As a follow up to the Norfolk Chamber’s ‘Audience with George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer’ event on the 7 November, we submitted a number of questions from our members to the Chancellor. Responses to those questions are now starting to be received from the relevant Ministers within Westminster.
Jay Mehta is a solicitor at Howes Percival. The Norwich-based company have been Chamber members for over 20 years.
Jay’s question to the Chancellor was:
“The Community Infrastructure Levy (now implemented and in force by Norwich City Council and Broadland District Council) operates as a non-negotiable tax on new development. This is because developers have lost the opportunity to negotiate the levels of contributions payable for new infrastructure and are unable to recover all or part of such contributions if not used within a certain time.
Consequently, is there not a risk that CIL would dissuade developers from developing sites? If so, what measures are being proposed to prevent this from happening and ensuring proposed development remains viable?
The judicial review of planning permissions is a constant source of delay and expense for developers. In practice, such challenges cause significant delays in the building of homes and other developments.
I am pleased to hear that a new dedicated “planning chamber” has been recently proposed to speed up the process, although guidance indicates that this new chamber shall only hear claims concerning “major development.”
Find on the attached document the written response from the Department for Communities and Local Government.
