Conservatives reject Liberal Democrat proposals to adopt the Community Infrastructure Levy

Spelthorne's Conservative-run Council has passed up the chance of receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds from developers to help pay for amenity areas, parks, playgrounds and recycling, despite being urged to do so by the Liberal Democrat group on the Council.

At the Council meeting on 25th February Liberal Democrat members put forward a motion proposing that the Council implements the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) as soon as practicable. The CIL allows Councils to charge developers of small sites a fee for all new homes built. Instead of supporting the motion the Conservatives chose to wreck it.

The original Liberal Democrat motion is shown in full at the end of this article.

The motion was proposed to the Council with due notice prior to the Council meeting. Lib Dem leader Cllr Colin Strong led on the debate but directly after his speech the Conservatives brought forward an amendment prepared (but not circulated) beforehand which had the effect of negating the motion. No attempt was made by the Conservatives to contact Cllr Strong to seek an agreed amendment as would have been common sense if they had wished simply to adjust the motion.

In tabling the motion for debate, Liberal Democrat Councillors were seeking to get the Council to put in place a tariff-based levy on new developments, as most other Councils in Surrey have done. In April this year a new Government scheme on similar lines comes into effect and it was this national approach that the Lib Dems wanted the Council to consider adopting.

At present developers of large sites are often required to enter into agreements with the Council (Section 106 agreements) to make a specific contribution for Borough purposes - often in the form of affordable housing. But in Spelthorne large developments are greatly outnumbered by small ones where no contribution is required, and it is at these that the CIL is aimed.

Most Councils across Surrey already operate such schemes in partnership with the County Council. They have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds to help support their stretched infrastructure, ranging from equipped Play Space, Playing Pitches, Community Facilities, Recycling and Environmental Improvements, and through the County Council, to education and highways.

Elmbridge Council, for example, has raised over £200,000 in this way, with another £950,000 for the County Council to spend in the borough of Elmbridge. There have been a very small number of legal challenges, largely because of a lack of precision in denoting how the funds are to be spent. Spelthorne, however, would be able to learn from these experiences and thereby avoid the pitfalls.

During the debate only one Conservative Councillor demonstrated any understanding of the issue, but despite this they voted en bloc for the wrecking amendment.

It is difficult to understand why the Conservatives are not in favour of getting support for our infrastructure. The Council has a reputation for being very developer-friendly and this is supported by the extent by which Spelthorne has exceeded its government imposed housing targets in the last decade. In proposing this motion the Liberal Democrat Councillors had discussed the CIL in detail at their Group meeting and reached a view that it would be of considerable benefit to the residents of Spelthorne.

Local Liberal Democrats recognise the potential value to the Borough of these contributions and are seeking to see them introduced as soon as possible. New developments place an additional strain on our over-burdened infrastructure and this needs to be recognised and some compensation sought.

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Councillor Colin Strong proposed and Councillor Tony Crabb seconded the following motion:

"Council notes that seven of the eleven Borough Councils in Surrey, supported by the County Council, have introduced Planning Infrastructure Contributions that are levied on small scale new builds.

These contributions generate extra money for the County Council to spend on highways, education and libraries, and for the Borough to go towards extra community facilities, recycling and environmental improvements.

Council further notes that the Government is finalising regulations (that stem from the Planning Act 2008) to allow Councils to introduce a Community Infrastructure Levy, with similar but wider objectives.

Council acknowledges the burden on the local infrastructure by the proliferation of small scale developments that fall outside the scope of Section 106 Agreements.

Council RESOLVES that, in principle, it supports Planning Infrastructure Contributions and will work to introduce such a levy as soon as practicable."