To consider the findings arising from the scrutiny Task & Finish Group – ‘Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Review’ and to recommend the report to the Executive for consideration.

The Committee considered the findings arising from the Scrutiny Task & Finish Group – Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

The Chairman of the Task & Finish Review Group presented the report setting out the findings and recommendations of the Group and briefly highlighted the key points from the review.

During the course of debate the following principal points were noted:

·         Referring to the earlier public question the Chairman of the Review commented that the Group had received an outline report from the Three Dragons Consultants into their initial assessment of the evidence base. The consultants had subsequently been asked by the Council to undertake further work and the results of that work would not be available until later in the month.  The Group had produced this report to meet the timetable for informing the imminent Cabinet decision.

·         It was clarified that CIL would be in addition to Section 106 agreements.

·         Consultation with the development industry had been undertaken by the Three Dragons consultants.  Further consultation and work-shops would be undertaken.

·         Responding to whether CIL will depress the development market the Committee were informed that development viability evidence would be used to support the level of CIL fee as different areas of the county had different economic viability.

·         How the phasing of the CIL fee payment was set was also a key element to determining the economic viability of a development.

·         The findings of the Group would inform the recommendation to Cabinet on the likely direction of travel.

·         It was suggested that ‘locality areas’ didn’t neatly match Councillor ward boundaries and therefore confusion could arise if Councillors had to discuss potential planning applications with the public or parish councils.

·         The Local Development Framework (LDF), to which the CIL contributed, was still to timetable (2014).

·         The payment of CIL fees was not negotiable.

·         Not all the county was covered by local or neighbourhood plans, however, where plans had been agreed they would contain more detail than in the Core Strategy.

·         An Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) would need to be published annually.

·         The Task & Finish Group had been conscious of the need not to adversely affect the viability of affordable housing projects.

The Cabinet Member (Environment Housing & Planning) thanked the Group for their report into a complex area of work. He appreciated that a pragmatic approach was needed as any CIL scheme needed to be approved as part of the LDF.  He reported that he had attended one of the developer consultation workshop sessions and had found it to be well attended and engendered a good level of debate.

RESOLVED: that

a)    subject to the deletion of the word ‘City’ from references to ‘Hereford City Locality’ the Committee agreed the findings and recommendations contained in the report of the Task & Finish Group – Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and forward the report to the Executive for consideration; and

b)    The Executive’s response to the Review including an action plan be reported to the first available meeting of the Committee after the Executive has approved its response.