Planning Update – Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) that was introduced under the Planning Act 2008 and is defined in the CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended 2011) concerns how the Local Authorities in England and Wales will make a charge on new developments.

As from September 2013 CIL will be charged on most new developments (new build

or extensions) that will take the form of a charge per square metre of additional floor space. There are exemptions for charitable organisations and affordable housing, together with some size thresholds for non-residential uses. Domestic extensions, together with non residential development resulting in the creation of less than 100 sq m of net additional floor space, are not liable for CIL.

The introduction of CIL is seen as necessary in part because, from April 2014, the ability to pool planning obligations under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended), will be restricted. It will therefore become difficult to deliver larger scale items of infrastructure such as schools, swimming pools and transport schemes, where pooling of numerous individual planning contributions is often necessary. Section 106 agreements will continue to be used to deliver some infrastructure (as will Section 278 for highways), but this will largely be restricted to site-specific mitigation and for providing affordable housing.

The amount payable under CIL will vary from Local Authority to Local Authority but is likely to be in the region of £100 – £140 per 100 sq m of floor space. CIL is likely to be higher in rural areas with possible exemptions in Town Centres and regeneration areas.

As you can see this will result in an unwelcome considerable extra cost for almost anyone carrying our development. Time is short and if to avoid paying these charges planning applications will generally need to have been registered with the Local Planning Authority by July this year.

As a Practice we offer a full in house planning and design service and would be pleased to hear from you if you considering any development for which a planning application would be required to take advantage of the short window of opportunity before this legislation comes into force.