Amendments to the CIL regulations came into force on the 24 February 2014.

The new amendments apply to relevant chargeable development, which is granted planning permission after this date and where an adopted CIL charging schedule is in force.

These latest set of amendments, which flow from earlier consultation, aim to make CIL more flexible. They also correct some of the practical problems and unintended consequences of the Regulations.

Key points within the new amendments include:

- Limiting the pooling of planning obligations after April 2015 (instead of April 2014), to give local authorities more time to get their CIL charging schedules in place.

- Allowing CIL to be paid in phases where a full, hybrid or outline planning permission allows phasing. This will allow developers to spread out CIL payments for large projects and will help with cashflow.

- A new CIL abatement provision to avoid a double CIL charge where a new planning permission is granted for design changes to schemes after CIL has already been paid on an earlier permission. This will be relevant to amendment applications under s96A or s73 of the Planning Act.

- Allowing developers to deduct the floor space of existing buildings from the CIL calculation where this building was in use for six months in the previous three years (previously just one year).

- Allowing CIL to be renegotiated where the affordable housing obligations have been renegotiated. This is relevant to Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 applications.

- Allowing payments in kind to include infrastructure.

- Giving the local authority flexibility to set differential rates of CIL for development of different scales.

The Regulations were published alongside updated and consolidated guidance published by DCLG.

A link to the guidance note can be found here. 

For more information please contact Kieron Hodgson on 020 3435 4218 / 07807 264704 or khodgson@iceniprojects.com

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