WARRINGTON Borough Council could receive more than £30.5 million from firms over a ten-year period to help mitigate the impact of developments.

A section 106 is a legal agreement between an applicant seeking planning permission and the local authority.

It aims to improve infrastructure and mitigate the impact of a development on the community.

Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, the council provided details of the annual section 106 agreements signed and contributions received between 2008-09 and 2017-18.

But it says it did not produce a report for 2011-12 and that it ‘will not be possible’ to retrospectively produce one within the time limits for responding to an FOI.

Since 2008, the value of agreements signed and potential total income for the council totalled more than £30,671,400, but the payments received totalled in excess of £18,841,000.

A spokesman said: “This is because there have been a number of major schemes which have been granted planning permission but have yet to have either commenced, or reached the trigger point where payment is due.”

A huge chunk of the anticipated payments feature in the 2018 annual monitoring report, which covers April 2017 to March 2018.

Six section 106 agreements were signed and there were three ‘unilateral undertakings’, which provided a total future income of £8,996,542.

It was primarily due to agreements for three key Homes England sites in the south of the borough – Pewterspear Green Road, Grappenhall Heys and Appleton Cross.

The council also confirmed it received £2,972,384 from previous agreements over this period.

Furthermore, it says it has not repaid any section 106 cash over the period due to it not being spent or allocated in time.

Town Hall chiefs also set out how they intend to hold developers to account to ensure payments are received.

“The council undertakes regular monitoring to ensure that payments are made in accordance with the requirements of the legal agreements,” added the spokesman.

“Over the period since 2008, there have not been any instances where required payments have not been made.

“Should prompt payment not be made then the council would undertake enforcement action to ensure the appropriate payment is fully secured.”