Bradford Council is to publish information online showing how much money it has received from developers in planning agreements and where the cash has been spent.

Last year a total of 39 section 106 agreements were signed by developers wanting to build in the district amounting to £4.5 million of contributions should the schemes go ahead.

The authority can ask developers to contribute money towards schools or road improvements as well as offering affordable housing or recreation areas on site when planning permission is granted.

In a report, Michala Bartle, the Council’s planning obligations monitoring officer, states: “Copies of planning agreements are currently available to view on the Council’s website and it is also proposed to publish details of live agreements on the website together with the bi-annual progress report.

“Work is also being undertaken to create a separate Section 106 Agreement area on the Council’s website. This area will include summaries of monies received and where spent.”

The total of 39 agreements signed between April 2011 and March 2012 is in contrast to 58 the previous year, which amounted to £8.3m.

Of the £4,473,219 contributions signed up to last year, £2m of these relate to education, £1.1m to recreation and open space, £644,000 to highways, infrastructure and travel and £530,000 to affordable housing.

The benefits associated with any of the agreements cannot be secured by the Council until the planning permission in implemented, and permissions are normally valid for three years. In addition due to the economic downturn the number of developments starting work is significantly reduced compared to previous years.

To date only six of the 39 permissions granted subject to a section 106 agreement have begun. Of those six, two have met trigger points and a total of £72,000 has been paid.

Since the beginning of 2009 the total amount of planning obligation money received by the Council is £5.2m, with nearly half of this in the Shipley parliamentary constituency.

The report will be discussed by the regulatory and appeals committee on Wednesday at 10am in City Hall.