CIL Watch #8
News that Portsmouth City Council has become the latest authority to have its Community Infrastructure Levy plans backed by an examiner and details of the first schemes to fall under the charge feature in the first CIL Watch of 2012.
Portsmouth on track to be next council to introduce CIL…
Portsmouth City Council is set to become the fourth local authority to introduce a CIL charge after an independent examiner found that its proposed charging schedule is sound. In a report, examiner David Hogger described the council’s approach as “pragmatic”. The report said: “The evidence suggests that, overall, residential, retail and employment development will remain viable across the city, if the charges are applied.”
John Slater, head of planning services at the council, said that the council would vote on whether to formally adopt CIL at a meeting next month. The council’s current thinking is that the charge will be implemented on 1 April, according to Slater. “It’s nice to get it through public examination,” he said.
Should Portsmouth begin charging the tariff on 1 April, the council is likely to be only the fourth to have a CIL charge in operation. So far only Newark and Sherwood (which began charging last year) and Shropshire and the London Borough of Redbridge (which began charging on 1 January) have introduced CIL.
The first signs emerge of how CIL might work in practice…
With CIL charges now in force in three local authorities, CIL Watch has been trawling through council planning documents to try to find out whether any developers have been affected.
The first project of note that we came across was an outline application for a commercial scheme in Nottinghamshire, which is eligible to pay CIL, according to Newark and Sherwood planning committee papers. Newark and Sherwood’s CIL charging schedule stipulates that industrial developments in the Newark Growth Point must pay a levy of £20 per square metre. This means that the project, to build three commercial buildings on a freight yard in Newark-on-Trent – which would result in an increase in net additional floorspace of 325 square metres – faces a CIL charge of £6,500. The scheme has been recommended for approval and is likely to be considered at a planning meeting on 14 February (a decision was deferred earlier this month).
A spokesman for Newark and Sherwood District Council said that there are currently nine applications in the system which could potentially generate a CIL payment, depending on whether or not they are approved.
Meanwhile, over in Shropshire, a small housing development in Bridgnorth will also trigger a CIL payment. The project, to build four two-bed properties, was granted full planning permission earlier this month. There are no details in the planning papers as to what level of CIL charge the project will be required to pay, but Shropshire’s charging schedule stipulates a charge of £40 per square metre for developments in market towns and key centres.
Plymouth revises proposed levy rates to aid viability…
Plymouth City Council is the latest local authority to reduce its proposed CIL rates in response to concerns over viability. Plymouth was selected as a CIL frontrunner in 2011, and released its preliminary draft charging schedule in November. Next Tuesday (17 January) the council is set to approve its draft charging schedule, which will see reductions in the proposed charges for small shops, small housing developments and high rise student accommodation.
This follows a move before Christmas by a group of councils in Norfolk to set their CIL rates at a level below those first put forward.
Frontrunner progress update…
Before Christmas, the Planning Advisory Service published a useful update on the progress of the councils selected as CIL frontrunners. You can read it here.
Latest CIL contract news…
Real estate adviser DTZ has recently completed CIL viability studies for New Forest District Council and the New Forest National Park Authority and has been advising Milton Keynes Council on the development of their CIL charging policy, advising on the assessment of residential development viability, and undertaking CIL viability analysis on non-residential development. In addition, DTZ has also been advising the Leeds City Region Partnership on the potential impact of CIL across the area and the basis for a strategic approach to its implementation and provided joint advice to Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council in connection with the development of the framework for CIL in area.
Send your CIL news to jamie.carpenter@haymarket.com.
Read earlier CIL Watch updates here.
