CIL – False Starts Can Be Punishing

Community Infrastructure Levy liability is determined by the point at which development is notified or deemed to have commenced. The point at which that actually occurs is not crystal clear and a recent Planning Inspectorate decision suggests that care is needed by collecting authorities and developers. At the moment there is a risk that a planning permission that has not been implemented for planning purposes (and which could, indeed, lapse for a failure to start in time) has been implemented for CIL purposes creating a CIL liability.

CIL Triggers

CIL liability is not triggered by a material start: it is triggered by the date given in a commencement notice (unless the notice is withdrawn in advance) or, in the absence of advance notice, the deeming of a commencement date by the collecting authority.