To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what types of development she has considered exempting from the requirement to pay the proposed community infrastructure levy; (226617)

As my right hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government stated when the Planning Bill was in Commons Committee, our principal starting point is that almost all developments will have some imposition and impact on the need for infrastructure, and some call on local services or amenities. In addition, exemptions to, or reductions from, CIL may cause complexity and distortion and reduce fairness. Therefore, the Government envisage that most types of development will be liable to pay CIL.

The Government will however consider the case for exemptions when consulting on the regulations to implement CIL, and will set out the exemptions available in the final regulations. Any exemptions we create must be legally robust and based on coherent criteria, such as those set out at page 60 of the CIL policy document published in August.

Our document is available at:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/communityinfrastructurelevy.pdf

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether developments in receipt of funding from the community infrastructure levy will be exempt from paying the levy charge. (226620)

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) clauses in the Planning Bill, now in the other place, stipulate that CIL funding may be applied only to infrastructure that supports the development of an area. Infrastructure in itself has other impacts on infrastructure. For instance, a power station might place new burdens on the local road network. Therefore, the Government do not consider it right to provide an automatic exemption from paying CIL for developments that have been in receipt of CIL funding.

This is not to say that there will be no exemptions from CIL. The Government will consider the case for exemptions when consulting on regulations, and as we made clear in the CIL policy document published on 5 August, any exemptions from CIL will be decided on the basis of the criteria set out at page 60 of our publication, available at:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/communityinfrastructurelevy.pdf