Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to seek Members’ approval for on the proposed governance arrangements for the allocation and spending of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) in Waverley.

Recommendation

The VfM and Customer Service O&S Committee is invited to consider the proposed governance arrangements for Strategic CIL funds and agree any observations that they wish to be passed to the Executive for consideration.

Graeme Clark, Strategic Director, presented the report to the Committee. He explained that the CIL charging regime would come into effect on 1 March 2019. While the money was not expected to come in right away, it was important to have the governance arrangements and allocation criteria agreed in advance. The Committee noted that CIL could potentially generate up to £94m towards infrastructure in the period up to 2032 and agreed that it was important to have a robust process and governance structure in place to manage this.

The Committee noted that the CIL Regulations did not require CIL money to be allocated to the specific area from where the charge arose. Members recalled that at the Committee’s June meeting, where this matter had previously been considered, it had been felt that there should be at least some connection between area where development was taking place (causing CIL funding to arise) and where the money would be spent. The Committee recommended that the new CIL Advisory Board be asked to consider the pros and cons of this approach when drafting the allocation criteria.

Members also considered the proposed composition of the CIL Advisory Board, and suggested that this be geographically proportionate as far as possible, to ensure that both rural and urban areas were represented.

The Committee noted the ability of the Council to retain up to 5% of annual CIL receipts to be spent on administrative expenses and felt that it should be made clear that the Waverley would only spend what was needed in order to effectively and efficiently deliver CIL.

Members also heard that up to 25% of CIL receipts would be paid to Town and Parish Councils, and that these Councils would need to have their own governance arrangements in place. Cllr Adams highlighted that Waverley had an Infrastructure Delivery Plan in place as part of LPP1 and the Towns and Parishes with Neighbourhood would have also their own infrastructure priorities, so it would be useful to identify overlapping and complementing projects.

The Committee queried which bodies would be able to submit bids for Strategic CIL. Officers responded that this could be any infrastructure provider, including SCC, health services, utility companies, and Town and Parish Councils. In relation to utility companies, it was clarified that they would still be required to meet their legal obligations, but could bid for CIL money in order to deliver non-essential ‘enhancements’.

Cllr Seaborne highlighted that the report referred to the timely investment of CIL funds, and felt that some worthwhile projects may require CIL receipts to be retained for a longer period in order accumulate the necessary funds.

Members also noted that CIL could not be used to resolve ‘historical deficits’ of infrastructure provision. There was some concern that with the budget pressures that were currently being experienced by Surrey County Council, infrastructure provision would be cut back, and it then not be possible to use CIL funding to reinstate this, even if additional housing was delivered in the area.

The Committee carefully considered the proposed recommendations that the Executive would be recommending to Council. It was felt that while the CIL Advisory Board should draft the detailed criteria for the spending of Strategic CIL receipts, the final approval of the allocation criteria should come to Council. It was also suggested that there should be a financial threshold over which decisions to spend funds would need to be approved by Council (as was currently the case with the Property Investment Strategy).

The Committee therefore agreed to recommend the following amendments (in bold type) to recommendations 4 and 5:

It is recommended that the Council:

4.         Delegate to the CIL Advisory Board the drafting of the detailed criteria for the spending of Strategic CIL receipts and any proposals for allocating proportions of the Strategic CIL Fund for specific purposes, which will then be subject to Council approval following the usual scrutiny process.

5.         Subject to an agreed threshold to be approved by Council, delegate to the Executive the approval of Strategic CIL Fund spending after consideration of the recommendations from the CIL Advisory Board.