Relationship of planning agreements to section 94 and section 94A. A planning agreement may, but does not have to, partly or fully exclude the application of section 94 or section 94A to development the subject of a planning agreement. Where a planning agreement partly or fully excludes the application of section 94 or section 94A, then section 93F(5) prevents Council from imposing a condition of development consent requiring the payment of section 94 or section 94A development contributions except to the extent that a planning agreement provides for the payment of such contributions. Where a planning agreement excludes the application in any part of section 94 or section 94A development contributions, Council or the Minister must be a party to that agreement (s93F(3A)). A planning agreement may exclude the benefits provided under such agreement being considered in the assessment of section 94 contributions. In such cases section 93F(6) precludes the application of section 94(6) which would otherwise require the consideration of any land, money or material public benefit contributed to the consent authority when assessing section 94 contributions. The ability in a planning agreement to partly or wholly exclude the application of section 94 or section 94A contributions gives Council a degree of flexibility to redistribute the financial, social and environmental costs and benefits of development. This flexibility provides the opportunity to address issues that may not have been anticipated or may not be able to be appropriately addressed with the more rigid requirements for section 94 contributions.
