West Oxfordshire District Council’s cabinet will run a six-week consultation on introducing the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) across the district.
The amount payable will be fixed and will be based on the size of development proposed.
Under the draft charging schedule builders will be charged £225 per square metre for undeveloped greenfield sites; £125 for brownfield sites and flat schemes will pay a nominal £25 per square metre to reflect the higher cost of developing these sites.
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Large retail developments such as supermarkets, foodstores and warehousing will pay £125 per square metre.
Strategic sites such as Salt Cross are proposed to be exempt from CIL (Image: WODC)
Strategic local plan sites – Salt Cross, West Eynsham, North Witney, East Witney and East Chipping Norton – are proposed to be CIL exempt.
This is because of the significant infrastructure costs associated with bringing such developments forward, which will be secured through other mechanisms including Section 106 agreements.
When planning permission is granted, the district council will issue a liability notice setting out the amount payable through CIL, and the payment procedure.
Andy Graham, leader of the council, said: “CIL will help us raise valuable funds to help provide new and improved infrastructure, facilities and services – such as schools or transport improvements – needed to support new homes and businesses.
“Importantly, a proportion of the money received through CIL will be passed directly to the local town or parish council within which the development is taking place so that decisions on how the money is spent are taken locally.”
He added: “CIL does not replace Section 106 developer contributions, which apply to larger schemes and are used to mitigate the impact of the development they apply to directly.
“CIL will be applied to smaller developments that are not generally subject to Section 106 contributions, and as such will provide flexibility and help to address the cumulative impact of small-scale developments.”
The draft CIL charging schedule was approved at a meeting of the council’s executive on Monday (July 22).
Duncan Enright, deputy leader, said he wanted “to make sure that town and parish councils that provide a lot of services in our area are part of the conversation” on strategic sites.
Chris Hargraves, planning policy manager, said there would be a ‘bespoke’ arrangement for strategic sites as there are a relatively small number but Eynsham parish council has already “been drawn into discussion over Salt Cross”.
He said: “We are aware it’s a key issue, we have in place a much stronger development contributions team and run previous training sessions with town and parish councils to update them on how they can input into the process and to say ‘this is important’.”
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Woodstock and Bladon councillor Julian Cooper, attending as a non-executive member, questioned why all non-residential development other than retail would be exempt.
He said: “I can think of two really good projects since I’ve been on the council and can’t see why they wouldn’t pay this. One is the Mullen museum at Enstone and the other is the newest hangar at RAF Brize Norton”.
He added he didn’t know if the RAF may be exempt.
Mr Hargraves said it was on viability grounds but if the consultation raised issues this exemption would be reviewed.
Unless any major concerns are raised, the charging schedule will be submitted for independent examination later in the year.
The consultation will run from August 16 to September 27. Responses should be sent to the following email address: planning.consultation@westoxon.gov.uk