Guidance on Allocation and Spending

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a levy-based, non-negotiable charge on (most) types of development and has been charged in Huntingdonshire since 1 May 2012.

Local authorities must spend the levy on infrastructure needed to support the development of their area, as set out in the growth agenda shown through the Local Plan 2036, and successor documents.

This also helps to deliver across the priorities in the council's Corporate Plan 2023 - 2028 specifically Creating a better Huntingdonshire for future generations by:

• Improved housing - Maintain the level of new housing delivery, which meets the needs of Huntingdonshire residents, including the type of home and tenure (open market and social housing).

• Forward-thinking economic growth - Influence delivery of infrastructure including East West Rail, A428, A141 Strategic Outline Business Case and future transport.

Other key strategies that CIL links to are the HDC Place strategy and Climate strategy.

CIL should be used as part of funding for a project, so other sources of funding should also be considered. There are many sources of external funding sources available including the National Lottery, English Heritage and Sport England. View more information about other sources of grants and funding.

Figure 1. Below also shows other potential sources of funding.

This document details the governance arrangements in place at Huntingdonshire District Council for the allocation and spending of CIL. These parameters for the governance arrangements of CIL were agreed by Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC) Cabinet in June 2024.

Huntingdonshire District Council is the designated CIL Charging and Collecting Authority for the district.

As a Charging Authority, the council has an obligation to:

• prepare and publish the CIL Charging Schedule

• determine CIL spend, ensuring it is used to fund the provision, improvement, replacement, operation, or maintenance of infrastructure to support development of its area

• report publicly on the amount of CIL revenue collected, spent, and retained each year.

Huntingdonshire District Council is required in the CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended) to identify the types of infrastructure or projects it wishes to fund in whole or in part by CIL monies and report this in the annual Infrastructure Funding Statement (IFS).

Huntingdonshire District Council's CIL Charging Schedule and annual IFS detailing CIL receipts, balances and expenditure for each financial year can be found on the CIL webpage.

CIL Regulations set the context for the spending of CIL funds on infrastructure. The regulations encourage the accumulation of CIL funds into a 'pot'. Unlike other obligations or charges, CIL spending does not need to be directly related to the donor development and can address infrastructure needs in general across the council's administrative area.

The key points set out by the CIL Regulations (see Regulation 59 (1)) and Planning Practice Guidance (see Paragraph: 144 Reference ID: 25-144-20190901) relating to CIL funding are:

• CIL should be spent on infrastructure including roads and other transport, schools and other education, community facilities, health facilities, sport/recreation facilities, and open spaces.

• the infrastructure funded must support the development of the area and it is for the local authority to decide the priorities for this funding.

• CIL can be used to increase the capacity of existing infrastructure or to repair failing infrastructure, if needed to support the needs arising from development.

• CIL and Section 106 can be used as different funding streams to support the delivery of the same infrastructure project.

As per the CIL Regulations and Guidance, CIL is proportioned and allocated using the following approach:

• Up to 5% is retained by Huntingdonshire District Council to cover administrative costs (including but not limited to consultation on the levy charging schedule, collection of CIL, enforcing CIL, legal costs and reporting on CIL activity).

• 15%, known as the Neighbourhood Allocation/pot, also known as the 'meaningful proportion', is established for spending within the neighbourhood of the contributing development (up to a maximum of £100 per existing Council Tax dwelling index linked). This allocation, sometimes referred to as a 'pot', can either be transferred to the relevant town/ parish or retained by Huntingdonshire District Council to be spent on neighbourhood projects where the development is not in a parish. This allocation rises to 25% and is not capped when a parish has a Neighbourhood Plan in place. Details of parishes that have adopted Neighbourhood Plans can be found on the Neighbourhood Planning webpage. Figure 2, below, sets out the relationship between CIL and Neighbourhood Plans.

• Up to 80%, known as the Strategic Allocation, is retained by Huntingdonshire District Council to allocate to projects in accordance with the council's Infrastructure Development Plan.

It is very unlikely that CIL will generate enough funds to completely cover the cost of new infrastructure needed to fully support planned development. As such, there will be competing demands for this funding. It is important, therefore, to ensure that there are robust, accountable, and democratic structures in place to ensure the spending of CIL funds are prioritised in the right way and other funding opportunities are maximised where possible to ensure the greatest delivery for the district and its communities.

The sections that follow set out the governance arrangements and approach for how decisions are made on the prioritisation and spend of CIL.

The key principles that form a 'statement of intent' for the council's new agreed governance and approach to CIL are:

• The primary use of CIL is to fund infrastructure that is directly linked to supporting or mitigating the impact of growth and new development.

• CIL funded projects can also contribute towards achieving the outcomes identified in the council's Corporate Plan and Place Strategy

• CIL should be used in a way which leverages other sources of funding for greater impact.

• The use of CIL should be considered alongside other developer contributions to maximise site-specific benefits (for example: Affordable housing).

• A new approach to allocating CIL should follow a programme-led, evidence-based approach.

• A new approach to CIL should recognise the Importance of working with partners to deliver infrastructure.

• There should be greater alignment between local and district-wide priorities.

The majority of CIL funds, the Strategic Allocation, will be retained by Huntingdonshire District Council for spending on infrastructure in accordance with the council's Local Plan, Corporate Plan and Place Strategy. The annual IFS will include reference to the current strategic priorities and the amount of CIL funding collected.

The allocation of these funds will be made through an application process as part of a funding round, which will ultimately be agreed either by the Leader and Executive Councillor for Planning in consultation with the Corporate Director (Place), Chief Planning Officer or will be considered by the council's Cabinet, depending on the amount of funding sought.

The council will encourage and consider the submission of application forms during a CIL funding round, requesting CIL funding for the delivery of infrastructure projects. Key internal and external stakeholders responsible for helping with the delivery of strategic infrastructure will receive direct notification of the opportunity to request CIL funding. Information about the opportunity will also be available on the council's website.

Proposals may be considered out of set funding rounds if there are exceptional circumstances to do so and if agreed prior to submission with the Leader and the Executive Councillor for Planning.

Application Process

Applications will be made on a standard online template issued by Huntingdonshire District Council and will request key information about the infrastructure project, including:

• what is the infrastructure project

• why the project is required (justification)

• cost of the project

• timing for project delivery

• funding from other sources.

Eligibility Criteria

In order for a project to be considered for CIL funding, the following eligibility criteria need to be met:

• the project must comply with the Statement of Intent and support new growth within the District

• all supporting documentation, identified in the application form, has been provided

• the organisation has the legal right to carry out the proposed project

• the project is clearly defined as 'Infrastructure' as per the CIL Regulations

• the project is listed in the council's Infrastructure Delivery Plan / Infrastructure Funding Statement or is for infrastructure that supports growth of the area

• the project supports the Local Plan, Corporate Strategy and Place Strategy principles

• support of the relevant town/ parish council has been obtained and, if it is a transport-related project, from Cambridgeshire County Council.

Officer Assessment

Once the application forms requesting CIL funding have been reviewed by a council officer, initial assessment of the projects will then take place. The projects will be assessed based on the following headings:

• the need for the project based on local growth

• the public benefit of the project including public support for it

• the deliverability of the project including other funding, contingency amounts, risks and milestone timings

• the links to the project and the Corporate Plan, Place Strategy and Local Plan.

Projects will be viewed more favourably if they lever in other funds that would not otherwise be available, particularly where those funds may not be available in future years, or where it makes use of match funding.  Match funding support of an appropriate level from the relevant Town or Parish Council, whether from the Parish Neighbourhood Allocation ('meaning proportion') or other parish funds, will also provide greater support to the application and show the prioritisation the Parish Council places on the project.

Project Decisions

The outcome of this review of applications for funding of £100,000 or less will then be reported to the Leader, and the Executive Councillor for Planning with the Corporate Director (Place), and the Chief Planning Officer. Decisions on applications seeking funding of £100,000.00 or less will be made at this point and reported for information at the next Strategic bid report to Cabinet. All other applications (more than £100,000.00) will be reported to Cabinet for consideration and approval. Cabinet will also be informed of the decisions already made on smaller applications in order to ensure it has the full picture, with updates to the ongoing projects.

Exceptional Circumstances

There may be occasions, in exceptional circumstances, where the release of CIL funds is required for urgent or unforeseen infrastructure requirements. Permission must be gained in advance of submissions for these projects to be submitted by the Leader and Executive Councillor for Planning. In these cases, a decision on an application will be made by either the Leader and the Executive Councillor for Planning in consultation with the Corporate Director (Place), the Chief Planning Officer (if for £100,000 or less) or Cabinet (if it is for over £100,000.00) for approval for the release of further funds at the earliest opportunity.

Monitoring and Publicity

Successful applicants of CIL funding will be expected to maintain communication with Huntingdonshire District Council on the progress of their project after a decision has been made to provide funding. Where funding has been agreed, the scheme applicant will be expected to first provide information to justify funding being transferred, this includes for any milestone payments.

Applicants should continue to provide information until the scheme has been completed and all CIL funding has been spent. As a minimum, a quarterly update, providing information on the progress of each scheme that funding has been allocated to, will be needed. A requirement to submit this information forms part of the agreement (Contract) that successful external applicants are required to sign between themselves and Huntingdonshire District Council.

Applicants will also be expected to include reference to CIL funding in any social media/publicity about the project.

The CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended) require the Neighbourhood Allocation, or 'meaningful proportion', to be used to support the development of the local area by funding:

• the provision, improvement, replacement, operation, or maintenance of infrastructure; or

• anything else that is concerned with addressing the demands that development places on an area.

This provides town/parish councils with a much more flexible approach for spending their CIL receipts in comparison to the powers of the district council.

Such wider spending powers for the town/parish council allow the local community to decide what are their priorities for infrastructure to help mitigate the impacts of development in their area.

This may be for a local project, or the parish may decide to contribute their proportion of the funding to the more strategic projects which are being supported by the district council, such as an education expansion project required that will support their locality - town and parish councils will need to decide what their infrastructure priorities are. They will need to consider that if they do not put forward potential support to strategic projects, that could result in not enough funding being available. Therefore, there will be difficult decisions for them to make.

Any spend of CIL funding must fit within the usual powers of the town/parish council and their Powers of Competence.

Where the infrastructure to be supported cannot be implemented by the town/parish council due to their powers of responsibility then this may still happen by agreeing for the money to remain/be passed back to the district council to be spent in accordance with the wishes of the local community.

Decisions on the expenditure of the 'meaningful proportion' funds are at the town/parish council's discretion, if it is in accordance with the CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended).

If a town/parish council has failed to spend CIL funds transferred to them within a period of 5 years from the date of initial receipt or has not applied the funds in accordance with the Regulations, then the district council may serve a notice on the town/ parish council requiring it to repay some or all of the receipts that had been transferred to them.

The district council is required to make payment in respect of CIL it receives from 1 April to 30 September to the town/parish council by 28 October of that financial year and pay the CIL received from 1 October to 31 March by 28 April of the following financial year.

To ensure transparency town/parish councils must publish each year by 31 December, in line with regulatory requirements, the previous financial year’s information on:

• total CIL receipts

• total expenditure

• a summary of what the CIL was spent on

• the total amount of receipts retained at the end of the reported year from that year and previous years.

Reports should be placed on town/parish council's website and a copy of the report is required to be sent to the district council. Where a town/parish does not have a website the District Council can, upon request, publish this information on its website on the town/parish council's behalf - for transparency, the District Council will publish all annual reports received on its website.

The CIL report must be published and should be sent to the District Council no later than 31 December following the reported year (the financial year). Town and parish councils are encouraged to use the reporting template provided by Huntingdonshire District Council.

There are eight non-parished areas within the Huntingdonshire district covered by parish meetings. The 15% Neighbourhood Allocation, or 'Meaningful Proportion', in these areas will be held separately by Huntingdonshire District Council but still must be spent in agreement with the locality in which the development generating the funds is based.

CIL Meaningful Proportion collected for non-parished areas must be spent in accordance with Regulation 59F as below:

The process for the allocation of non-parished meaningful proportions will require the parish meeting, following contact from HDC, to submit an application for a project including key milestones with a timetable. The submission times for funding will be at the same time as the Strategic Funding applications.

In accordance with Regulation 59E, funds must be spent within a 5-year period from receipt. The council must report separately within the published Annual Report details of the amount of funds received and how they are spent.

Huntingdonshire District Council is committed to ensuring the use of CIL is open and transparent.

The IFS will be published by Huntingdonshire District Council no later than 31 December each year. Huntingdonshire District Council will monitor the operation and implementation of CIL throughout the year.

The council may periodically review the Charging Schedule, which includes the CIL rates applicable at the time.

As noted above, Town/Parish councils are also required to report on their CIL spending. The report must include:

• the total CIL receipts for the reported year

• the total CIL expenditure for the reported year

• summary details of CIL expenditure during the reported year including -

(i) the items to which CIL has been applied

(ii) the amount of CIL expenditure on each item.

• details of any notices received in accordance with regulation 59E, including -

(i) the total value of CIL receipts subject to notices served in accordance with regulation 59E during the reported year

(ii) the total value of CIL receipts subject to a notice served in accordance with regulation 59E in any year that has not been paid to the relevant charging authority by the end of the reported year.

• the total amount of -

(i) CIL receipts for the reported year retained at the end of the reported year

(ii) CIL receipts from previous years retained at the end of the reported year.

The town/parish council should ensure the report accords with the requirements of the CIL Regulations 2010 (as amended) each year and publish their CIL annual report online, unless they request that the report is published on the district council's website.

A copy of the report must be sent to the Huntingdonshire District Council, no later than 31 December following the reported year.