Regulations and CIL advice
The Town & Country Community Infrastructure Levy (England and Wales) Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations first came into force in April 2010. They are commonly known as the CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended). This is the framework under which a CIL Charging & Collecting Authority operates this statutory functions and any relevant development that is liable to CIL is managed and processed.
The CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended) have been subject to multiple amendment regulations since 2010. Amendments have not only taken place via specific amendment regulations under the original CIL 2010 regulations, but also been enacted through separate primary and secondary legislation e.g. linked to Building Regulations and the UKs exit from the European Union. Amendments can include alterations to the wording of clauses, insertion of new clauses, deletion of clauses.
Every time an amendment to the original CIL Regulations is made and comes into force, transitional provisions are put in place. Transitional provisions are required because changes made to the regulations cannot apply retrospectively. Amendments can include amendments within or to previous amendments made. For this reason, it cannot be automatically assumed that the latest version of the CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended) is the relevant version of the regulations that applies to a specific CIL liable and chargeable development. The relevant version of the regulations will be dependent on multiple factors e.g. a CIL Liability Notice date, a CIL Demand Notice date, the date CIL exemption or relief claim was granted or other specific action is dated or took place.
The Governments published version of the CIL Regulations 2010 can be viewed on the Legislation website. Please ensure that you are looking at the ‘latest revised version’ as a starting point. Also check to understand if there are further amendments not yet applied. It will be necessary for you to refer to the revision references in the relevant regulations you are reading, and revert to the actual amendment regulations directly and the accompanying explanatory memorandum to understand if that version is relevant to a specific circumstance or not.
It isn’t possible for the CIL authority to provide advice on the application or interpretation of the CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended) to third parties. It is however the responsibility of any relevant party to undertake their own due diligence and understand the impact of an adopted CIL Charging Schedule, and the CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended) on any relevant development. Should anyone require it, formal guidance and advice would need to be obtained independently.
In addition to the CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended), where any legal challenge to its application has occurred, case law will exist through High Court and/or Supreme Court judgement decisions. These will set the framework as to how parts of the CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended) should be interpreted or apply.
In addition to the regulations themselves, Central Government has also published additional Guidance that explains how aspects of the CIL Regulations can be interpreted and should operate. This is under the framework of the on-line Planning Practice Guidance that accompanied the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The CIL guidance can be found on the Government website.
If you wish to browse more widely the National Planning Policy Framework Planning Practice Guidance you can do so via the Government website.