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Community Infrastructure Levy examination

Proposed Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) charges must be set out in a document called a charging schedule.

We previously submitted a CIL draft charging schedule for examination in September 2015 but the examination was suspended alongside the Local Plan. The 2015 CIL charging schedule has now been formally withdrawn.

Consultation on the new draft charging schedule took place for a six week period from 10 July to 21 August 2020. This consultation has now closed.

Just over 170 representations were received and these are available to download.

Consultation on draft charging schedule 2020

It is important that CIL rates (in £ per square metre) are set at a level that does not hinder new development coming forward. It needs to strike a balance between additional investment to support development and the potential effect on the viability of developments. This balance is at the centre of the charge-setting process.

To help decide the CIL rates we have commissioned updated viability evidence which considers the ability of typical residential and non-residential schemes in West Oxfordshire to pay CIL.

The overall conclusion reached is that most residential schemes can afford to pay CIL with the following rates recommended.

Zone

1 to 10 dwellings

11+ dwellings

Extra-care housing

Strategic sites

Low

£200

£100

£100

£0

Medium

£250

£125

£100

£0

High

£300

£150

£100

£0

 

The exception to this is the five strategic site allocations from the Local Plan 2031 (Garden Village, West Eynsham, East Witney, North Witney and East Chipping Norton) which are recommended to be exempt from CIL on viability grounds. Essentially because of the substantial costs of site related infrastructure which is required to reduce their impact.

All other forms of non-residential development are proposed to be zero-rated other than food supermarket retail, again due to viability.

Non-residential CIL (District-wide)

All non-residential uses (excepting retail)

£0 per m2

Food supermarket retail (A1)

£100 per m2

 

These proposed rates are set out in the draft CIL charging schedule which is available to download. Along with the supporting viability evidence, an infrastructure funding gap analysis demonstrating the overall need for CIL and an Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) which supports the Local Plan 2031.

Following the close of the consultation, all representations are currently being reviewed before the draft charging schedule, supporting evidence and representations are submitted for examination.  It is anticipated that the draft charging schedule will be examined over the autumn and winter and put in place in early 2021.

Regular updates and information will be added to this webpage once the draft charging schedule has been submitted to the examiner. If you have told us that you would like to take part in the examination we will contact you when appropriate.

Revised CIL draft charging schedule in 2017

The Council’s original draft charging schedule was revised to take account of previous consultation responses, the CIL examiner’s initial findings, updated evidence and national policy. The revised draft charging schedule was the subject of a six week period of public consultation from 27 January 2017 until 10 March 2017.

The revised draft CIL charging schedule and a tracked changes version to illustrate the changes are available to download..

Documents made available as part of the consultation

Examination of charging schedule and suspension of examination 2015

The charging schedule was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination on 10 September 2015, together with a schedule of proposed minor modifications which were the subject of consultation from 16 September until 16 October 2015.

A copy of the letter confirming this submission is available to download together with the three responses received to the proposed minor modifications consultation.

Planning Inspector Mr Simon Emerson BSc, DipTP, MRTPI was the appointed CIL examiner.

The Examiner raised some initial concerns about the application of CIL charges for commercial development in different parts of the District. To address these concerns, the Council consulted on the introduction of settlement boundaries for the purposes of CIL to provide greater clarity as to where different CIL charges will apply.

The consultation ran from 20 November until 18 December 2015. 

Suspension of examination

There was some discussion of a number of CIL matters alongside the Local Plan examination session held on Thursday 26 November 2015. In light of the suspension of the Local Plan examination, the CIL examination was suspended until January 2016 alongside the Local Plan. The Council is aiming to resume the CIL examination in Spring 2017 following consultation on the revised draft charging schedule. A copy of the letter from the CIL examiner confirming the suspension of the examination is available to download.

Schedule of submission documents

All documents associated with the initial CIL examination in 2015 have been assigned a reference number and are available to download.

In addition we submitted copies of the draft charging schedule consultation responses to the examiner. 

 

Consultation on draft charging schedule 2014

As the first step to introducing CIL into West Oxfordshire, we consulted on a preliminary draft charging schedule from December 2013 to February 2014.

The consultation documents and responses are all available to view.