Disclosure Log
Planning Legal and Ecological Capacities (FOI/8466)
Message from Nottinghamshire County Council - 16 September 2026
Dear **********,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 – REQUEST FOR INFORMATION REFERENCE FOI/8466
Thank you for your request for information relating to Planning Legal and Ecological Capacities.
We are now able to provide the following information:
Ecological capacity
1. As of 1 April 2026, how many posts within the authority provide ecological advice on planning applications Please state the number of posts and the total full-time equivalent (FTE). 2 FTE posts.
2. Do the duties of any of those posts include the assessment of biodiversity gain plans or statutory biodiversity metric calculations submitted under Schedule 7A to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 Yes/No is OK. Yes.
3. Does the authority obtain ecological advice on planning applications other than from its own directly employed staff Please indicate which of the following apply and name the body concerned: No.
(a) a county council or other local authority; (b) a shared or joint service, or a local authority owned company; (c) external consultants under a framework or standing contract; (d) external consultants instructed case by case (Natural England and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust as determined by the requirements of the DMPO or the case officer.)
Where a shared arrangement operates, please state the total FTE of the shared resource and the number of authorities it serves.
Legal capacity
4. As at 1 April 2026, how does the authority obtain legal advice on planning matters Please indicate all that apply and name the advice provider:
(a) an in-house legal team employed directly by the authority; (b) a shared legal service, joint arrangement or LPA-owned company; (c) legal services provided by a county council or other local authority (e.g. under a service-level agreement); (d) a framework, panel or standing contract with external solicitors; (e) external solicitors or counsel instructed case by case.
(a) an in-house legal team employed directly by the authority;
(e) external solicitors or counsel instructed case by case.
The Council’s inhouse Legal Services maintains 1FTE solicitor post specialising in Planning which is currently vacancy and held against 1FTE Graduate Solicitor Apprenticeship (Planning). Subject to inhouse capacity and specialism instructions may be referred to external legal firms under suitable framework agreements, or by instructing counsel on a case by case basis
5.
(A) As of 1 April 2026, how many posts within the authority or within any shared service serving it are held by qualified lawyers, including those without an active practising certificate Please state the number of posts and total FTE.
Our current establishment: total number of posts 51 FTE with 28.4 solicitor posts.
(B) Of the posts in 5(A), how many are responsible for planning, property or environmental law, either in practice or by way of a post description or team structure
See response to question 4 above.
6. Does the authority hold a written policy, protocol or similar document stating who drafts agreements under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, for example, whether such agreements are drafted by the authority or by the applicants solicitors on the authoritys pro-forma If so, please provide it or a link to it. The County Council uses its own standard agreements, although sometimes the applicant will draft undertakings for review. In the majority of cases as a county authority we include our obligations into the standard template 106 agreements from each of the district and borough councils in our area, their templates can be obtained from them directly. We do not have a template on our website.
7. Does the authority maintain a pro-forma/template section 106 agreement If so, does that template contain provisions relating to biodiversity net gain Please provide it or a link to it.
Monitoring and enforcement. No, we have in house templates but not a public one. We add in BNG provisions as and when applicable using the PAS BNG templates, these can be found on the PAS website
8. Does the authority charge a monitoring fee in respect of section 106 obligations in relation to BNG (e.g. for site visits and the review of Habitat Management and Monitoring Plans If so, please state: Yes
(a) the basis on which the fee is calculated; Locally-determined monitoring schedule based on site size thresholds.
(b) the total sum collected in the most recent complete financial year; and Nothing last financial year (until April 2026).
(c) whether that income funds any identified post or posts, and if so the total FTE of those posts. Income will help part-fund one of the two ecology posts. It is not currently possible to determine the FTE-equivalent of this.
9. As at 1 April 2026, how many posts within the authority have responsibility for monitoring compliance with section 106 obligations after planning permission has been granted Please state the number of posts and total FTE. If this responsibility is not assigned to any identified post, please confirm that.
We do not have a specific officer(s) dedicated to monitoring compliance solely with S106 agreements. However, we have 2FTE staff whose role is specifically to monitor compliance with planning permissions and legal agreements and taken enforcement action as considered expedient in relation to breaches of planning control. In addition, we also have 3FTE staff who carry out monitoring work in combination with planning application work, the distribution of this work varies dependent on demand. Therefore we have 3-3.5FTE posts carrying out compliance monitoring work and related enforcement.
10 (severable). From February 2024 to the present, on how many occasions has the authority taken formal enforcement action in respect of a breach of a planning condition or section 106 obligation relating to ecological or biodiversity requirements If this is not recorded in a way that distinguishes ecological breaches, please say so. None.
11 (severable). Has the authority received any government grant funding specifically to support the implementation of biodiversity net gain If so, please state the amount and the period covered. Total grant received between April 2021 and March 2025 = £98,200
We trust this now satisfies your request and that you find this information to be helpful, however if you are unhappy with the way in which your request has been handled, then please email us at [email protected] quoting the reference FOI/8466 and we will be happy to review your request
For future reference, Nottinghamshire County Council regularly publishes previous FOI requests and answers on its website, under Disclosure logs, that may provide details relating to your query. (see link) Your privacy: we use your personal information such as name and address so that we can comply with our legal obligations to respond to FOI requests. For further details about the use of information about you, please see the information handling privacy notice on our website at https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/media/4323566/informationgovernanceandinformationrightsprivacynotice.pdf
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Requests should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of receipt of the response to your original request and should be addressed to: Complaints and Information Team, Nottinghamshire County Council, County Hall, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, NOTTINGHAM, NG2 7QP or [email protected].
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, WILMSLOW, SK9 5AF or https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/global-content/privacy