Application of CIL by charging authorities

59.—(1) A charging authority must apply CIL to funding infrastructure to support the development of its area.

59C. A local council must use CIL receipts passed to it in accordance with regulation 59A or 59B to support the development of the local council’s area, or any part of that area, by funding—

(a)the provision, improvement, replacement, operation or maintenance of infrastructure; or

(b)anything else that is concerned with addressing the demands that development places on an area.

Sun Lane Public Inquiry.

At Sun Lane, the council had stated that:

Public Inquiry, High Court Appeal and accountability.

Sun Lane was the subject of a Public Inquiry and was subsequently challenged at the Appeal Court by ceg: (the developer) and Bradford Council.  The real concern here, and perhaps a concern for Doctors, residents, and the Planning Inspectorate, are statements made at the Public Inquiry that are part of Bradford’s case for planning application approval at Sun Lane.

First, from Bradford’s Statement of Common Ground made at that time, we have:

• However the doctor’s surgery in Burley in-Wharfedale (Grange Park Medical Practice) is not currently operating at full capacity and does benefit from new patients being accepted.

At the time of the Public Inquiry, the surgery was operating far above its maximum capacity of 4,600. So, I would firstly like to understand where the information in Bradford’s statement came from? It’s clearly not a statement of fact at the time of the inquiry, the “Proof of Evidence” document was created on April 11^th, 2019. It also includes:

• The development would be subject to the Community Infrastructure Levy and the purpose of this is for CBMDC to raise money to help pay for infrastructure such as schools, transport, parks, open spaces and other community facilities.

One of the objectives of the Burley-in-Wharfedale Neighbourhood Plan is to support education, health and community facilities and the Plan will seek to protect existing facilities and support the provision of new facilities to ensure the need for essential infrastructure is met. (Core Document 7.4)…

Monies will therefore be available from 2 sources, the Parish Council and CBMDC, which could be used towards enhancing the existing infrastructure within Burley-in-Wharfedale.

Controversially , it now appears that monies will only be available from a single source – Burley Parish Council. This is at odds with statements made by Council at the Public Inquiry, would the Council spokesperson care to comment?

We also have within the same “Proof of Evidence” documentation that:

• With regards to dentists and doctors, whilst monies raised through the Community Infrastructure Levy cannot be used to expand these facilities…

The full document is available to download here. The relevant sections in the enclosed are:

• Page 38, section 7.12.2
• Page 39, section 7.12.3
• Page 39, section 7.12.4

What can neighbourhood funding be spent on?

The neighbourhood portion of the levy can be spent on a wider range of things than the rest of the levy, provided that it meets the requirement to ‘support the development of the area’ (see regulation 59C inserted by the 2013 Regulations for details). The wider definition means that the neighbourhood portion can be spent on things other than infrastructure (as defined in the Community Infrastructure Levy regulations) provided it is concerned with addressing the demands that development places on the parish’s area. For example, the pot could be used to fund affordable housing.

Parish or town councils should discuss their priorities with the charging authority during the process of setting the levy rate(s).

Once the levy is in place, parish or town councils should work closely with their neighbouring councils and the charging authority to agree on infrastructure spending priorities. If the parish or town council shares the priorities of the charging authority, they may agree that the charging authority should retain the neighbourhood funding to spend on that infrastructure.

This guidance explains what the Community Infrastructure Levy is and how it operates.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/community-infrastructure-levy#spending-the-levy