Agenda item

To consider the report of the Director of City Development explaining the changes to the (Community Infrastructure Levy) CIL Draft Charging Schedule which are now proposed following the Preliminary Draft consultation, including reference to further background information and analysis.

Further to Minute No. 178, 15^th February 2013, the Director of City Development submitted a report explaining the changes to the CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) Draft Charging Schedule, which were now proposed following the Preliminary Draft consultation exercise and also following reference to further background information and analysis.

The observations and recommendations of the Scrutiny Board (Sustainable Economy and Culture) on this issue were appended to the submitted report for Board Members’ consideration.

Prior to the meeting, Board Members were provided with an updated version of Appendix 2 (Draft Regulation 123 List) for their consideration as part of the submitted report. 

Following Members’ comments, further details were provided regarding the timescales associated with future reviews of the schedule, on proposals regarding the change in charging zone for the East Leeds Extension and also in respect of the provision of education facilities.

Responding to a specific request to incorporate an area of Farsley into the North charging zone, the Board agreed to this amendment, subject to it being determined as viable following the appropriate checks being undertaken against the associated evidence base.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the content of the Draft Charging Schedule, as appended to the submitted report, be approved in order to proceed with publication and  6 weeks of formal public consultation, subject to the inclusion of an amendment as detailed above, should this amendment be determined as viable following the appropriate checks being undertaken against the associated evidence base.

(b)  That the scope of the evidence base and associated documents supporting the setting of the CIL rates, including the Regulation 123 List, be agreed, subject to the inclusion of the amendment made to the Regulation 123 List, namely the removal of reference to ‘Highways Schemes’.

(c)  That approval be given to submit the Draft Charging Schedule to the examiner after the close of the consultation period in accordance with the CIL Regulations.

(d)  That approval be given for the Council to work in partnership with local councils, Area Committees and neighbourhoods in order to explore opportunities for maximising available resources through governance and implementation of the CIL spending to best meet their local needs, with proposals being reported back to a future meeting of Executive Board.

(e)  That it be noted that the following steps will be undertaken to deliver the decisions of the Board:-

i.  The Draft Charging Schedule and supporting documents/evidence base as provided in the appendices to the submitted report will be published for public consultation. Following the consultation, the same material will be submitted to the examiner along with any representations received. Following the examination and receipt of the inspector’s report and any modifications required, there would need to be a Full Council resolution to adopt the CIL.

ii.  The timescales for the implementation of the decisions are that a 6 week consultation will run from late October, the submission for examination will be in January 2014, and subsequent progress depending on the Core Strategy progress and capacity of the Planning Inspectorate.

iii.  The Chief Planning Officer is the officer responsible for implementation.

(The matters referred to within this minute were designated as being exempt from Call In due to the fact that the decisions arising from this report were deemed as urgent and any delay would seriously prejudice the Council’s interests in generating infrastructure funding. The reasons for the urgency of these decisions were detailed within paragraphs 4.5.2 to 4.5.4 of the submitted report)