The Head of Planning, Sustainable Development & Regulatory Services has submitted a report to seek approval to consult on a new Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Preliminary Draft Charging Schedule.

Introducing the report Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Lead Member for Planning and Regulatory Services said there was often confusion between the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and Section 106  funding. Developers can ask for one to be applied but not both. CIL was the government’s preferred method of collecting pooled contributions to fund  infrastructure and had the advantage of accessing the money at the outset.

The Planning Policy Team Leader said that consultation about the development of the wide “Regulation 123” list could be as wide or as narrow as the Council wished.  Cllr Hollingsworth  said that it  was not a ‘wish list’ but rather a list of projects to which money can be put. Prioritisation was  important given the significant funding gap (over £130m) between the projected CIL income and the aggregate funding gap of infrastructure.

The Planning Policy Team Leader said that the economic viability study mentioned in the report was important as it would allow developers to see the impact of CIL and, therefore, whether or not a development would be viable.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.               Approve the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Preliminary Draft Charging Schedule (PDCS) for consultation; and

2.               Authorise the Head of Planning, Sustainable Development and Regulatory Services, in consultation with the Executive Board Member, to make any necessary editorial corrections not materially affecting the document prior to publication.