Council Ifrastructor Levy

chrisnay

Hi,

In the process of refurbishing a house, our architect had to fill out in a CIL form. Has anyone had to pay this levy, where does the money go and is it enforceable. Been on the planning portal and it seem the price varies dependent on the area, and it could be £20/40/80 per square, which could be a mega expense.

Thanks

Chris

Freecall

The CIL is now a routine part of planning. The money is used to fund projects within the community. If your Parish or Neighbourhood Council has an adopted Community Plan then it will get a proportion to spend on your immediate locality.

It most certainly is enforceable and will depend on local policies when it comes to the rate applied.

Although it varies from area to area, if all you are undertaking is a refurbishment there may be nothing to pay. The forms still have to be completed however so that this can be assessed. If you do not complete the required paperwork your planning application will be returned as invalid.

Hope that helps clarify things.

lincroft1710

It sounds a bit like the "victim surcharge" nonsense when someone commits a minor crime, is fined, has to pay costs and "victim surcharge".

Or those garages who charge an "administration fee" of £100 when you buy a used car.

It's just a way of making you pay more without increasing the original fee/fine.

elverson

As above you may not need to pay any CIL - looks like it would only apply if you are adding floorspace.

https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200126/applications/70/community_infrastructure_levy

Get the architect to check whether the 'minor development exception' applies as well.

http://planningguidance.communities.gov.uk/blog/guidance/community-infrastructure-levy/relief/#paragraph_109

ReadingTim

Not really - it's a way of making the developer share the additional burden placed on the existing public infrastructure by their private development, and contribute towards additional infrastructure needed to support it, or as desired by the local community.

maninthestreet

ReadingTim wrote: »

Not really - it's a way of making the developer share the additional burden placed on the existing public infrastructure by their private development, and contribute towards additional infrastructure needed to support it, or as desired by the local community.

That's what the occupants of the properties will pay the council tax for, isnt it???

davidmcn

maninthestreet wrote: »

That's what the occupants of the properties will pay the council tax for, isnt it???

In part, yes (and most local authority funding comes via central taxation rather than council tax anyway), but it doesn't seem unreasonable that, say, the developers of a new housing estate ought to contribute towards the construction of the new schools which their residents will require.

ReadingTim

maninthestreet wrote: »

That's what the occupants of the properties will pay the council tax for, isnt it???

By that reasoning then mass immigration (for example from Eastern Europe) hasn't placed a massive strain on public services because everyone who's arrived is paying tax and contributing to the society in which they now live. But that hasn't quite happened in reality has it?

Furthermore, the people who tend to use/need public services the most - children and the elderly don't tend to pay much council tax

MARTYM8`

maninthestreet wrote: »

That's what the occupants of the properties will pay the council tax for, isnt it???

The vast bulk of CIL revenues are paid for by major housing developers and those building new offices.


Council tax may fund day to day spending on services like social care - but what about infrastructure needs arising from new housing like

more school places
road improvements or upgrades
extra public transport
utility implications
play areas for children and nurseries
pressure on local GPs and health infrastructure
pressures on childrens services and social care.

Its not unreasonable that developers making large profits from new developments should pay towards meeting the impact on the locality of their projects.

Cos council tax can't cover everything - and doesn't. Since 2010 100,000 frail elderly and disabled people have lost access to social care in England - I feel a lot more sorry for them than the big house builders who are raking it in on the back of ever rising house prices.