The Neighbourhood Fund (Meaningful Proportion) - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

I was immediately struck by the sentence "Neighbourhoods without a neighbourhood development plan but where the levy is still charged will still receive a capped 15% share of the levy revenue arising from development in their area." [link https://www.gov.uk/government/news/communities-to-receive-cash-boost-for-choosing-development ] Do you think it means "neighbourhoods who are designated for the purpose of making a neighbourhood plan" (for whom there will be some kind of agreed boundary or "neighbourhoods" (the common use of the word and therefore everyone even in areas where there is no interest in producing a neighbourhood plan) ?

I would intepret it to mean any area where there is not currently a Neighbourhood Plan, as all areas irrespective of whether they are currently designated for the purpose of producing a Neighbourhood Plan are eligible to apply for this status. Additionally, if this was not the intended purpose of the announcement, they would have needed to introduce a 3rd rate (or NIL rate) for those areas which do not fall into the other two categories.

It is a shame but no surprise that we have the political headline grabbing announcement that raises as many questions as it answers. I think it is clear (as per the consultation) CIL funds can only be passed direct to elected bodies. So where parish councils exist 15% or 25% of the CIL raised in their areas (I presume annually again nothing in the press release to clarify this) will have to be given back to be spent as they wish. Interesting that it appears that mere existence of a neighbourhood plan ticks the box and an additional 10% of CIL comes back locally whether it has resulted in any additional development or not. In areas where neighbourhood plans have been prepared but are not under the authority of elected bodies I presume legislation will require councils to demonstrate spend of the appropriate percentages in those areas? There will at least be defined boundaries for these areas. Much of the country is unlikely to ever have formal neighbourhoods designated or neighbourhood plans. As of now I have no idea how government envisages it working, “spending in accordance with community wishes”. It begs a whole lot of questions. Two thoughts on the cap. Yes a rigorous and transparent means of calculating number of dwellings eligible for council tax will be needed. As with New Homes Bonus pretty sure this will be the council tax register. And finally how often will the £100 limit per dwelling actually come into play. Sure the government will have figures somewhere? It has been introduced to avoid an area with few houses benefitting from “excessive” growth. Unless growth is very rapid I suspect many areas will not trigger the limit anyway particularly when calculated on an annual basis?

On Andrew's point - a hypothetical but plausible example. Urban fringe parish of 2000 dwellings with neighbourhood plan has a development of 1,000 market dwellings with a total CIL income of £10k per dwelling or £10m at fixed prices. Site delivers 100 dwellings per annum, so total income per annum is £1m of which parish could get £250k. But its cap is £200k. If the cap is annual then they better wish for a slower development rate. If it's total then they are only going to get. 2% of the income. Or is my maths wrong?

Never mind the maths Phil, can someone explain what "capped at £100 per council tax dwelling house means?"

Justice The announcement says "In areas that have not been subject to neighbourhood planning there will be a cap of £100 per council tax dwelling on the neighbourhood funds". The assumption is that this means that the neighbourhood planning area (typically a parish) can only recieve a maximum of £100 for each existing dwelling in the area. The announcement does not clarify whther this is an annual cap or total (and if it is total, total what? perhaps total from each CILable development I hadnt read this properly. It only applies where no neighbourhood plan exists so in my worked example the parish would only be entitled to 15% or £150k per annum - well within the cap. But change the assumptions and you can see how a parish could lose significantly.

Alternatively, a Parish Council could prepare a Neighbourhood Plan which simply replicates the housing numbers in the Core Strategy. This wouldn't add 1 extra house to the total to be built, but would potentially unlock a significant amount of CIL funds by removing the cap.

I would hope that no Parish would create a "token" Neighbourhood Plan just to get hold of some money. My Parish is about half way through completing a N/Hood Plan - the motivation is totally the benefit of the community - the whole issue of CIL has only just entered the frame for us - our Unitary is not even looking at this until April anway Rusty

The postings to date all illustrate the frustrating lack of detail in the announcement. Regulations and guidance are promised, but it would be really helpful to have ideas/concerns which will need to be addressed, whether it's just for clarification or to avoid potential pitfalls If you have concerns please post them and either Gilian or myself will take them up with CLG. Graham Jones Planning Officers Society CIL/Infrastructure Coordinator