Examiner warns of levy risk to affordable housing provision

Mid Devon District Council's CIL draft charging schedule (DCS) proposes a single rate of £90 per square metre for "dwelling houses", whether created by new build or by conversion. It proposes a nil rate for any other form of development.

The 2010 CIL Regulations provide that charging authorities must strike an appropriate balance between the desirability of funding infrastructure from CIL for the development of their areas and the potential effects of the imposition of CIL on the economic viability of development across their areas.

This includes development in the form of affordable housing, which the Examiner found to be threatened by the rate of £90 per sq m for dwelling houses because it does not reflect the Council's target for the provision of affordable housing as set out in the development plan.

The Core Strategy for Mid Devon District Council sets an overall target for affordable housing to be 30%, with a goal of 35% for urban sites. However, Mid Devon instead used an average figure of 22% based on actual affordable housing currently being achieved in order to calculate the proposed levy.

The Examiner, David Hogger, disagreed with this approach and found that the DCS failed to satisfy the requirement of the CIL Regulations that CIL must not threaten the economic viability of development across the district. He recommended that a modification was required to reduce the CIL on dwellings from a proposed £90 per sq m to £40 per sq m in order to make the DCS robust.

"If the Council wishes to reduce the percentage of affordable housing to be provided...then this should be achieved through a review of adopted policies," the Examiner said, according to the report. "The Council should have taken all its policy requirements, including affordable housing, into account when setting the CIL rate."

In response, the forward planning team leader at Mid Devon District Council expressed disappointment with the conclusion because it would mean a reduction in infrastructure funding.

He said that a contradiction in the examination of proposed CIL rates was apparent. "The council is surprised that the Examiner did not consider an average figure for affordable housing was appropriate when the Examiner of Plymouth City Council's CIL concluded an average figure was permissible...this contradiction may have implications for how other council's address affordable housing in their viability evidence," he said.