Issue - meetings

Report of the Leader

The Leader began her introduction by saying our approach to Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) has been of keen interest to Council, with reports last year adding greater transparency and governance. She continued to make the following points:

-       Planning Committee Members will already be seeing changes in reporting, with planning improvements driven forward as we work through the improvement plan developed in response to this year’s Planning Advisory Peer Review, but as previously reported, the CIL pot is only growing at a slow rate, due to the instalment policy included in our approved CIL policy, and the strategic allocations are not presenting on the anticipated trajectory;

-       Members saw the positive work of the CIL Neighbourhood Panel earlier this year, when CIL money was allocated to a variety of neighbourhood projects, and as the strategic pot grows, appropriate governance needs to be put in place to start making allocations;

-       This report provides Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Joint Committee and a refreshed Infrastructure List, much broader than the previous one and focussed on priorities recognising that a new Infrastructure Delivery Plan is needed to support the Strategic Local Plan;

-       the CIL Joint Committee builds on the collaborative working with Gloucester and Tewkesbury, recognising that development outside our area has impacts on infrastructure in Cheltenham and enabling the councils to look collectively and strategically at the infrastructure demands affecting our area. Recognising that infrastructure costs are significant and far exceed the funding drawn from CIL,  she said that working together offers opportunities to identify wider strategic funding sources where CIL can help match fund investment;

-       we have reviewed our infrastructure list and identified Cheltenham’s priorities, and this will be a foundation document for the work of the CIL Joint Committee;

-       we are confined by our boundaries, restricted on building height, keen to avoid urban sprawl – so it is important that we remain in communication and work together with our partners for the benefit of all our residents at greater speed by pooling our resources;

-       triggers for review have been written into the Terms of Reference to ensure we have safeguards to revisit this in the future if appropriate.  For example, if a left-field development in one area has the potential to create a significant impact on its infrastructure, there is legitimate rationale for all three councils to go back to each other to reconsider the particular instance;

-       there is a lot for the CIL Joint Committee to do, but these are the basic terms of reference.  It is important to note that each council will retain sovereignty in its decisions - the committee has decision-making powers but not without the consultation of each respective council, bolstered by membership – two from each authority (the leader and the relevant planning lead). 

In response to a Member’s question, the Cabinet Member for Customer and Regulatory Services explained how the pie chart on Page 258 of the report added up, and that the allocations for neighbourhood  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14