CIL Announcement - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

Any word on whether CIL will continue to be mandatory?

This is just to let you know that the Community Infrastructure Levy page has been published to the DCLG website and can now be viewed at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/planningsystem/communityinfrastructurelevy/.

Paul in answer to your question - it appears that it is not mandatory as such- : From the DCLG web page: "The Community Infrastructure Levy The Community Infrastructure Levy is a new levy that local authorities in England and Wales can choose to charge on new developments in their area." I will need to do more research to see what that means in reality as I think there are still the limitations on the use of S106 . I will be looking to update our web pages next week on the subject.

Many thanks Gillian. I was thinking of regulation 123 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010, which will essentially prevent authorities from collecting section 106 contributions for infrastructure from April 2014 onwards. Unless regulation 123 is repealed or amended, authorities will have no other option but to switch to CIL as a result.

Hobson's choice, anyone ?

Paul, It doesn't look like reg 123 will be repealed or amended. The revised guidacne on CIL issued on DCLG's website indicates that pooling contirbutions for infrastrcuture by s106 will not be possible after 2014 or when a CIL is adopted locally.

Dear all, I'd be grateful for your thoughts. When I read the CLG Overview document when published in March (revised version issued earlier this month) I took it that the five opportunities to pool contributions came into immediate effect. However, a colleague at another LPA (to remain nameless) is progressing an interim tariff-based S106 policy document based on the understanding that the '5 and our out rule' doesn't come in until April 2014. We can't both be right - how do you read it? If I'm right we have to be very careful with how we use our '5 bites of the cherry' otherwise opportunities to pool could be wasted on low value schemes.

I've updated my profile to let you know who I'm!

I believe your colleague is correct. There is no limit on the number of separate contributions used to fund infrastructure until 2014

Following the publication of the Localism Bill - I received the following e mail from DCLG : You may be aware that The Localism Bill has been published on Monday 13th December. I would like to draw your attention to the part on Community Infrastructure Levy below: The Community Infrastructure Levy allows local authorities to set charges which developers must pay when bringing forward new development in order to contribute to new infrastructure. The Bill introduces three changes to the Community Infrastructure Levy. Firstly, the Bill includes provisions to make regulations requiring some of these funds to be passed to neighbourhoods where the development has taken place. Secondly, it makes clear that funds can be spent on the ongoing costs of infrastructure, as well as the initial costs of new infrastructure. Lastly, it gives local authorities greater control over setting their charging levels – while independent examiners will still consider whether the charging schedule is unreasonable, it will be for the authority to decide how to make it reasonable. The full text of the press notice is at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/newsroom/1794971 .

Regarding the CIL and liability: My understanding is that the demolition of a building would be deducted from the final levy liability (i.e. levy liability is a net calculation) - but is this only for demolished buildings that have recently been in use? What if the building to be demolished has not been in use for a number of months or even years? Would the floorspace of the demolished building still be deducted from the final levy liability? Is there some kind of threshold for determining this (e.g. only buildings that have been in use for the past 6 months are deducted)? Any light on this matter would be much appreciated!