Developer contributions are usually secured through a legal agreement known as a planning obligation entered into under Section 75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended (the Act).
Commonly referred to as section 75 agreements, their purpose is to mitigate the impacts of proposed developments, in order to make them acceptable in planning terms. As such, they are used specifically where a planning condition or another form of legal agreement would not be appropriate to address the development’s impacts or overcome a barrier to granting planning permission.
Planning obligations can be entered into between a person with an interest in the land and the planning authority; or via a unilateral undertaking by a person with an interest in the land.