Neighbourhood fund and broadband - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)
Neighbourhood fund and broadband
Hi,
I have received a query from a rural parish council asking if they can spend their neighbourhood portion of CIL on provision of superfast broadband to existing properties.
Would this fit within the definition of infrastructure in S.216(2) of the Planning Act 2008? A quick google search shows that some areas have included broadband in their Regulation 123 lists.
I appreciate that the neighbourhood portion of the levy can be spent on a wider range of things than the rest of the levy as long as it meets the requirement in Regulation 59C of the CIL Regs, but would provision of broadband to existing properties "support the development of the local council's area"?
Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Alison
REBECCA STADDON, modified 8 Years ago.
RE: Neighbourhood fund and broadband
Advocate Posts: 103 Join Date: 05/09/13 Recent PostsAlison,
I personally think they would have difficulty justifying that.
They are supposed to be spending their meaningful proportion on addressing the demands that development places on an area.
I am not convinced that development would cause the need for broadband to arise. I would argue that the need existed beforehand and is not a result of development having taken place in a parish.
However, it would be interesting to hear other peoples views on this :)
Rebecca
Simon Pickstone, modified 8 Years ago.
RE: Neighbourhood fund and broadband
Advocate Posts: 104 Join Date: 22/04/13 Recent PostsDaniel Hudson, modified 8 Years ago.
RE: Neighbourhood fund and broadband
Advocate Posts: 121 Join Date: 25/04/12 Recent PostsA few thoughts;
What seems to be being proposed is something which benefits only the owners of the existing properties whose broadband will be upgraded. If there are only one or two of these, this looks very suspect, if there are hundreds including social or low cost homes it might be more legitimately regarded as a community benefit.
If the project is to deliver high speed broadband to the whole community, it would fit more comfortably with the objectives of CIL.
Is there any way in which it could be argued that the works necessary to deliver high speed broadband to the existing properties would also offer the same benefit to new dwellings?
Could the project be broadened to enable the provision of some form of public high speed broadband hub in the village hall?
Time to chip in. As per Tony, funding the "improvement" and "replacement" of infrastructure with Neighbourhood CIL OK. But for me, a necessary condition is that such spending must still support the development of the area/address the demands that development places on an area.
Unless it can be shown clearly that growth/development is aggravating the situation, spending to just & only remedy an existing deficiency may not be legit if/as not concerned with addressing the demands that development places on an area.
If not used legitmately, I think the CIL collecting authority has the power to recover mispent Neighbourhood CIL but whether it would do so is of course an entirely different matter