Community Infrastructure Levy

: © CABE

As part of the Planning Act 2008, the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) will be a capital cost payable by developers towards the cost of local and sub-regional infrastructure to support development. The Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 comes into force from 6th April 2010.

Purpose

Local authorities can place a community infrastructure levy on all new developments to support infrastructure delivery (including transport, social and environmental infrastructure; schools and parks). CIL will become an important income stream for local authorities in delivering the necessary support infrastructure which existing and new communities will need to enable the level of housing and economic growth.

Applications

The scope of infrastructure eligible to receive contributed funds from CIL is set out in Section 216(2) of the Planning Act, including “sporting and recreational facilities”. Though cultural infrastructure is not identified, CLG’s publication, Community Infrastructure Levy: an overview, indicates the Government’s intention to allow local flexibility in determining what infrastructure is needed to deliver the local development plan.

Local planning authorities will be empowered – but not required – to levy a charge on most types of new development permitted within their area through planning permissions. Local authorities can continue to enter into Section 106 agreements or planning obligations necessary to enable developments to go ahead but with significant restrictions on how contributions can be secured. Further details on the Planning Obligations section of the toolkit.

The charging rate will be determined by the local authority once they have made an assessment of the infrastructure needs in their area that are required to support development and other infrastructure funding sources from central government or elsewhere.

Published government guidance requires that the process of setting CIL is to be aligned with the local infrastructure planning process as set out in Planning Policy ‘Statement 12: Local Spatial Planning’. Local planning authorities should identify gaps in funding to arrive at a proposed amount to be raised from CIL in preparing a charging schedule within an up to date local development framework. CIL can be used to enhance or increase capacity of infrastructure in the area.

Exemptions and CIL reliefs

According to Part 6 of the Regulations, there are several instances where there can be exemptions or reliefs from paying CIL:

Minor development – if the gross internal area of the new development will be less than 100 m²,
Charity landowner – if the owner of the land is a charitable institution and that the development will be used mainly for charitable purposes or not-for-profit charitable purpose,
Social housing – if the development will be used for social housing,
Other Discretionary – the local authority can grant CIL relief if the development meets strict criteria but the local authority must publish a statement before doing so

CIL Opportunities from the Living Places Partners’ Perspectives on CIL

The Living Places partners support the application of the Community Infrastructure Levy as we believe that it will enable culture and sport to play a greater role in supporting communities across the English regions to grow in a socially and economically sustainable way. Delivering the right types of supporting culture and sport infrastructure in the right places will help people and communities enjoy a high quality of life and level of prosperity. This has and will continue to be the vision and aim of Living Places partners in promoting the co-ordinated approach to culture and sport planning.

Unlike other elements of physical infrastructure, such as road, utility services and flood defences, the provision of culture and sport infrastructure, such as the arts and museums, is often perceived as a discretionary add-on to development and non-essential for communities. The Living Places partners are weary that cultural infrastructure is not indicated in the national list of CIL-chargeable infrastructure in the Planning Act 2008, and had jointly called for its inclusion. However the partners support the intention to give charging authorities local flexibility in applying CIL to meet the needs of their local communities. It is sensible and most appropriate to determine the scope of need for infrastructure at the local levels.

The Community infrastructure Levy will be an essential funding stream to better prepare local authorities in planning for and delivering their local culture and sport priorities through the planning process. An up to date development plan will be a pre-requisite for developing a charging schedule before implementing CIL and all will need to be supported by an infrastructure planning process as set out in PPS12: Local Spatial Planning. However a large number of local authorities are still working to update their local development framework core strategies. In fact only 17% of core strategies have been adopted as of April 2010, and with only 6% currently undergoing public examinations, this means there is still a window of opportunity to start conversations with the rest 77% of local authorities now. The Living Places partners take a positive view that this current weakness of the planning system will provide a timely opportunity for cultural and sporting agencies to work with councils to set out their development vision for culture and sport in their area and for culture and sport provision to be embedded in local policies. The requirement for a charging schedule will further strengthen and underline the need for cultural and sporting partners to be more proactive in engaging the planning process.

Finally, the Living Places partners will continue to monitor the securing of developer contributions as part of Section 106 agreements, particularly in the context of the proposed policy statement on planning obligations detailing restrictions on its use and the introduction of the Community Infrastructure Levy. The partners are concerned about the potential funding gap in contributions toward culture and sport if the use of Section 106 is restricted and local authorities decide not to implement CIL. However in the evidence provided by the local infrastructure planning process, the process will not only help to establish existing and projected need and provision of culture and sport infrastructure, but will help to act as evidence base for securing contributions standard charging methods through other funding streams.

You can find more information on how to influence decisions in local development plans in the Local Infrastructure Planning and the 5-Stage Process sections of the toolkit.

See further information about planning obligations on the Planning Obligations section of the toolkit.