Following a hearing session in February, the examiner sent his report to the Council last week. He said that the DCS provided an appropriate basis for the collection of CIL in the area (7-page / 146KB PDF).
The Council had proposed to set CIL rates for residential developments of £70 per sq m in Newton Abbot, Kingsteignton and Kingkerswell; £85 per sq m in Dawlish; £125 per sq m in Teignmouth, Chudleigh and Bovey Tracey; £150 in 'SW Exeter' and £200 per sq m in 'Rural Teignbridge', including rural villages.
The examiner said that the Council's viability assessment had shown that the different charging rates for the areas with major allocations were justified by varying sale values in each settlement.
Retail development outside identified town centres had been proposed to be charged at £150 per sq m and a nil rate levy had been proposed for all other types of development.
"The Council’s decision to set a variable residential rate and a single retail rate is based on reasonable assumptions about development values and likely costs. The evidence suggests that residential and some retail development will remain viable across most of the area if the charges are applied," the examiner said.
The examiner recommended that the Council should delete a number of paragraphs from the DCS which he said were not "central to the schedule itself". He said that those amendments were based on matters which had been discussed at the hearing and would not "alter the basis of the Council’s overall approach or the appropriate balance achieved".
