Bath and North East Somerset to consult on draft CIL charging schedule

If adopted the levy will be charged on new developments to help fund local infrastructure within the area.

The Council has divided its district into two zones for residential development. It proposes to charge a levy of either £100 or £200 per square metre for residential development, dependent on which zone the development is in. Hotels and retail development will incur a charge of £100 -150 per sq m and office, industrial and other development will be charged at a nil rate per sq metre across the whole Council area.

The Council's viability assessment found that adopting a single rate for residential development across the district "is unlikely to be practicable" given the significant variations in sales values. The preliminary draft charging schedule therefore proposes to create two charging zones to reflect the different property prices.  

Zone A would cover the Bath town centre area and zone B would cover the Bath rural area. Residential development in zone A is proposed to be charged at £100 per sq m, whereas residential development in zone B is proposed to be charged at £200 per sq m.

Office development is unlikely to come forward in the short to medium term, the Council said, and the office developments that have been built do not generate rents that would be high enough to support new development.

The preliminary draft charging schedule (13-pages / 507 KB PDF) therefore proposes to set a nil rate for office development. Industrial and warehouse development is also proposed to be charged at a nil rate.

The viability assessment on hotel development concluded that it could accommodate a CIL of up to a maximum of £160 per sq metre. The draft charging schedule has proposed to introduce a levy of £100 per sq m on hotel developments in Bath and a nil rate for hotel development outside of Bath.

Retail development in Bath city centre and retail development that is out of the centre, but more than 280 metres square, is proposed to be charged at £100 per sq m. All other retail development would be charged a nil rate.

In the charging schedule the Council outlines its plans to introduce an instalment policy, to "aid viability and deliverability". It plans to offer the instalment policy in all cases where the total CIL liability is greater than £35,000.

If the development meets the criteria, CIL payments would be accepted in three instalments. On commencement of the development 33% would be payable, then 12 months after commencement an additional 33% would be payable. After 18 months of the commencement of the development, the remaining 34% would be payable.

Comments are invited on the consultation, which opens on 18 April and will run until 8 June.