Mid Suffolk District Council has launched a public consultation on the first stage of setting it’s Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). This is effectively a charge placed on development which will be levied sometimes instead of, and sometimes in conjunction with, S106 agreements. (S106 is the current system when a developer makes a payment to mitigate the impact of the development so called as it is detailed under Section 106 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990)
The CIL charge is levied per square metre of building and monies collected go towards infrastructure both locally and across the district that would be needed with any new development. Parishes will receive 15% of this to spend within their Parish and 25% if they have a Neighbourhood Plan. They are being encouraged to agree a “list” of items on which they would expect to spend CIL monies. Despite this percentage figure, the funding will still be relatively small (for one house built, the Parish may receive £750 for example.)
Planning Policy at Mid Suffolk expect that the charge will have two levels, high and low. Broadly speaking low will cover areas where development is currently being encouraged (such as Stowmarket and areas along the A14 particularly towards Needham) and high will cover elsewhere. Note that developments already with planning permission are not affected and strategic sites will be covered separately.
Further consultations will follow with the CIL expected to be adopted by April 2015: although given the amount of centralised planning policy changes in the last few years, this may still be changed again.
Rachel Eburne 
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