Homes could earn cash for community under new levy
Parish councils and neighbourhood groups are eagerly awaiting the arrival of new planning regulations that may bring a windfall to communities where big developments are planned.
From October 1, those behind new housing or retail stores will be obliged to pay a Community Infrastructure Levy or CIL, which can be used for a wide variety of projects. That might include supporting a new doctor’s surgery, expanding a school, providing a car park or traffic calming, or improving a park or green space.
The tax is based on the amount of new floorspace created and is charged at varying rates, accord- ing to where the houses are situated, or the type of retail store proposed. Affordable housing is excused from the levy and retirement properties are charged a reduced rate.
Developers could find themselves having to pay £99 per sq metre of floorspace created in the countryside, or £150 per sq metre for new retail space. The scheme will largely replace the current Section 106 payments - although Maidstone council will still have the ability to levy an additional 106 payment if there is a particular need to mitigate some aspect of the development.
The advantage of CIL over 106 payments is that the mean can combine many payments and spend them together - giving it the potential to finance much larger infrastructure projects.
At present, the borough is only allowed to apply Section 106 payments from five developments towards a single project - and what’s more it must be directly related to those developments.
The advantage for communities is that 15% of all the CIL money collected will be handed over to parish councils to spend in their area.
For example, a development currently under consideration for 272 homes off Farleigh Hill in Tovil, could have yielded around £167,000 for Tovil Parish Council if the application had been submitted after October - almost two and a half times Tovil’s current budget of £68,000. Where there is no parish council, neighbourhood groups will be able to make suggestions to the borough for where to spend the funding.