Developers will not be charged CIL for amendments to applications, says DCLG

The Government has confirmed that if a development is not required to pay CIL because permission was granted before the regulations were introduced, the levy will not be triggered if the plans are altered.

Under the CIL regulations, a development is not liable to pay CIL if it was granted planning permission before a CIL Charging Schedule was in effect in the development's area.

However under the current regulations if an application is made to amend the existing planning permission under section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 when a Charging Schedule is in effect, the development would become liable to pay CIL.

This could mean that a number of existing planning permissions that need to be amended could be made unviable because of the additional liability to pay CIL. But the Government has confirmed that it will amend the regulations to prevent this from happening, according to a report in Planning Magazine.

"The Government is proposing to revise the regulations to remove such liability in these circumstances. Our intention is that, where a developer has obtained consent for a change to its plans, it should pay only for any additional CIL liability created," said a spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), according to a report in Planning Magazine.

The Government intends to publish updated CIL regulations in October, which are planned to include proposed amendments relating to section 73 applications and levy liability, the report said.

DCLG said the regulations will also set out its policy on whether to allow CIL receipts to be used to fund affordable housing, as consulted on last autumn; plans to hand a "meaningful proportion" of CIL funds to neighbourhoods, also consulted on last autumn, and exemption for self-build homes announced by housing minister Grant Shapps last month, according to the report.