Council to Examine New Development Levy

Cardiff Council is looking to introduce a new levy that will help fund community developments.

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a new system of regulations, introduced by the previous Government in April 2010, that allow local authorities to charge on new developments in their area.

The money can then be used to help fund strategic infrastructure projects that the Council prioritises as well as some communities and neighbourhoods want.

The CIL will have the benefit of giving Cardiff Council more flexibility on its spending priorities and developers more certainty about the costs incurred.

This also fits in with the Council’s LDP strategy and will be worked alongside it.

The CIL sits alongside a modified planning obligations (Section 106 agreements) system, but with the benefit of giving local authorities more flexibility to fund infrastructure that supports the development of areas, especially large infrastructure projects. However, planning obligations may still have a role to play in terms of site specific infrastructure that mitigates the specific impacts of a development.

Cardiff Council’s Executive will be deciding at the Executive Business Meeting on Thursday whether to agree for officers to start work on a proposal to introduce the CIL.

Executive member for Environment, Councillor Margaret Jones, said: “The Executive will be looking at whether to approve the preparation and adoption of a CIL. This is a major piece of work that will rely on a collaborative approach with other councils, developers and our partners.  It is hoped that this new levy will benefit residents by helping to raise funds which can be used towards different kinds of community infrastructure projects – including roads, transport, education, health, sport and recreational facilities.”

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