The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a planning charge, introduced by the Planning Act 2008, as a tool for local authorities in England and Wales to help deliver infrastructure to support the development of their area. It came into force on 6 April 2010 through the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010. The Levy is designed to help fund the infrastructure, facilities and services - such as schools or transport improvements (eg, dare we ask, a cycle/footbridge across the Thames at Sunbury?) needed to support new homes and businesses.
It is our understanding that the CIL fund for Spelthorne currently exceeds £5m and is supposed to be under the control, or at least be monitored by, the Surrey/Spelthorne Joint Committee. Our Chairman, Paul Thompson and Tom Fidler, local Councillor and a member of the JC, have asked a number of questions about CIL but have not yet received any useful answers, beyond establishing that any allocation would go on behind closed doors.
We accept that the Covid pandemic has been immensely disruptive to the Council's order of business but will nevertheless continue to press for answers as and when circumstances allow.
