Ministers have launched a review of the community infrastructure levy to ensure communities are benefiting from developments in their areas.
The review has been welcomed by the British Property Federation, which has previously called for a review of the “overly-burdensome and inefficient tax”.
The BPF is calling for local authorities to regularly review CIL charges to reflect market conditions; greater clarity between section 106 and CIL; the integration of CIL with local plans; and for the tax to be applied more strategically to appropriate sites.
BPF chief executive Melanie Leech said: “CIL was supposed to provide a quicker, fairer and more efficient way of delivering infrastructure to support development and our members have always supported this principle, but we are concerned that in many places it is not working.
“We look forward to engaging with the review panel to ensure that CIL becomes less of a burden and more beneficial.”
The levy was introduced in 2010 to require developers to help fund the delivery of transport infrastructure, schools, health services and leisure facilities. It was introduced alongside the existing section 106 planning obligations, negotiated on an application-by-application-basis for on-site requirements such as affordable housing provision.
The review will assess whether CIL is meeting its objectives of providing a faster, fairer and more transparent means of funding infrastructure through developer contributions. It will also look at the relationship between CIL and section 106 agreements and consider how reliefs and exemptions operate and whether the neighbourhood element of CIL is helping to increase community support for development.
CIL is now charged by almost 100 councils and more than 200 local authorities are looking to introduce it.
Former BPF chief executive Liz Peace will chair the independent panel conducting the review.
