Agenda item

The Committee is requested to note:

1.    The income and expenditure between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 in respect of S106 contributions and from CIL; and

2.    The contents of the Infrastructure Funding Statement as set out in Appendix 1; and

3.    The information on S106 agreements within 2 years of the expenditure target date as set out in Appendix 2; and

4.    The details of non-financial S106 obligations set out in Appendix 3.

The Chairman invited Mr Davies to present the report, who went through key points for members. He highlighted, on page 163, the CIL spending plan, explaining that the income within the projection is based on the housing trajectory related to planning policy and was worked with an assumption that affordable housing will be delivered at the policy rate of 30%. He noted however, that over the past 18 months several schemes for 100 % affordable housing have come forward subsequent to permission, possibly in response to Central government funding for that sector. In these cases, there is an impact on CIL receipts as mandatory relief is given. Mr Davies made members aware that this could lead to some infrastructure projects within the plan not having funding, noting however that to mitigate this the team have made a change to S106, to allow the development management team the opportunity to consider developers asking for 100% affordable housing.

Cllr O’Kelly referenced page 133 and the new infrastructure levy update, querying what impact this might have on decision making.

Mrs Dower noted that the new legislation was light on detail, noting that the new levy will not be based on gross internal area or floor space and won’t be charged on commencement, instead it will be charged on the final value of the property. She added that it will be very different to the existing scheme and her main concern is it producing a longer gap between receiving the money and needing to spend it.

Members queried whether we have protection against developers not paying or not being able to pay their CIL contribution.

Mr Davies suggested that as CIL is a charge against the land, were the land sold to another developer they would inherit the liability and should be aware of this. Mrs Dower added that as a local authority our position would be comparatively strong.

The Monitoring Officer offered advice to Members regarding any discussion about individual sites, as it overlaps into planning and other contractual issues.

Cllr Oakley was invited to ask his question which noted the higher than ever CIL contributions received by Parish Councils and his concern at the capacity of these semi-professional bodies to work up projects in line with the higher funding scale. Especially given this money is lost if not used within a prescribed time frame.

Mrs Dower explained that if individually parishes did not feel they had the ability to work up projects to spend the money, they can hand the money back to CDC to manage for them which will be spent on an appropriate project of benefit to the parish.

The Monitoring Officer suggested that further mechanisms might be better discussed outside of this meeting by senior officers, acknowledging the importance of the oversight of this money and where it used to the benefit of residents.

Cllr Hobbs joined the meeting.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted:

1.    The income and expenditure between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 in respect of S106 contributions and from CIL; and

2.    The contents of the Infrastructure Funding Statement as set out in Appendix 1; and

3.    The information on S106 agreements within 2 years of the expenditure target date as set out in Appendix 2; and

4.    The details of non-financial S106 obligations set out in Appendix 3.