Decision Maker: Cabinet

Outcome: Recommendations Approved

Is Key Decision?: Yes

Is Callable In?: No

Date of Decision: March 3, 2026

Purpose: The purpose of this report is to update Cabinet on the recent strategic Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) application process and seek approval to allocate £1,475,534 of strategic CIL funding to twelve applicants. It outlines the evaluation process undertaken by the Strategic Infrastructure Group (SIG) for applications received in December 2025.   The next strategic CIL funding round will open in Spring 2026

Content:

Reasons for the decision: CIL enables local planning authorities to raise funds from developers undertaking new building projects in their area. The money can be used to fund a wide range of infrastructure that is needed to support the development of the area.   The CIL Regulations 2010 specify that CIL income must be allocated as follows: •       Administration Fund: up to 5% of CIL income can be used for implementing and administering CIL by the charging authority. •       Neighbourhood Fund: 15% (subject to a cap based on the number of existing dwellings in the parish) rising to 25% in areas with a Neighbourhood Plan, is passed to the Parish Council where the contributing development is located. •       Strategic Infrastructure: The remaining 70-80% must be spent on infrastructure that supports growth within the CIL Charging Authority’s area.   This report only covers the allocation of strategic CIL funding and not the allocations to Parish Councils. Neighbourhood CIL (NCIL) funding is spent at the discretion of the individual parish councils and must be spent within 5 years of receipt. Parish Councils are required to report annually on their NCIL spending and these reports can be viewed online.

Alternative options considered: Cabinet could decide to not allocate any funding to any of the projects and continue to accrue monies to create a larger pot that can be used for delivery of some of the projects that were not successful in this round or new projects in a further bidding round. This approach would contradict the council’s own adopted procedures which state that the Council will open a CIL bidding round each year in line with its adopted Infrastructure List. It also risks CIL funding being applied to lower scoring projects that do not align with the Council’s infrastructure priorities.