It was clear last night that neither the MP or the Council representative wanted to digress too far into the new Community Infrastructure Levy that will be in place by the time this site is developed, preferring instead to allow us all to believe funding would be made available through a s106 agreement whereby the developer (so long as its not a favoured developer who gets away without any financial contribution whatsoever) provides a sum of money for use in connection with the implications created by the development. This mechanism is being withdrawn when the CIL is introduced. The current proposals for the CIL can be read here: dudley.gov.uk/resident/planning/planning-policy/local-development-framework/cil/ So the upshot would be that because the site is in Zone 5, an average £8,800 would be paid to the Local Authority for each average sized house built. Make no mistake, this will not come out of the developers pocket, it will influence the asking price for each new house so rather than being a development tax as heralded, it becomes a hidden Im buying a new house tax instead. Nice, some £350k or so generated to the local authority. However, whereas funding generated from a s106 agreement is earmarked for matters associated directly with the development, the proposals for CIL are clear as to where the monies raised are to be allocated; in fact it is those projects and aspirations of the council that and the funding shortfall that they currently have for them that calculates for them what the rate of CIL should be. 75% of all Levies raised are to be banked for the strategic projects defined, 15% for local projects and 10% for minor projects, hence my statement last night that the money yet to be raised has already been spent. Interestingly you will see that the councils aspirations for 75% our money includes £280k for public art at Russells Hall Hospital ??? and £45k to a memorial for Round Oak Steel Works ???! So 15% of the £350k becomes £50k, for which there will be no guarantee of allocation to site specific improvements, it just gets put into a general fund and divvied out to all local projects accordingly. Hence my comment that all talk of s106 agreements was a red herring. Interestingly, the govt decided late in the process to insist that local authorities should allocate a minimum of 15% to local projects, Dudleys response: to increase the levy by 15% to cover it rather than recalculating their short falls to accommodate it....if only I could run my own business on this basis!! The council held a public meeting to declare their methodology and calculations for this CIL a good while back, last February if I recall; interestingly I was the only member of the public who turned up, so widespread was their notice of consultation, but nevertheless, according to their statement of consultation they have fulfilled their obligations in this respect.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 11:42:43 +0000