything up for weeks or months.Section 106 agreements are generally seenHe adds: If I can sign a building contractThe holdup, according to Gregory, is as a sticking point for planning applications,from an extension to my house or anythingoften down to resourcing as usually either especially for large developments. Andelse on a template that I can print off thethe planning officer or the legal department negotiating the agreements is a complexwebsite and fill in the details, and thatsunable to respond quickly and deal with the cross-departmental effort, often sucking upacceptable for large scale contracts, I dontagreements quickly. time and resources for both planning andquite understand why every single legalGregory also supports standardising part of legal officers. The delays are so frustratingagreement for a planning application has tothe process. that some planning officers have called forstart from scratch.Acting for developers at the moment, you simplification of the system. And every council has its own specificcome across local authorities, and they all use I get the hump with the lawyers whenapproach to how it does things, rather thana slightly different template for 106, he says. they nitpick over [the S106 agreement],just say a mandatory agreement with standardHaving arguments over those clauses planning consultant Mike Kiely says. clauses. takes a lot of time, whereas if you had a Many a time Ive stopped a meeting, gotAlthough some council insiders do notstandardised template that the government the developer and said, Look, Im going to tellagree with Taylor, with one survey respondentexpected everyone to use, then thats going my lawyer to shut up, will you do the samestating: The completion of s106 agreementsto cut a lot of time and resource out of that and lets move on, he adds. can become very protracted at times.negotiation process.having an adverse impact.How confident are you that the resourcing of LPAs will improve during this parliament?Broken down, 33% of respondents said the shortage has an adverse impact some of the time, 30% reported the shortage having an adverse impact most of the time, andNot at all confident 33%19% said the shortage was having an adverse impact all of the time. Legal teams are dealing with complexNot so confident 22%S106 negotiations, enforcement proceedings, appeals, and judicial reviews. Not sure 26%The private sectorFairly confident 19%has caught up on flexible working, andExtremely confident 0%demands on local government lawyerspressures facing legal departments, and thethat the NPPF changes will either make little are only increasing sector is sceptical that resourcing will improvedifference to council resources (38%) or make in the near future.the situation worse (46%).John Gregory Just 19% of respondents think that theWhile the Governments regulatory resourcing of local planning authorities willtinkering is substantial, and in some areas improve this Parliament, while 26% are unsurewelcomed, it will ultimately remain a The knock-on effect of not having enoughand 55% are not confident that the situationpolitical gesture if resourcing continues to lawyers or planning lawyers available towill improve. Respondents said additionalbe ignored. And if staff numbers remain flat, support them is that all those elementspressures will stem from increased workand developers continue to wrestle with are going to be slowed down significantly,required in relation to Green Belt reviews andinflationary costsall while legal departments Gregory says. preparing local plans. As one person put it:struggle to keep abreast of regulatory As Mike Kiely and John Gregory both hintThere will be some additional impact on theadjustmentshousebuilding figures will at, delays often stem from over-loaded legaltime and cost taken in preparing the Localcontinue to disappoint. teams just as much as under-staffed planningPlan, which results from the amendments to teams.national policy. Adam Carey is a Senior Reporter at Local But the Government is silent on theCompounding this, respondents thinkGovernment Lawyer.'