Section 206 of the Planning Act 2008 confers the non-mandatory power on Local Authorities to introduce a new charge on different types of new development in their area, known as ‘Community Infrastructure Levy’ (CIL).The proceeds of this charge should be spent on infrastructure needed to support growth in the District, a proportion of which must be passed to local communities where development has taken place.

The Strategic Director, Place will submit Document “AA”  which informs Members of the Committee of the proposed CIL governance arrangements to be put in place following the commencement of the Bradford District CIL as required by the Regulations on 1 July 2017. 

Recommended-

That that the proposed Bradford District CIL governance arrangements as set out in Document “AA” as the most appropriate basis by which the Council will manage the collection, spend and monitoring of CIL receipts be considered.

                                                            (Bhupinder Dev - 01274 432012)

Section 206 of the Planning Act 2008 confers the non-mandatory power on Local Authorities to introduce a new charge on different types of new development in their area, known as ‘Community Infrastructure Levy’ (CIL).The proceeds of this charge should be spent on infrastructure needed to support growth in the District, a proportion of which must be passed to local communities where development had taken place.

The Strategic Director, Place submitted Document “AA”  which informed Members of the Committee of the proposed CIL governance arrangements to be put in place following the commencement of the Bradford District CIL as required by the Regulations on 1 July 2017. 

It was reported that the introduction of CIL necessitated the development of governance arrangements for spending and administering the monies collected. Under CIL, the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council would act as the designated ‘Charging Authority’ and ‘Collecting Authority’. In accordance with the CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended) the Council had an obligation to:

·         Prepare and publish the CIL Charging Schedule

·         Calculate CIL liability and collect CIL monies owed 

·         Apply the levy revenue it received to funding the provision, improvement, replacement, operation or maintenance of infrastructure to support development of its area

·         Pass a percentage of CIL receipts (the neighbourhood portion) to communities where a development had taken place, and:

·         Report on the amount of CIL revenue collected, spent and retained each year.

Members were informed that CIL would operate through the exchange of formal notices and for most developments included:

·         The owner/developer or another interested party assume liability for the levy by submitting an assumption of liability form.

·         A Liability Notice is issued by the Council along with the planning permission Decision Notice. It stated how much CIL was payable and included details of the payment procedure.

·         Before the development started, the owner/developer provided the Council with a Commencement Notice giving a date to start works.

·         The Council then issued the Demand Notice (the bill). The CIL charge is recorded as a Local Land Charge. The Council issues a receipt for each payment received.

It was reported that administration of CIL would be similar to current Section 106 Agreement procedures and processes.

In response to Members questions it was reported that 15% of CIL receipts would be passed directly to those Parish and Town Councils where the development had taken place.

A Member queried the Council retaining 5% of the CIL receipts in the first three years to fund up and on going costs when the process would be similar to the collection of Section 106 Agreement monies.

In response it was reported that the money for funding the on going costs would be for the introduction of new IT systems, the software needed updating and needed to be transparent in the way CIL was reported; there was a new layer of processes which needed to be aligned close to Section 106; the 5% proposed for administration costs would be reviewed and if it was no longer required it would return back into the CIL fund.

A Member felt it was important that if a parish or town council did not spend its levy share within 5 years of receipt, or does not spend it on initiatives the support the development of the area there needed to be mechanisms in place to deal with such scenarios. 

Resolved-

That that the proposed Bradford District CIL governance arrangements as set out in Document “AA” as the most appropriate basis by which the Council will manage the collection, spend and monitoring of CIL receipts were considered.

Action:           Strategic Director, Place