Community Infrastructure Levy

This section provides information about the processes involved in calculating and paying the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), with hyperlinks to the relevant forms.

The process can be summarised in four stages:

Stage 1 - Tell the council about the development

What is the proposed development?

Applicants for full planning permission (including householder applications and reserved matters following an outline planning permission) should submit Form 1: CIL Additional Information alongside their planning application . The Local Planning Authority will not validate the planning application if this information is not provided.

Supplementary guidance on completing this form is available on the planning portal.

Guidance on how floor areas should be measured is provided in the section below.

If the development has existing floor space that will be demolished as part of the planning application, this floor space can be used as a deduction against the CIL charge. In order to deduct existing floor space, it is necessary to demonstrate that the existing floor space has been in continual lawful use for at least six months in the previous three years. Evidence must be supplied to support this claim. See section below about 'How is the chargeable floorspace measured'

Who will be responsible for paying?

Prior to the commencement of development, Form 2: Assumption of Liability should be submitted, setting out who will pay the CIL charge. It may speed up the process if this form is submitted as part of the planning process.

Where planning permission is granted for development by way of a general consent (such as via the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015), Form 5: Notice of Chargeable Development should be submitted instead.

Are any reliefs or exemptions being claimed?

In certain circumstances, developments could be eligible for relief or exemptions from CIL See section below about 'Which types of development need to pay CIL' . These are not automatically applied by the council and it is necessary to apply for these using the relevant forms and by submitting supporting information and/or evidence.

To apply for relief or exemption (other than residential extension/annex exemptions), the council must have first received the Assumption of Liability form.

Relief must be applied for before development commences - failure to do so will mean that the council cannot issue relief or exemption. Other conditions apply in relation to relief and exemptions.

Stage 2 - Council issues Liability Notice

As soon as practicable after the grant of planning permission a Liability Notice will be issued detailing how much CIL will be payable should the planning permission be implemented.

If it is considered that the CIL liability has been calculated incorrectly, a review should be requested under Section 113 of the CIL regulations within 28 days beginning on the date the Liability Notice was issued. To request a review, please email with the subject header of ‘Request for 113 review of chargeable amount’ to CILcharge@basingstoke.gov.uk explaining why you believe the Liability Notice is incorrect.

The review will be undertaken by a more senior officer who was not involved in the original calculation. Finally, if it is still considered that the Council’s calculation of the chargeable amount is incorrect an appeal (a regulation 114 appeal), can be made to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA).

Stage 3 - Liable party submits a Commencement Notice

At least one day prior to commencement, the developer must submit a Form 6: Commencement Notice to the council, otherwise, the liable parties will incur a surcharge and will lose the ability to pay by instalments.

It is the liable party’s responsibility to ensure the commencement notice has been received by the collecting authority before they start the development, as set out in the council's Enforcement Policy.

Stage 4 - Council issues Demand Notice

Upon receipt of a valid commencement notice, the council will issue a demand notice to the person(s) that has assumed liability to pay CIL. Payments are not subject to VAT.

Payments can be made in instalments as set out within the CIL Instalments Policy

If no-one has assumed liability to pay the levy before development commences, the owners of the land will be liable to pay the levy and will lose the ability to pay by instalments. The demand notice will set out details of the amount of CIL payable, payment options, due dates and any surcharges applied.

If the CIL liable party changes before the final payment of CIL is due, Form 4: Transfer of Assumed Liability should be completed and submitted.

Legislation establishes that the following uses are ‘chargeable development’:

• new dwellings of any size (except for the conversion of a single dwellinghouse into two or more separate dwellings with no new floorspace); and
• any development where the internal area of a new building, extension or change of use exceeds 100 square metres, see section below on 'How is the chargeable floor area measured?'

Except where it is for a:

• building into which people do not normally go, or go only intermittently for the purpose of inspecting or maintaining fixed plant or machinery; or
• structure which is not a building, such as pylons or wind turbines

However, in Basingstoke and Deane, development will generate a nil charge for CIL if it:

• is for a single new dwelling; or
• is for another use or an area which benefits from a nil charge (£0/m2) set out in the CIL Charging Schedule. This includes care homes/extra care/sheltered housing, and wholly flatted schemes (excluding flats which are part of the housing mix on a larger development site

There will also be a nil charge if the development does not create any new build floorspace. This will include development resulting from a change of use, conversion or subdivision of a building which has been in lawful use for at least six months in the 3 years prior to the development being permitted. Details of how lawful use can be demonstrated is set out in the section How is the chargeable floor area measured?, below.

Reliefs and exemptions from CIL

It is also possible to apply for various types of relief and exemptions to be claimed where relevant criteria are met and the correct process has been followed. Any applications must be made before the development has commenced. See 'What is the process for paying CIL?' download the forms - CIL Planning Portal..

• Social Housing Relief - legislation allows CIL relief on affordable housing including most types of rented tenures and shared ownership. The council has extended this relief to include other intermediate tenures as set out in the Discretionary Social Housing Relief Policy;
• Self-build Exemption - the exemption from CIL is available to anybody who is building their own home or has commissioned a home from a contractor, house builder or sub-contractor. Individuals benefiting from the exemption must own the property and occupy it as their principal residence for a minimum of three years after the work is completed and must provide proof of residence to the council.
• Residential Annexes and Extensions - this applies where the dwelling is the claimant’s principal residence and the development would result in an extension to the principal dwelling or comprise a single residential annex.
• Charitable development - providing CIL relief to charitable institutions.

CIL liability is based on the ‘chargeable area’ which is calculated using the formulas set out in Schedule 1 of the CIL Regulations. These require the measurement of the Gross Internal Area (GIA) floorspace of the proposed CIL liable development and the GIA floorspace of any existing ‘in-use’ building which is to be demolished.

How to measure floorspace for the purpose of calculating CIL

The definition of GIA for the purposes of calculating CIL is not specified in the CIL Regulations, but the generally accepted method of calculation of GIA is set out in the RICS Code of Measuring Practice 6th Edition (2015)(the RICS Code):

GIA is the area of a building measured to the internal face of the perimeter walls at each floor level and includes:

• areas occupied by internal walls and partitions
• columns, piers, chimney breasts, stairwells, lift-wells, other internal projections, vertical ducts, and similar
• atria and entrance halls, with clear height above, measured at base level only
• internal open-sided balconies, walkways, and similar
• structural, raked or stepped floors are to be treated as a level floor measured horizontally
• horizontal floors, with permanent access, below structural, raked or stepped floors
• corridors of a permanent essential nature (for example fire corridors, smoke lobbies)
• mezzanine floor areas with permanent access
• lift rooms, plant rooms, fuel stores, tank rooms, which are housed in a covered structure or a permanent nature, whether or not above the main roof level
• service accommodation such as toilets, toilet lobbies, bathrooms, showers, changing rooms, cleaners' rooms and similar
• projection rooms
• voids over stairwell and lift shafts on upper floors
• loading bays
• areas with a headroom of less than 1.5m
• pavement vaults
• garages/car ports
• conservatories

The following are excluded from CIL liable floorspace:

• perimeter wall thicknesses and external projections
• external open-sided balconies, covered ways and fire escapes
• canopies
• voids over or under structural raked or stepped floors
• greenhouses, garden stores (sheds), fuel stores and the link, in residential properties

For the purposes of calculating internal floorspace for CIL, and for the avoidance of doubt, the council will also include in the calculation of GIA:

• garages
• car ports except for those which have no sides
• porches on dwelling houses
• conservatories
• basements, underground and covered car parking areas

The following will not be counted as internal floorspace for the purposes of CIL:

• a pergola with no roofing material
• free-standing solar panels

Reductions for existing in-use floorspace

As CIL is calculated on the net increase in floor space, floor space subject to demolition or resulting from change of use can be deducted where it has been in continuous lawful use for at least six months in the last 3 years prior to a development being permitted.

To be lawful the use of a building must be one of the following:

• permitted by the Council or the Planning Inspectorate following the submission of a planning application / appeal
• permitted automatically by legislation without the need for an application
• a use that is not development and so does not need planning permission, for example agricultural use
• a use that was being carried out on 1st July 1947 and has been continued without a break since then and with no later change or permanent stopping of the use
• a use for which a Certificate of Lawfulness has been issued by the Council or the Planning Inspectorate

In order to receive a CIL credit for building(s) (in current lawful use) to be demolished it is necessary to submit a scaled plan of all of the floor space to be taken into consideration.

It will be for the applicant or their agent to demonstrate lawful use by providing more than one piece of appropriate evidence for example:

• Time-stamped photographs showing the building in the use claimed
• Sworn statements made by people who can confirm the use claimed, witnessed by a solicitor; or
• Utility or other bills relating to the use claimed

In accordance with the council's adopted CIL Charging Schedule, the following rates of CIL apply in Basingstoke and Deane. View a map of the charging zones.

(1) This rate applies where 100% of the dwellings on site are flats. This excludes flats which are part of the housing mix on a larger development site.

(2) This includes commercial and agricultural development as well as other forms of residential development not referred to elsewhere in the above Schedule, but excludes residential extensions and detached outbuildings within residential curtilages over 100 square metres or more gross internal area which are chargeable unless any exemption is given.

(3) This rate applies to planning permissions granted in the identified year.

CIL will normally be collected as a monetary payment, though there is also provision for it to be paid by transfer of land or asset to the local authority if certain criteria are met (CIL Payment in Kind policy).

CIL must usually be paid within 60 days of the commencement of development.

For developments where the CIL is £10,000 or greater, payment can be made by instalments, in accordance with the council’s adopted Instalments Policy.

Applicants should inform the council when they have commenced development, as failure to do so could result in the withdrawal of the option to pay by instalments and the application of surcharges as detailed within the council's CIL Enforcement Policy.

The council has adopted a CIL Enforcement Policy that sets out the penalties and enforcement powers that will be taken by the council.