As of September 2023, Brentwood Borough Council officially adopted a Community Infrastructure Levy Charging Schedule; this will become effective from January 2024.
Below shows the different development types the schedule will apply to and what £/m2 charge they will have:
The residential CIL rate is substantial and will have a significant impact on the viability of residential development in particular in this area.
The precise rate will be dependent on the location of the development, this ranges from £25/m2 to £250/m2.
However as an indicative calculation, on a scheme of 10 units assuming an average area of 90m2 per unit, the resulting CIL charge will be £225,000 (in the £250/m2 area).
Older people’s housing is inclusive of schemes such as retirement living, sheltered housing and extra care housing – often these are referred to as retirement communities or villages.
For retail developments, the range is £80/m2 to £340/m2 depending on the type of store and location of the property. Supermarkets should only pay CIL if the development is of 1,000m2 or more and retail warehouses will only pay CIL if the building is 2,000m2 or more.
For industrial spaces, only spaces of 2,000m2 or more will pay £80/m2 in CIL, any development less than 2,000m2 will not pay, nor will those located on brownfield land.
Distribution and logistics developments are defined as those ‘within the Use Class Order Class B8’, they will pay £140/m2 in CIL.
Any other type of development not listed on the above will not have to pay towards community infrastructure levy.
These new community infrastructure levy charges will have a significant overall impact on your scheme’s viability in a period of falling house prices and increasing finance costs. While CIL is a mandatory charge which cannot be negotiated, it is a component of viability assessments for other planning obligations so must be taken into account on other matters and may be offset by reduction in requirements elsewhere as necessary. It is also extremely important to fill in the correct forms with the correct information at the correct trigger points during applications and subsequent development, to avoid surcharges and incorrect calculations of required charges.
Our experts can assist with CIL and viability in light of the adoption of this new charging structure.
For example, our CIL experts have recently saved two applicants a combined £200,000 simply through applying the correct legislative exemptions and offsets, which the local authority had neglected to consider, or had been missed due to incorrectly completed forms.
Our viability experts have saved clients an average of £200,000 per project in areas with recently adopted CIL Charging Schedules over the last year.
If you are submitting a planning application in Brentwood, please get in touch today for an initial free consultation on your site.
