The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a voluntary mechanism that allows local authorities in England and Wales to levy a standard charge on most types of new development, to fund the infrastructure needed to support development in their area. CIL has been designed to replace the current system of planning obligations.
The Government set out transitional rules until April 2015; since then a Local Planning Authority may not seek contributions for pooled resources, for example play-space contributions, through Section 106 agreements. Planning obligations should be scaled back to cover the provision of affordable housing and site specific measures required to mitigate the impact of development.
If and when the Council adopts a CIL charging schedule it should be recognised that most infrastructure will be delivered through CIL not S106. CIL will require some types of development to pay a charge based on the size of a development. Unlike Planning Obligations CIL can’t be negotiated.
After the Local Development Plan (LDP) was adopted, some progress was made towards adopting a CIL in Conwy but this was paused while Welsh Government reviewed CIL. Work towards drafting a CIL charging schedule is now going on alongside the Replacement LDP.
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