‘Complex process’ leads to debt risk
Council ‘morally wrong’ after residents left facing huge bills
WEST Berkshire Council has been branded “morally and ethically wrong” for reportedly allowing citizens to fall into debt traps.
The issue was first raised by this newspaper in 2019 when former district council leader Gordon Lundie accused his own authority of allowing a Lambourn builder to unwittingly face financial ruin.
Roger McCabe, the developer of The Malt Shovel pub in the village, was exempt from having to pay a £60,000 Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) to the council – so long as he filled in the right forms before a deadline.
But the council never warned its constituent he was about to become liable by default.
That left Mr McCabe legally obliged to pay the council the sum or risk going to prison if he couldn’t.
Since then, the Newbury Weekly News has learned of similar cases.
In one of them, Maria Dobson built an extension to her Kintbury home and would have been exempt from CIL payment if she had known how to fill in the forms correctly.
She ticked the exemption box, but failed to do the rest of the paperwork correctly – and was then landed with a £20,000 bill from West Berkshire Council.
Last May housing minister Christopher Pincher intervened and said West Berkshire Council could review the CIL payment demands at any time – if it wished to.
Claire Rowles (Con, Hungerford and Kintbury) said this week: “I believe we, as a council, should have highlighted that information from forms was missing, but we didn’t.
“If you make a mistake on tax forms the Inland Revenue will highlight that and re-assess you.
“I believe we should be helping residents through what is, after all, a very complex process.
“The council is able to review these cases at any time. I believe it’s morally and ethically wrong not to.”
Mrs Rowles said she was unable to speak on her constituents’ behalf at a recent full council meeting because the matter was closed down by sending it to the executive committee to deal with at a future date.
Jeff Brooks (Lib Dem, Thatcham West) said: “These applicants completed the paperwork to the best of their ability and knowledge, but got some things wrong.
“CIL is a complex process and mistakes will happen.
“We should ensure that everything reasonably was done to ensure that if these properties were zero-rated then that is the charge we should have made.
“Yet the process adopted would appear to be: ‘Gotcha!’
“It smacks of sharp practice and it comes down to what kind of council we are.
“Are we fair and helpful at all times to our residents and developers or are we looking to maximise our income by almost any means we can?”
The council has responded in a letter to Mr McCabe’s solicitor, setting out its position.
It states: “The council disagrees that they owe a duty to applicants to advise them of the process.
“Case law is clear that the onus is on the applicant or their agent to understand the CIL process and comply with it.
“The legislation imposes no obligation on the council to undertake a review of a liability notice at this stage.
“This decision has been reached due to the extensive scrutiny this matter has already undergone, including a review by the local government ombudsman.”
WEST Berkshire Council is proposing to invest almost £123m over the next three years to make the district a better place to live, work and learn.
Almost a third of that money – £39.7m – will be spent on developing local infrastructure, including housing and roads.
Of those projects, almost £1.5m has been allocated to improving the capacity of Newbury’s Robin Hood Roundabout.
More than £2.5m has been set aside to complete the new link road from the A339 into Highwood Copse Primary School and proposed Sandleford Park development.
A further £950,000 will be spent on the construction of a new link road at Kings Road in Newbury, while the council will also invest £440,000 on improving capacity at Newbury’s Burger King roundabout and £320,000 upgrading the
traffic lights at the Faraday Road junction.
It is also proposing to spend £35.6m on education to provide extra capacity and improve existing schools.
A further £53.8m will go towards improving the environment, with £12.5m set aside to achieve the aims of the council’s environment strategy.
This includes £1.6m of carbon
reduction initiatives and £10.4m on solar photovoltaic energy generation and £150,000 on installing solar panels on council-owned buildings.
It is also proposing to invest £375,000 in new pitches at Henwick and £125,000 on an interpretation space at Thatcham’s Nature Discovery Centre.
Altogether, £200,000 has also been allocated for the refurbishment of Thatcham’s Kennet Leisure Centre.
Another £331,880 will be spent on refurbishing children’s playgrounds, while £450,000 will go towards the maintenance of care homes and resource centres.
The local authority will invest £900,000 on an additional weekly food waste collection service and £140,000 on installing covered cycle stands at all West Berkshire secondary schools.
The capital budget is funded by a combination of external grants and council borrowing.
It is separate from the revenue budget, which is funded largely by council tax and is spent on day-today expenditure.
More than half of the £122.9m – £64.4m – will come from external borrowing, while £53.5m will come from external funding.
The capital budget is expected to be approved by the council’s executive committee tonight (Thursday), before being voted on at the full council budget meeting in March.