The Council granted permission to the Church for "continued use as a place of worship" in August and at the same time notified the Church that it was liable to pay a Mayoral CIL charge of £15,575. The Church has now appealed (4-page / 603KB PDF) the charge, saying it is a registered charity to which charitable relief should apply.
The Church applied for charitable relief in July this year, before planning permission was granted. The Council responded in August, after planning permission had been granted, saying the application was invalid as it should have been submitted before the Church started any use under the CIL Regulations.
The Church said in its appeal that the Council was "confused" in its response and that, although it acknowledged that an appeal cannot be made if a development has commenced, the Church's application was for "continued use" of the premises. It would have been "unreasonable to expect" the Church to "cease the use of the premises" for "any period of time just to meet the requirements of the regulations," the Church said.
The Council said that under the CIL regulations, the Church would not be exempt as the premises had not been in lawful use for at least six months out of the 12 months before permission was granted. However, the Church said there was no provision in the regulations which require the use to be "lawful". The Church submitted its planning application before its permission for temporary use expired and the claim for charitable relief before permission was granted. It should therefore have been granted charitable relief by the Council, it said.
Mayoral CIL is a fixed charge collected by London Boroughs on behalf of the Mayor of London to fund infrastructure. The levy is intended to raise £300 million towards the delivery of Crossrail.
