£9 billion in developer contributions
sits unspent in council accounts.
Council Compass helps planning and finance teams track S106 obligations, catch expiring deadlines, and get funds to communities before they go back to developers.
This is what councils are actually dealing with.
Systems that don’t talk to each other
“These systems did not communicate effectively with one another… a dependency on manual processes, such as using spreadsheets to transfer data between systems.”
— Oxfordshire County Council Scrutiny Report, 2025
No visibility for leaders or officers
“Ineffective governance and monitoring arrangements leading to a lack of transparency around the level and status of S106 monies held by the Council… and reputational damage.”
— Cheshire East Council Internal Audit, 2023. Rating: “No Assurance.”
Money going back to developers
Essex has returned £5.4m to developers because spending deadlines were missed — the highest figure nationally. Oxfordshire holds £288m, some for over 20 years.
— HBF, 2026; Oxfordshire scrutiny papers
One place to see what you hold, what's at risk, and what's ready to spend.
Track obligations
Every S106 agreement, trigger, deadline, and payment in a single view. Import from spreadsheets, MasterGov, or existing systems.
Deadline alerts
Automatic flags when funds approach spending deadlines or clawback risk. The early warning your current systems don’t give you.
Match funds to projects
See which funds can legally be spent on which projects, and by when — the question that’s harder to answer than it should be.
Dashboard for members
A live view for scrutiny committees and cabinet members. The dashboard Oxfordshire’s committee asked for but was told “was not yet available.”
We've done the homework.
We've studied the scrutiny reports, audit findings, and procurement records across 330 English planning authorities. We've mapped every S106/CIL software contract on Contracts Finder. We're not guessing at your pain — we've read the committee papers.
Council Compass works alongside your existing systems. We add the visibility layer that's missing, not another system to maintain.
We're looking for councils to work with.
We're at an early stage and looking for a small number of councils to help us prove this approach. No procurement needed for an initial conversation. No commitment required.
Or email irene@councilcompass.com directly.