Welsh guidance treats conditions and obligations as different tools.

The Development Management Manual states that conditions and planning obligations can enable a proposal to proceed where refusal would otherwise be necessary. Conditions are governed by Welsh Government Circular 016/2014 and the six tests.

A Section 106 obligation should not be the first choice where a condition can properly address the impact.

The Welsh Development Management Manual states that planning obligations should only be used where it is not possible to address unacceptable impacts through a planning condition.

The three statutory obligation tests are separate from the six condition tests.

For an obligation capable of being taken into account under the relevant CIL Regulations, it must be necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms, directly related to the development, and fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind.

Check the heads of terms.

Welsh guidance expects committee or officer reporting to identify the heads of terms for planning obligations and the anticipated signing timetable. Campaigners should compare those terms with the mitigation the authority says is required.

Do not treat a contribution as a licence for unrelated harm.

A financial or other obligation must meet the applicable tests. It does not remove the authority's duty to assess the development as a whole against the development plan and other material considerations.

Sources and further information

Welsh Government - Development Management Manual

Welsh Government - The use of planning conditions for development management (WGC 016/2014)

Welsh Government - Planning policy and guidance: obligations

Last checked: 26 September 2026

Start with the six tests and the specific impact being controlled.

Welsh Government model-condition guidance for nationally significant development expressly points back to Circular 016/2014 and the requirements of necessity, planning relevance, development relevance, enforceability, precision and reasonableness.

Check project-specific parameters rather than assuming a model condition is automatically suitable.

Model wording can provide a starting point, but the actual condition must fit the development. For energy projects, scrutinise timings, approved plans, micro-siting, decommissioning, management plans, ecology, lighting, heritage, drainage, highways, radar and amenity where relevant.

Identify what will be approved later.

Where a condition reserves a management plan or scheme, ask whether the essential performance standard is already defined and whether the later approval is genuinely detail rather than an unresolved question central to acceptability.

Check implementation wording.

A requirement to submit information is not necessarily the same as a requirement to obtain approval before a trigger and thereafter comply with the approved material. Read the whole condition.

Record the final condition set after the decision.

Draft conditions can change during examination or determination. Campaign monitoring should use the conditions actually imposed, not an earlier draft.

Sources and further information

Welsh Government - The use of planning conditions for development management (WGC 016/2014)

Welsh Government - Developments of national significance: model conditions

Last checked: 26 September 2026