Issue - meetings

To consider a presentation on the introduction of Community Infrastructure Levies (CIL) and the impact of Section 106 agreements.  

The Committee received a presentation from Stuart Penny the Spatial Planning Northern Area Manager about the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

The Government introduced CIL to ameliorate the adverse effects that developments could have on infrastructure in the area. Developments could increase the population of an area or the traffic attracted to the area which could result in the need to improve the infrastructure to cope with increased demand. CIL monies would be spent on infrastructure only and could be spent across a wider area than Section 106 (s106) agreement monies which needed to be spent in the area affected by a development.

CIL would be a charge that had to be paid on all developments and could not be avoided by developers. If developers were unable to pay the full amount in advance then a local authority could agree a series of instalments or payment in kind such as accepting land or assets as payment.

S106 agreements would still be an option however the Government was expected to advocate the use of CILs. In future CIL money could be spent in a wider area than s106 however the Government could legislate that a specified percentage had to be passed down to town and parish councils or neighbourhoods to be spent on local development. Currently the guidance was that a “meaningful” proportion of CIL monies should be passed on to neighbourhoods and local authorities would have to decide what a meaningful proportion was as part of their local plans.

The advantage of CIL would be that improvements to infrastructure contributed massively to communities and development. The money from developments could be used to make improvements that would benefit a larger area of the borough. The advantage of s106 agreements is that when an area was negatively affected by development then money would be spent to make improvements to the area that mitigated the affect of the development. The Committee believed that this was an important characteristic of s106 that needed to be maintained and that a meaningful proportion of CIL to be spent in local neighbourhood would have to be at least 50% and also maintain the use of s106 were appropriate.

The Council needed to develop a policy regarding the types of developments that would incur CIL requirements with remaining developments subject to s106. The development of the Council’s Charging Schedule would be key to which developments incur CIL. Once developed the Charging Schedule had to be published for consultation and scrutinised by an independent examiner.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the Committee recommend that the final decision, on what is a meaningful proportion of Community Infrastructure Levy acquired to be passed on to the local neighbourhood, should be made by Full Council.

(b)  That the Committee recommend that Full Council should define a meaningful amount to be passed onto neighbourhoods as not less than 50% of Community Infrastructure Levy. 

(c)  That the Preliminary Draft Charging Schedule be presented to the Committee before being it is published for consultation.