Agenda item

Purpose of the report:  Policy Development and Review

This report provides an update and overview of the implementation of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) across the eleven planning authorities in Surrey.

Declarations of interest:

None.

Witnesses:

Paul Druce, Infrastructure Agreements and CIL Manager

Key points raised during the discussion:

1.    Officers outlined that the report tabled for the meeting builds upon a report submitted to the Board in April 2015; and also that since the report was written Reigate and Banstead are on target to adopt CIL by April 2016.

2.    Officers reported that a Government review on CIL is taking place. The review is aiming to obtain a wide range of evidence to review the effectiveness of CIL as government changes have made it harder to implement.
The review is targeted at the planning authorities that administer CIL; however there are a number of questions that the County Council will respond to.

3.    Members debated issues surrounding ensuring that money raised through CIL is allocated where required to the County Council.

Under the CIL regulations, income from CIL remains with and is allocated by the District and Borough Councils. Some Members suggested that the District and Borough Councils needed to be reminded that they and the County Council needed to work together. There is no mechanism for requiring that the County Council receives a contribution towards infrastructure as it is not a statutory requirement.

Some members suggested that some local councils may not be allocating monies raised appropriately and that a mechanism for ensuring that money was being spent correctly was required.

Members were also concerned that developers are using the ‘viability’ clause to get out of paying s106 on new projects.

4.    The Chairman reminded Members that the Board cannot discuss the affairs of the District and Borough Councils and that Members ought to raise their concerns at local committee.

5.    Members agreed that they would wish to see the County Council’s response to the Government consultation.

Recommendations:

The Board endorsed the following recommendations,

a)    That officers continue collaboration with Borough and District colleagues in their preparation of Local Plan policies, Infrastructure Delivery Plans, CIL Charging Schedules and Regulation 123 Lists to ensure, where possible, the County Council is able to support development in each of the areas by securing and providing strategic infrastructure at the required time,

b)    That officers continue to seek mitigation of infrastructure impacts from developers, on an application by application basis, in those LPA areas where CIL has not been adopted, unless restricted by the up to 5 obligation restriction,

c)    That officers continue to seek agreement as to how the governance regime for CIL will operate in each of the areas, including the involvement of County Members in the process where possible, and

d)    That further work is undertaken to secure a reasonable and suitable governance regime in each of the areas, in the light of the possible different models for governance, given that the Woking model is one that appears to offer the most open and transparent collaborative process for deciding which projects CIL monies should support.

Actions:

·         That the Infrastructure Agreements and CIL Manager circulate to the board by email Surrey County Council’s response to the Governments community infrastructure levy review questionnaire.