New planning rules will allow residents to see how ‘every pound’ of property developers’ cash is spent.
Communities department MHCLG said that although developers paid £6bn towards local infrastructure in 2016 to 2017, councils were not previously required to report on the total amount of funding received or how it was spent.
The new rules will mean councils will be legally required to publish details of deals with developers.
Housing minister Esther McVey said: ‘The new rules will allow residents to know how developers are contributing to the local community when they build new homes - whether that’s contributing to building a brand new school, roads or a doctor’s surgery that the area needs.'
MHCLH said the reformed Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) rules will help developers get shovels in the ground more quickly, and help the government meet its ambition to deliver 300,000 extra homes a year by the mid-2020s.
It added that the rules are designed to support councils and give greater confidence to communities about the benefits new housing can bring to their area.
New guidance has also been published, which seeks to further simplify advice on the CIL regime.
Councils will be required to publish an annual report on the all the CIL agreements entered into with developers from December 2020.
MHCLG said the regulations make it faster for councils to introduce the CIL in the first place and that restrictions will also be eased to allow councils to fund single, larger infrastructure projects from the cash received from multiple developments,
The Local Government Association’s planning spokesman, Cllr David Renard, said councils support the move in principle and many already publish them but said the work needs to be fully funded with councils given sufficient lead-in time.'
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