Councils offered flexibility over infrastructure levy

06 August 2008
 
The Government is to provide councils with flexibility in setting community infrastructure levy charges, subject to inspectors deciding that the charge levels ‘encourage development’.

The Department for Communities and Local Government said the new levy would vary according to the size and type of development, and pledged ‘to strike a careful balance between national consistency and local flexibility’.

The Government is minded to define nationally the units of development that would be charged, such as ‘per dwelling’ or ‘per habitable room’, but leaving councils to decide the level of charge per unit. But, in line with planning minister John Healey’s statement that the levy would not provide councils with ‘a blank cheque’, developers and infrastructure providers will be able to challenge infrastructure plans as being unjustified (Surveyor, 13 December 2007)

Charges should be expressed as a cost per unit of development, said DCLG, ‘for example, £1,000 per dwelling or £1 per square foot’. The Government is considering allowing lower charges in regeneration areas.

Ministers also wants to explore the possibility of charges being reviewed and revised if economic circumstances change, or may even be automatically linked to economic indicators, such as the rate of inflation.

The Government also confirmed that local planning authorities would set the levy. While acknowledging that county councils produced waste and mineral plans, the Government argued that the infrastructure needs of these developments were not best planned in isolation.

A spokesman for the Home Builders’ Federation, which last year called for greater clarity on the levy, including on the level it would be set at, said this week: ‘There’s clearly a lot of detail still to be developed. ‘We will engage with the Government to ensure a workable solution for the property industry.’

Click here for more on the community infrastructure levy.

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