Community Infrastructure Levy

Current status

The council adopted its CIL Charging Schedule and CIL Supporting Policies Document at Full Council on 15 April 2015. This means that a flat fee can be charged for each square metre of floor area in new developments of eligible residential dwellings, supermarkets, convenience retail stores and retail warehouses that get planning permission from 24 April 2015 onwards.

On 7 November 2016, Cabinet adopted the CIL Governance Proposals which sets out how the Council will manage CIL receipts and how these will be spent to deliver strategic infrastructure. The Infrastructure Delivery Update 2016 provides an up-to-date summary of infrastructure needed to support Peterborough's growth, and will be used by the Council in taking decisions on spending CIL and other sources of funding.

Following an update to the CIL Regulations in 2019, the council is now required to publish an Infrastructure Funding Statement on an annual basis. This has replaced the Regulation 123 list and sets out the Council's expenditure of CIL and S106 income. The Infrastructure Funding Statements are available below.

Guidance on the CIL Regulations can be found at GOV.UK.

What is the Community Infrastructure Levy?

The purpose of the Community Infrastructure Levy is to raise funds from developers who are undertaking new building projects, to help pay for infrastructure that is needed to support new development. It can be used to fund a wide variety of infrastructure including:

• transport schemes
• flood defences
• schools, hospitals and other health and social care facilities
• parks, green spaces and leisure centres.

It will replace Section 106 planning obligations for many forms of infrastructure, although Section 106 agreements can still be used for site-specific mitigation measures and for affordable housing provision. 

The Peterborough Developer Contributions SPD was adopted by the Council on 17 June 2019 and came in to effect on 24 July 2019. It replaces the version adopted in April 2015

It provides detailed guidance on the Councils approach to the negotiation of planning obligations in association with the grant of planning permission. A planning obligation is a legal agreement made under Section 106 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended by Section 12(1) of the Planning and Compensation Act 1991) and usually relates to an aspect of the proposed development that cannot be secured by imposing a planning condition or by statutory controls. The SPD also provides guidance on how S106 will work alongside CIL in Peterborough.

How much will I have to pay?

From 24 April 2015 eligible developments will be charged in accordance with the rates/sq m set out in the council's adopted CIL Charging Schedule. These are summarised in the table below.

Peterborough City Council is required to publish an annual CIL rate summary showing the rates of CIL in its area adjusted for inflation. The table below is PCC’s CIL Charging Schedule adjusted for inflation from 1 January 2025 in accordance with CIL Regulation 121C.

All charges are £ per sq m and are subject to BCIS TPI indexation in accordance with the CIL Regulations. The following Indices are applicable from 1 January 2025: Permission Year Index 391, Charge Year Index 259.

Notes

* Supermarkets are large convenience-led stores where the majority of custom is from people doing their main weekly food shop. As such, they provide a very wide range of convenience goods, often with some element of comparison goods. In addition to this, the key characteristics of the way a supermarket is used include the area used for sales of goods generally being above 500 sq m; the majority of customers using a trolley to gather a large number of products; the majority of customers accessing the store by car using the large adjacent car park provided; and servicing being undertaken via a dedicated service area rather than from the street.

** Retail warehouses are usually large stores specialising in the sale of household goods (such as carpets, furniture and electrical goods), DIY items and other ranges of goods. They can be stand-alone units, but are also often developed as part of retail parks. In either case, they are usually located outside of existing town centres and cater for mainly car-borne customers. As such, they usually have large adjacent dedicated surface parking.

*** Neighbourhood convenience stores are used primarily by customers undertaking “top-up” shopping. They sell a limited range of convenience goods and usually do not sell comparison goods. The key characteristics of their use include trading areas of less than 500 sq m; the majority of customers buying only a small number of items that can be carried around the store by hand or in a small basket; the majority of customers accessing the store on foot and as such there is usually little or no dedicated parking; and servicing being undertaken from the street rather than from dedicated service areas.

How is the Chargeable Amount calculated

CIL charges will be calculated in accordance with CIL Regulation 40 (as amended). The chargeable amount will be equal to the aggregate of the amounts of CIL chargeable at each of the relevant rates as set out in this charging schedule.

The chargeable amount will be index linked using the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ All-in Tender Price Index figures for the year in which the planning permission is granted and the year in which this charging schedule took effect.

Date of Approval: This charging schedule was approved on 15/04/2015

Date of Effect: This charging schedule will take effect on 24/04/2015

Exemptions and relief

CIL Exemptions

The regulations provide for a number of types of development that are exempted from payment of CIL. These include:

• Development proposals (with the exception of developments that create one or more dwellings), which create less than 100 square metres of gross internal floorspace (such as residential extensions less than 100 square metres of new floorspace). Development which creates one or more new dwellings will be charged the Community Infrastructure Levy irrespective of the floorspace created
• Development of buildings into which people do not normally go (for example wind turbines, electricity sub stations)
• That part of a building which has been in lawful use[*] for a continuous period of 6 months in the past 3 years. Parts of that building which are to be demolished or re-used can be offset

[*] Definition of lawful use
The definition of lawful use is contained in Regulation 40(11) of The Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) Regulations 2014, which states the following: “in-use building means a building which contains a part that has been in lawful use for a continuous period of at least six months within the period of three years ending on the day planning permission first permits the chargeable development”

Exemptions and Relief from CIL Liability

In addition there are some circumstances where you can claim relief from the payment of CIL. These are:

• Those building their own homes or have commissioned a home from a contractor (Self-Build Exemption)
• A residential extension or annex built within the grounds of your own home (Self-Build Exemption)
• Social housing provided by a local authority, private registered provider and shared ownership dwellings (Social Housing Relief)
• Development by Charities for charitable purposes (Charitable relief)
• Exceptional Circumstances Relief - Please refer to the Council's Exceptional Circumstances Statement (opens PDF)

Instalments policy

The Council will allow CIL to be paid by instalment in accordance with the CIL Regulations. The Council adopted an Instalment Policy at Full Council on 15 April 2015. The Council’s Instalment policy can be found in the CIL Supporting Policies Document. The Instalment policy is summarised in the table below: 

Please note: in order to be eligible to pay a CIL liability by instalment, all the relevant forms must be submitted to the Council prior to the commencement of the chargeable development, and all the payments must be made in accordance with this CIL Instalment Policy and Regulatory requirements.

CIL development liability

Examples of development types that may or may not be CIL liable:

CIL Administration Process

For cases where planning permission is not required (for example permitted development applications) but CIL is payable a Notice of Chargeable Development must be submitted before work starts.

Where your proposed development needs planning permission follow the steps below.

CIL Application forms

All forms are available for download from the Planning Portal website, the following section details when each form applies.

Step 1 - Provide CIL Information

CIL Form 1 Additional Information

Every application for the type of developments specified above must include a completed CIL Form 1 Additional Information.

If you do not submit this form with you application it will be deemed invalid. The information supplied on this form will help the Council determine whether or not CIL is payable, and if it is, a provisional CIL amount.

Please note: Where your proposed development falls within one of the CIL Exemption categories (i.e. is creating less than 100 sq m of gross internal area) you will not be required to submit the CIL Questions form. Please note however, that the Council is entitled to request submission of the CIL Questions form if it is not clear from the planning application whether there could be some liability to CIL.

CIL Assumption of Liability form

If you know at this point who the person or party is that will be paying the CIL charge you should also submit an Assumption of Liability form.

We strongly encourage you to do this as early as possible.

Claiming relief from CIL

If you consider that your development, or part of it, is eligible for exemption or relief from CIL you will need to submit the appropriate forms within the required timeframe. Please refer to the Community Infrastructure Levy page on GOV.UK for further details.

You must complete and return the appropriate CIL forms claiming exemption or relief within the time limits specified by the CIL regulations, otherwise you cannot be awarded CIL exemption or relief.

Step 2 - Liability Notice

If planning permission is granted the Council will issue a CIL Liability Notice which will detail how much CIL will be payable.

Step 3 - Commencing Work on Site

If you are claiming any relief or exemption from CIL, the appropriate CIL forms must have been completed and return to Peterborough City Council before Commencement of Development. Failure to do this may result in the loss of the right to payment by instalments (where applicable) and the imposition of a surcharge.

Upon receipt of the Commencement Notice, the council will prepare and send a CIL Demand Notice detailing the amount of CIL payable and when it is due. If no-one has assumed liability to pay CIL before the Demand Notice is issued then the CIL liability defaults to the owner(s) of the land.

If there have been any changes of circumstances regarding the liability of the person or party who has assumed liability to pay CIL you will need to submit either a Withdrawal of Assumption of Liability form or a Transfer of Assumed Liability form before the final payment of CIL is due.

Appealing against the charge

Appeals can be made against some aspects of the Community Infrastructure Levy collection and enforcement system, from the levy collection authority’s calculation of the amount due to any enforcement actions it may take. There are two exceptions where an appeal system does not exist: social housing relief and exceptional circumstances relief.

CIL appeal advice may be found on the Planning Portal CIL Appeal advice pages. 

The appeal advice also includes details of how parties may ask for a review of CIL calculations from Peterborough City Council as charging Authority, links to the Valuation Office for further details on how to make formal appeals against calculations and apportionment cases and advice and forms for CIL enforcement appeals to the Planning Inspectorate.

Infrastructure Funding Statement

The Infrastructure Funding Statement (IFS) summarises the amount of developer contributions obtained, allocated and spent in the previous financial year.

This new annual reporting requirement was introduced as part of the recently amended CIL regulations in 2019 (CIL Regulations: Schedule 2), with the aim of increasing transparency around how developer contributions are spent on Infrastructure.

The introduction of this Infrastructure Funding Statement now means that monitoring of CIL and S106 contributions will now be found in the IFS instead of the Annual Monitoring report (AMR).

The Annual Monitoring Reports for the periods prior to the publication of the Infrastructure Funding Statement are available below.

• CIL Regulation 62 Monitoring Report 2015/16
• CIL Regulation 62 Monitoring Report 2016/17
• CIL Regulation 62 Monitoring Report 2017/18
• CIL Regulation 62 Monitoring Report 2018/19