Projects for the New Community Infrastructure Levy

The way developer's contributions to the council coffers are spent is changing. Previously the subject of a legal agreement known as a Section 106, in the future there will be a Community Infrastructure Levy, or CIL.

The council will need to have local projects already identified, designed and costed in order for the CIL to apply.

Liberal Democrats have submitted a Motion to the borough council that will ensure that councillors are involved in suggesting projects. It will also make sure that procedures are in place so that opportunities to use CIL for local projects are established.

The key change between S106 and CIL, in simple terms, is that S106 used a formula which allowed the council to suggest a sum of money to a developer or planning applicant. That sum of money is then sub-divided, with part allocated to, for example, leisure facilities. That money then has to be spent on leisure facilities, generally within the immediate vicinity of the site from which the contribution came and always within a certain period of time.

Under CIL it's all about the project rather than the sum of money. There must be a project or projects relevant to the development in some way, which the developer's contributions could directly fund, but the projects must be ready to roll apart from funding. The contributor would know exactly what the CIL would pay for and the council would know exactly which project was being funded from the CIL.

Lib Dem councillors have pointed out that the council needs to get ready for when CIL begins.They also want to ensure that local people can influence how the money is spent, through their elected representatives.

The Motion reads "This council notes that in order for the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) to be successfully applied to planning applications for future developments, it will be necessary to have suitable community infrastructure projects previously agreed, detailed and costed. The council will therefore set up an agreed procedure as soon as possible to establish a pool of relevant projects. This procedure will include appropriate opportunities for elected members to contribute to both the basic concepts and the final details of such projects and to control how the Levy is spent in practice."