Agenda item

In March 2018, alongside consultation on the draft National Planning Policy Framework, the Government also issued a consultation seeking views on a series of reforms to the system of developer contributions. Members will recall that the April 2018 meeting of this committee endorsed a response to this Government consultation.  The Government has now responded to the consultation through a summary of consultation responses, and has presented their view on the way forward.

There is currently a limit on the pooling of section 106 contributions, which means that no more than five such contributions can be requiredfor the same infrastructure project or type of infrastructure (where entered into since 6 April 2010).  The Government consultation proposed to lift this restriction in certain circumstances. Given that the pooling restriction was a key to encouraging councils’ to introduce CIL, the Government will put measures in place to incentivise the uptake and continued use of the Levy to collect contributions towards addressing the cumulative impact of development; although they have not said what these measures are.

Furthermore, the current requirement for preparing a charging schedule is for two rounds of consultation (on a ‘preliminary draft’ and a ‘draft’).  There was broad support for the Government proposal’s to streamline this requirement. There will continue to be an obligation to consult on draft charging schedules, but the current requirement for two separate rounds of consultation will be removed.

Finally, in order to improve transparency around the system of developer contributions, the Government is taking forward proposals to require reporting of contributions from CIL and s.106 planning obligations in an “Infrastructure Funding Statement”.  These statements will be prepared by local authorities, and are supported for providing greater clarity and transparency.  

Points raised during the discussion included:

·     Clarification on whether Members’ will have access to the evidence and information regarding the production of the updated charging schedule. In response, the committee were advised that the appointed consultants, Three Dragons, have been commissioned to assess the evidence and viability of developments across the district, which determines the charges geographically, that includes  the differences between the coasts and inland development. This will be presented to Members early next year. There are current delays to the production of the updated charging schedule due to uncertainty with national policy changes and issues with aligning the charging schedule with the Cranbrook Development Plan Document.

·     Clarification was sought on the decision to remove Cranbrook from the CIL Charging Schedule. In response, the committee were advised that a decision has not been made regarding the removal of Cranbrook from the CIL charging schedule.

·     General support for the removal of Cranbrook from the CIL Charging Schedule.

·     Concern that large self-build developments do not contribute to CIL and there should be a limit to the number of these allowed in the district. In response, the committee were advised that CIL contributions are dependent on the floor space of a development and therefore the larger the developer the more CIL is paid. There are however exemptions including for self-build developments. Members were reminded that under the legislation “self-build” is not interpreted literally and so the self-commissioning of a home is sufficient to gain the exemption, however the legislation has strict rules that have to be complied with to qualify for the self-build exemption.

RESOLVED:

1.   That the Government response to consultation on reforming developer contributions be noted; and

2.   That the update on preparation of a revised East Devon Community Infrastructure Levy Charging Schedule be noted.