19 November 2010
Councils will have to spend a proportion of the levy paid by developers on infrastructure in that locality, the government has announced.
The Community Infrastructure Levy was introduced by the
previous government in April. Although the money raised from it must be spent
on infrastructure, this does not have to be confined
to the area where the levy was raised.
Under the modifications announced by decentralisation minister Greg Clarke yesterday, councils will have to allocate a ‘meaningful proportion’ of the revenues raised in each neighbourhood back to that neighbourhood. They will also have to spend it on the infrastructure that local people consider is most needed.
Other changes include giving councils more control over the levy rates charged and over how the fees from developers are paid.
Clarke said that the reforms would give councils and communities ‘more control over how new infrastructure in towns and cities is funded’.
He added: ‘Too little of the benefits of development go to local communities, and our ambition is to correct that with a reformed levy under genuine local control. Neighbourhoods will now get a direct cut of the cash paid by developers to councils – to spend how they wish to benefit the community, from parks and schools to roads, playgrounds and cycle paths.
‘Our decentralising changes will also benefit developers through a system that is flexible, predictable and transparent while also cutting the red tape and bureaucracy faced by councils.’
The changes will be included in the Localism Bill.
