Agenda and minutes

To note any substitution of Panel Members in accordance with Council Procedure Rules.

An apology for absence was received from Councillor S Thusu, for whom Councillor J Cragg attended as a substitute.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2024 (previously circulated).

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2024 were approved as a correct record.

There were no items of urgent business.

To note declarations of Members’ disclosable pecuniary interests, non-disclosable pecuniary interests and non-pecuniary interests in respect of items on this Agenda.

Councillor T Kingsbury declared an interest as a Member of Hertfordshire County Council.

Up to thirty minutes will be made available for questions from members of the public on issues relating to the work of the Committee and to receive any petitions.

There were no public questions or petitions.

Report of the Assistant Director (Planning)

The Principal Planner (Implementation) introduced the report. In November 2023, Cabinet Planning and Parking Panel (CPPP) recommended to Cabinet that consultation on a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) draft charging schedule take place; Cabinet agreed the recommendation and consultation took place between 10 January – 28 February 2024. It was now proposed that modifications be made to the draft charging schedule.

CIL was a way of raising money from development to fund necessary infrastructure and largely replaced the current S106 arrangements. It was based on a levy rather than being negotiated on a case by case basis; charges were made on a square meter basis determined ahead of time on viability, and the Council had employed a viability consultant for advice. CPPP had previously recommended that the draft charging schedule to be consulted on had three zones with different rates based on viability and a smaller rate for all other development. Two sites were designated ‘identified sites’ where it was felt retaining S106 was appropriate due to their complexity. There had been 22 responses to the consultation as a result of which officers had identified some proposed changes as follows:

·       Designation of the Wheat Quarter as an identified site, so collection of funds and delivery of infrastructure would continue via a S106 rather than through use of a CIL. This was due to its complexity, the fact that there were existing permissions, the site had been partly delivered and there were some unusual costs associated with the site. This would be consistent with the approach taken with the two previously identified sites.

·       To bring clarity to the status of community and not for profit organisations: such organisations would be exempt from CIL. This was in response from a representation from Sport England and an example was cited whereby a community sports club that wished to build a new pavilion changing room would originally have incurred a CIL charge but this would be removed if the proposed modification was agreed.

·       In terms of town centre issues, some changes of use on existing properties that required planning permission would be liable for CIL if they had not previously been in lawful use for six consecutive months within three years prior to a proposed change of use under the original schedule. This could discourage reoccupation within the Council’s corporate objective of supporting town centres so it was proposed these properties be zero rated. Officers drew attention to the specific wording relating to this set out in paragraph 3.11 of the report.

If the modifications were agreed, a very focused consultation on the changes proposed would take place as soon as possible followed by the charging schedule being submitted for examination, and the schedule would then be brought back to members for adoption. 

Officers also advised that unlike S106 agreements where payments were made directly to Highways, Education etc, CIL monies would be paid directly to the Council which would be responsible for its distribution. A report that set out governance arrangements for payments would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 118.