Natalie, You may need a legal interpretation of the CIL Regs and Planning Act 2008 to fully answer question, but my view would be that the Act is drafted in such a way that it generally relates to hard/ built infrastructure. Need to look at s205 (2) which talks about '...costs incurred in providing infrastructure...' not the running costs (ie revenue costs); and s216 which defines the type of infrastructure which can be funded by CIL. In particular you could look at s216(4)(a) which allows for regulations to specify '..works, installations and other facilities...' All seems to point towards the Act and Regs being drafted to allow funding of works or building operations on land rather than service provision revenue costs - if it were to be allowed for such a use you can imagine how funds may be directed by cash-strapped councils! Im not a solicitor, so you may wish to seek an opinion. I'd be interested to hear any other views. David.
