District in Notts set to become first authority to put in place Community Infrastructure Levy

A district council in Nottinghamshire is set to become the first local authority in the country to put in place the Community Infrastructure Levy.

The CIL scheme proposed by Newark and Sherwood District Council took more than 12 months to put together and has now been approved by an independent examiner, Nigel Payne.

His report will be considered by the council at its meeting this month. It is expected that the charging schedule will come into effect in December.

The levy is chargeable on the net increase in floor space and charges depend on the type and location of development.

In the Newark urban area, retail developments will be charged £125 per square metre. Residential rates will vary from £0 to a maximum of £75 per square metre, depending on location across the district.

The money raised by the council may be used to directly fund new infrastructure or may be redistributed to the appropriate delivery organisations.

The examiner’s report concluded that Newark and Sherwood’s charging schedule provided an appropriate basis for the collection of the levy in the district over the next three years.

Mr Payne added that the council had sufficient evidence to support the schedule and could show that the infrastructure that it was intended to help fund had a reasonable chance of being delivered.

The scheme will be reviewed every three years. Annual financial monitoring reports will also be published, as required by the CIL regulations.

The council said that the money raised – estimated to be £35m in the next 15 years towards identified funding deficits – would be used to fund “district-wide infrastructure that cannot necessarily be attributed to individual development sites, such as rural highway improvements and a new secondary school in Newark”.

Cllr Roger Blaney, Newark and Sherwood’s cabinet member for sustainable development and regeneration, said: “Severe restrictions on public sector expenditure will impact on the council’s budget in future years. All aspects of council spending are being critically reviewed to ensure that the budget, and service provision, is sustainable in the medium term.

“We believe CIL represents a great opportunity to create a long term source of funding to meet our infrastructure needs and support the growth we anticipate in the District. We are mindful, however, of the fragile nature of the economy and the need to strike a sensible balance. We have been very careful in setting CIL rates that will not put the economic viability of development in jeopardy, whilst ensuring that sufficient revenue is generated to fund key facilities.”

More detail on the charging schedules can be found here. Newark and Sherwood has set up a consultancy service for other local authorities, covering all aspects of CIL adoption.

The council’s Growth Point Manager, Adrian Kerrison, said: “The inspector’s report represents the successful culmination of over a year’s work and it is gratifying that the methodology we have devised to underpin our CIL system has proved to be compliant with the regulations and statutory guidance.”