The Chief Officer: Planning and Transport and
the Head of Spatial Policy presented a report providing an update
on the introduction of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) in
Bracknell Forest. The report included
an update on progress made to date, details of the next steps in
the approval process, potential changes to CIL regulations, a
summary of the responses received during consultation on the
CIL’s Draft Charging Schedule and
an update on the status of Neighbourhood Plans in the Borough.
It was reported that the Draft Charging
Schedule would, with a number of supporting documents including a
summary of the main points raised during the consultation period,
be submitted to the Secretary of State.
Once this had been done the Planning Inspectorate would allocate an
examiner and a date set for examination. It was expected that the earliest date that the
CIL would be brought to the Council for approval would be January
2014.
Arising from the subsequent discussion the
following points were noted:
- The IT system that would be used for
CIL payments forms part of the system used currently for S06
payments. Dummy runs using the system
would be carried out in the coming weeks to ensure that there were
no problems
- Clarification would be given over
the definition of ‘discount market housing’
- There were currently no
Neighbourhood Plans in place and no requests had been received by
the Council to designate Neighbourhood Plan areas, the first step
in the process
- If CIL was collected on a
development then the relevant parish council could claim 15% of the
sum agreed if there was no Neighbourhood Plan. If a Neighbourhood Plan was in place then the
parish council could claim 25% of the CIL. However CIL could not be claimed
retrospectively
- CIL could only be charged if its
application did not make a development unviable
- It was not unusual to have zones
that were zero rated for CIL
- Funding claims for infrastructure
projects could be levied on a site specific basis even if the
development was in a zero rated area.
However zero rated areas tended to be urban areas that were unable
to bear a CIL to the same level as a green field site
- Suitable Alternative Natural
Greenspace (SANG) funding was also used
to pay for infrastructure work and whilst there would be
developments that wouldn’t attract CIL payments they could
attract SANG payments. However Central
Government has said that SANG payments could only be claimed
through the CIL scheme consequently allowances have had to be made
in the CIL Charging Scheme for this situation
- During the development of the CIL
Charging Schedule there had to be a clear demonstration that the
Local Authority was working co-operatively with neighbouring
authorities with regard to infrastructure planning
- Developers had to make CIL payments
within 60 days of the commencement of development. However developers of larger schemes could opt to
make staged payments
- Local authorities would be able to
impose stringent legal and financial penalties on a developer for
non-payment of CIL
- CIL levels were likely to be key for
developers when considering where to locate a
development. Proposed CIL Levels in
Bracknell Forest were currently thought to be at a viable and
sustainable level
The Commission
thanked officers for the update.