Following on from the Community Infrastructure Levy consultation, a new report sets out further Regulatory Reforms.
The Community Infrastructure Levy, introduced in 2010, allows local authorities in England and Wales to raise funds from developers undertaking new building projects in their area. The levy charge is a set tariff used to fund a wide range of infrastructure needed to support the development of the area.
The current proposed amendments aim to ensure that any lessons from the early years of the levy are learned. It is intended the amendments will improve operation and ensure it is ‘a fair, transparent and efficient way for development to contribute to essential supporting infrastructure needs..’
The consultation document of April 2013 was informed by practice experience to date from the development industry and local government and closed on 28th May 2013 with 289 responses.
The Government is now taking steps to implement regulatory amendments in line with the majority of the proposals as set out in the consultation document, including the proposed exemption from the levy for self build homes. There are a number of areas where the Government is responding to evidence and views submitted by taking forward regulatory amendments with variations from the consultation proposals. These are as follows:
- Extending the vacancy test to cover buildings that have been in use for a continuous period of six months in the last three years. Where there is no change of use, they will also be exempt from the levy, other than where there is an increase in floorspace, or where the building has been abandoned. This will help to facilitate empty buildings being brought back into use;
- Extending the proposal to allow credit where the levy has already been paid and the proposed development is changed. We now propose to apply this to any incomplete building on a site where the levy has already been paid;
- Exempting highway agreements relating to the trunk road network drawn up by the Highways Agency, Transport for London or Welsh Ministers from proposals to restrict the use of highway agreements by reference to the Regulation 123 list;
- Not extending the consultation period on the draft charging schedule from four to six weeks;
- Continuing to enable authorities to determine at their own discretion how to consult on any amendments to their Regulation 123 lists;
- Not replicating in the levy regulations, in relation to “in kind” payments, the EU procurement limits applied in other regulations;
- Exempting residential extensions and annexes from the levy.
The Government intends to develop regulations and guidance as quickly as possible, with the objective of laying new regulations in Parliament before the end of the year, to come into effect – subject to the Parliamentary process – by the end of January 2014.
The Report is available to view here
