Agenda item

Councillor Osman Dervish, Cabinet Member for Regulatory Services and Community Safety, introduced the report

Cabinet was informed that the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) was a new system of planning charges which local authorities could levy on nearly all new building projects to help fund a wide range of infrastructure to support development across their respective areas.

In parallel, the Central Government had ‘tightened’ the use of Section 106 agreements so that they could only be used for site-specific impacts.

In light of this, if the Council wished to maximise developer contributions for contributing towards infrastructure costs, it needed to support and progress the introduction of a Havering CIL.

The report sought Cabinet approval to proceed with the preparation of the Havering CIL and, as the first step in that, approval to publish the London Borough of Havering Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Preliminary Draft Charging Schedule (PDCS) and its supporting documents for public consultation.

A copy of the draft PDCS was attached as Appendix 1 to the report.

The draft PDCS was the first stage in the Council setting out it its intentions regarding CIL charges.  The PDCS had to be underpinned by an infrastructure evidence-based report and a supporting viability report which both needed to be the subject of public consultation. These were included as Appendices 2 and 3 to the report.

Consultation on the Preliminary Draft Charging Schedule and supporting documents would be followed by a further statutory consultation and then an Examination to determine whether the CIL can be adopted.

It was explained that this was very much a preliminary step and that concerns about the best appropriate use of the borough’s land would be carefully evaluated during the consultation stage.  It was also noted that Havering’s charging had to be broadly commensurate with its neighbours whilst still seeking to minimise any funding gap and that CIL would be one of a number of funding ‘streams’ which may be used to reduce that gap.

Reasons for the decision:

Improved infrastructure provision was necessary to support development in Havering and to ensure that it continued to be a place where people wanted to live and businesses wanted to invest.

The Council had to look at every opportunity to secure funding towards the cost of infrastructure given the constraints on resources.

A Community Infrastructure Levy scheme provided the opportunity for the Council  to secure funding towards the cost of infrastructure.

Other options considered:

The option of not progressing a Community Infrastructure Levy scheme for Havering was rejected because of the importance of the Council being able to secure funding from developers towards the cost of infrastructure needed to support Havering’s development and regeneration.

Cabinet approved:

1.            The preparation of a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) for Havering ; and

2.            The London Borough of Havering Community Infrastructure Levy Preliminary Draft Charging Schedule (attached as Appendix 1 to the report) and the supporting documents on the infrastructure evidence base and viability (attached as Appendices 2 and 3 to the report, respectively) and authorised their publication for public consultation in accordance with Regulations 15 and 16 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 (as amended).