Hello all,
I do apologise if this issue has already been raised. However, I am currently working with colleagues who dealing with an application for a large site, with a number of landowners, each of which with separate S106 agreements. The agreements will be funding a number of critical/essential infrastructure assets including a highway scheme and a primary school.
The authority has not yet reach a progressed stage with a CIL charging schedule and it is not likely that there'll be one in place by April 2015. therefore we are aware of the pooling restrictions that will come into play next year and could affect the delivery of the infrastructure on the large site with over 5 separate S106 agreements.
I therefore have some specific questions on the technicalities of pooling:
- The CIL guidance (2014) states that “When the levy is introduced...no, more [pooled contributions] may be collected in respect of a specific infrastructure project or a type of infrastructure”, does this mean that if, since April 2010, more than five S106 obligations have been pooled towards a type of infrastructure, say Transport, this counts towards the total pooling of S106, or can pooling be made towards a specific type of Transport Project also? I ask this because, since April 2010 there have been over five S106 agreements pooled towards Transport in general, but none towards the specific highway scheme in question on this site. In other words, are we starting from zero when we pool towards a specific highway project?
- There are intricacies within the regulations that have been highlighted by the CIL Guidance (2014) such as the use of Section 278 Agreements (under Highways Act 1980). The Guidance states that “Where 278 agreements are used, there is no restriction on the number of contributions that can be pooled.”. Can 278 agreements contribute towards highway schemes that have district wide benefits as well as respond to site specific impacts? Is this a recommended approach bearing in mind that, in a two-tiered authority? Has anyone had experience of using 278 agreements to reduce S106 pooling?
- Once a CIL charging schedule is in place with an infrastructure list, will it be possible to pool more than five S106 contributions towards those items which are explicitly not included on the infrastructure list?
I hope that my questions make some sense.
Many thanks.
