CIL in Swindon
The Community Infrastructure Levy (also known as the CIL or 'the Levy') is the Government’s chosen approach to set a mandatory tariff on development. CIL will allow the council (also known as CIL Charging Authority ‘CA’) to raise funds from new development in its area. CIL receipts will contribute towards the improvement of facilities and services that are required to support the development and growth planned for Swindon to 2026.
Adopted community infrastructure levy charging schedule
The adopted CIL charging schedule became effective on Monday, 6 April 2015. All relevant planning applications determined on or after that date will be subject to the consideration of CIL.
The CIL charging schedule was adopted by a meeting of the council on Thursday, 26 March 2015, after being commended for adoption by Cabinet on Wednesday, 18 March 2015. This process followed an independent examination on Tuesday, 4 November 2014 and the publication of the CIL examination final report in February 2015. The requirements of the final report are incorporated into the adopted charging schedule.
The adopted charging schedule is one of the adopted documents that supports the operational management of CIL.
The adopted documents contain the following:
- CIL charging schedule (PDF)
- CIL surcharges policy (PDF)
- Adopted CIL payment by instalment policy (PDF)
The CIL rates in the Charging Schedule will be index linked in accordance with the CIL Regulation requirements. From the 1 September, 2019 the Council as CIL Charging Authority now has a requirement to publish its indexed rates in an Annual CIL Rate Summary in advance of the new indexation year. This document also provides informal advice on when a CIL liability notice is likely to be issued, and the time at which planning permission first permits development for CIL purposes.
For more information on how indexation would affect development that generates a CIL liability notice, see the council’s CIL annual rate summary (PDF).
Regulation 123 of the CIL Regs. was deleted under the CIL Amendment Regulations 2019 2 SI 2019 1103. The Regulation 123 list was the list that previously indicated what s106 obligations would not be secured for.
The requirement to publish a S106 & CIL Infrastructure Funding statement that will contain information on anticipated use of CIL receipts and s106 obligations is required to be published by 30 December 2020.
In the meantime, for development outside the strategic allocations sites within the adopted Swindon Borough Local Plan 2026 (March 2015), the Council will continue to secure the following infrastructure by s106 planning obligation:
- i) Affordable Housing (on-site delivery and off-site contributions)
- ii) Site specific highways/transport requirements (where not appropriate for a planning condition)
- iii) Obligations associated with delivery of open space on-site including management company approval, land transfer and delivery triggers etc, and off-site financial contributions for open space covering outdoor sports, allotments, formal play, local open space and major open space (as appropriate)
- iv) Management of net biodiversity gain
- v) Any other site-specific obligations that arise as a direct consequence of the development
The rates in the adopted charging schedule are only relevant to calculate CIL liability until 31 December 2015.
Indexation will first be applied to the rates in the adopted CIL charging schedule on 1 January 2016, and subsequently on the 1 January annually. In applying indexation to the base CIL rate, the rate could increase, decrease or remain the same. The actual CIL rate generated by applying indexation is produced at the time CIL liability is being calculated.
CIL discretionary relief is not available for charities, social housing or exceptional circumstances. Information of CIL discretionary relief and how it could relate to development proposals if it were to be made available, is located on the Discretionary Relief from CIL Liability webpage.