At its meeting on 12 July 2017 the Executive Committee considered the Community Infrastructure Levy - Statement of Modifications and RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL that

1.      That the Community Infrastructure Levy Proposed Statement of Modifications, as attached to the report at Appendix 1, be APPROVED for public consultation.

2.      That authority be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Lead Member for Built Environment, to amend the proposed Statement of Modifications and prepare any further statements of modification that may be required following the JCS hearings and/or any further viability assessments undertaken.

3.      That the Deputy Chief Executive be authorised to agree the date of public consultation(s) with Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils.

4.      That the Deputy Chief Executive, following the conclusion of the public consultation(s), be authorised to compile and submit responses received to the CIL examiner for examination.

At the Executive Committee meeting Members requested that the complete Community Infrastructure Levy charges, as approved by Council on 19 April 2016, be advised to Members and that additional information is provided as an Addendum to the report.

38.1           At its meeting on 12 July 2017, the Executive Committee had considered a report which detailed the need for the Council to undertake public consultation on the proposed Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Statement of Modifications and asked for approval to compile and submit responses received to the CIL examiner. The Executive Committee had recommended to Council that the CIL proposed Statement of Modifications be approved for public consultation; that authority be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Lead Member for Built Environment, to prepare any further statements of modification that may be required following the Joint Core Strategy (JCS) hearings and/or any further viability assessments undertaken; that the Deputy Chief Executive be authorised to agree the date of public consultation(s) with Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils; and that the Deputy Chief Executive, following the conclusion of the public consultation(s), be authorised to compile and submit responses received to the CIL examiner for examination.

38.2           The report which was considered by the Executive Committee had been circulated with the Agenda for the current meeting at Pages No. 6-21. Members had also asked for the CIL charges which had already been agreed to be circulated for information and those were attached to the Agenda at Pages No. 22-34. 

38.3           The recommendation was proposed by the Chair of the Executive Committee and subsequently seconded. During the discussion which ensued, a Member referred to the resource implications section of the report and queried whether the past consultancy costs could be recovered. In response, the Deputy Chief Executive indicated that the Council should be able to clawback the costs of the administration and collection of CIL as was set out within the report. In addition, the Head of Development Services advised that the original consultancy work which had been undertaken by Peter Brett Associates helped the Council to set up the charging schedule and, as such, could not be recovered. The Council was not being asked to approve those rates at this meeting as that had already been done in April 2016. The Head of Development Services explained that the rates would be examined through the CIL process but that was not the purpose of the current report. Members were being asked to look at the modifications which needed to be made and agree that they be the subject of public consultation.

38.4           A Member referred to the resource implications at Page No. 7 of the report and Paragraph 5.1 at Page No. 10. She was of the view that the two paragraphs contradicted each other regarding the funding of the post as the first paragraph indicated that Tewkesbury’s contribution would be £30,000 for staffing costs and £30,000 for the IT System; whereas the second paragraph stated that two officers would be required at an estimated cost of £60,000 for each of the JCS authorities. She questioned whether this meant there were two Officers costing £60,000 with ICT costs on top of that. In response, the Head of Development  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38

To recommend to Council that the public consultation on the proposed Statement of Modifications be approved and that the Deputy Chief Executive be authorised to compile and submit responses to the Community Infrastructure Levy examiner for examination.

That it be RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

1.      That the Community Infrastructure Levy Proposed Statement of Modifications, as attached to the report at Appendix 1, be APPROVED for public consultation.

2.      That authority be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Lead Member for Built Environment, to amend the proposed Statement of Modifications and prepare any further statements of modification that may be required following the JCS hearings and/or any further viability assessments undertaken.

3.      That the Deputy Chief Executive be authorised to agree the date of public consultation(s) with Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils.

4.      That the Deputy Chief Executive, following the conclusion of the public consultation(s), be authorised to compile and submit responses received to the CIL examiner for examination.

24.1           The report of the Head of Development Services, circulated at Pages No. 56-71, attached a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Proposed Statement of Modifications and asked Members to recommend to Council that it be approved for public consultation. In addition, the report recommended that authority be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive, in consultation with the Lead Member for Built Environment, to amend the Statement and prepare any further statements of modification following the JCS hearings and/or any further viability assessments undertaken; that authority be delegated to the Deputy Chief Executive to agree the date of public consultation with Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils; and, following the conclusion of the consultation, that the Deputy Chief Executive be authorised to compile all responses received and submit them to the CIL Examiner for examination.

24.2           In introducing the report, the Deputy Chief Executive explained that the Joint Core Strategy (JCS) authorities (Tewkesbury Borough, Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils) had been working towards adopting a CIL alongside the JCS. The CIL would allow the Councils to raise funds from developers undertaking new developments for a wide range of infrastructure that was needed to support them e.g. road improvements and schools. CIL would replace the majority of Section 106 planning obligations; however, Section 106 would still be used to deliver affordable housing provision and site specific mitigation measures for strategic allocations. The majority of required infrastructure would continue to be funded through the Section 106 planning obligations process. The proposed CIL rates were set out within the draft CIL Charging Schedule which had been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination on 29 July 2016. The CIL charges were set out within each authority’s CIL Draft Charging Schedule which provided details on the CIL charges for different types of development. The independent Planning Inspector who was dealing with the JCS had also been appointed to preside over the Examination into the CIL Charging Schedule and the CIL Hearings would take place sometime after the JCS Hearings had been completed.

24.3           The variations made to date on the JCS had seen three sites taken out that had originally been included and three sites that were not originally included being put in. With this in mind, the CIL now needed modification before its examination could take place. The JCS authorities had received legal advice setting out the most appropriate way forward which was to produce a ‘Statement of Modifications’ to each draft Charging Schedule before the examination and to consult on those statements for a period of four weeks; the Statement, attached to the report at Appendix 1, included modifications to add/delete the strategic allocations as recommended by the JCS inspector; included maps showing the boundaries of the strategic allocations; and included a section setting out how the CIL charge would be calculated. Once the three Councils had each approved the Statement of Modifications for their respective Draft Charging Schedules and, assuming all went to plan, it was anticipated that the examination would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24