Monday, July 17, 2017

News: CIL implemented in Rotherham

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Developers wanting to build houses and out of town retail projects in the Rotherham borough will now have to pay a levy under a new scheme designed as a transparent way to raise an estimated £12m to support local infrastructure.

The Planning Act 2008 introduced the concept of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) as a new means for authorities to seek developer contributions to help fund infrastructure and Rotherham Council introduced the scheme earlier this month having consulted on how it could operate in the borough.

Councils aren't obliged to introduce a levy but the CIL can, in the most part, replace Section 106 financial contributions and provide a more transparent way of raising money to help pay for the infrastructure required to deliver the Local Plan. It should end the back and forth discussions between developers and authorities over affordable housing provision and financial contributions.

With the borough's local plan identifying that 235 hectares of land will be needed over the period to meet the broad requirements of 12 - 15,000 additional jobs, office and industrial developments are set to be exempt from the new levy.

An initial list of top priority infrastructure schemes that the CIL may be used to fund has been produced. It will also be used to fund Primary and Secondary School Places and potentially library, doctor's surgeries and police station upgrades.

The total infrastructure requirements in Rotherham are estimated to cost about £99m.

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The Charging Schedule will see housing developers pay different amounts in different areas of the borough, ranging from £55 / sq m in areas like Whiston and Wickersley, to £30 / sq m in the Dearne, and £15 / sq m at Bassingthorpe Farm.

Developers proposing a new supermarket would pay £60 / sq m and the development of Retail Warehouse / Retail Parks would incur £30 / sq m. Business park office, industrial, and town centre comparison retail developments are not considered viable under current market conditions and would not attract any levy.

Nigel Hancock, assistant planning manager at Rotherham Council, told the planning board last week: "We have now implemented the Community Infrastructure Levy from a week last Monday. It is the burden on applicants to provide infrastructure costs in line with the list that has been adopted by the Council for all the infrastructure works that are required within the borough over the next few years.

"Any applications that come in for residential development, new houses, conversions, changes of use for residential, large retail developments and supermarkets will attract a CIL levy.

"It is basically a tax on development but it is a national thing, not just unique to Rotherham. It has gone through viability appraisals and has been tested. It is not expensive particularly in the area and does replace quite a lot of things that Section 106 would have normally tried to deliver through a development.

"Developers can't avoid it and can't argue that they can't afford to pay it. You may hear some rumblings about "having to pay this and having to pay that to get my applications through" but it is not the case of getting the applications through, it is just to ensure that there are enough school places, that roads are big enough to accommodate extra traffic and that there is enough open space.

"We still do ask for Section 106 contributions as well for things that aren't on the CIL "hitlist" but they are more specific to the actual development that you are looking at at that time."

Images: Eurovia


3 comments:

Dennis,  July 17, 2017 at 2:23 PM  

Are self-builders exempt I wonder, as they aren't developers?

Anonymous,  July 17, 2017 at 7:00 PM  

"One measure to help self builders has been to grant them an exemption from the Community Infrastructure Levy."

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/community-infrastructure-levy#Self-Build-Exemption

Rob Foulds July 18, 2017 at 3:41 PM  

"Developers can't avoid it and can't argue that they can't afford to pay it. You may hear some rumblings about "having to pay this and having to pay that to get my applications through" but it is not the case of getting the applications through, it is just to ensure that there are enough school places, that roads are big enough to accommodate extra traffic and that there is enough open space."

This sort of quotation from a senior Rotherham Council officer perfectly exemplifies the utter contempt that they have for the public.

So long as Hancock and his ilk keep their overblown salary cheques coming in, he won't give a stuff about the bricklayers, joiners, plumbers, etc. who aren't being employed due to construction becoming unprofitable.

As for school places, roads etc. being paid for - just how many times must the public of Rotherham pay for decent services, doesn't he understand the term 'council tax' ?

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