Victoria Charlesson and Kayleigh Chapman, in our leading Planning & Environmental law team, explains the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) regulations in relation to a commencement notice.
Regulation 67(1) of the CIL Regs provides that a commencement notice must be submitted no later than the day before the day on which the chargeable development is to be commenced.
The consequences of failing to submit a commencement notice can be severe and result in the Charging Authority issuing a surcharge under Regulation 83 or in the worst case scenario the loss of an exemption or relief granted under Part 6 of the CIL Regs.
The Planning Inspectorate has recently allowed an appeal where the date of the commencement notice was in issue.
The commencement notice was dated 29 June 2016 and specified that commencement of the development would be 4 July 2016. The Appellant claimed that despite the date of the notice being 29 June 2016 it was actually sent to the Council by post on 28 June 2016. The Council argued that regardless of this they did not actually receive the notice until 4 July 2016 – the proposed date of commencement, and therefore the notice was received too late in order to comply with requirements of Regulation 67(1) of the CIL Regs.
The Inspector concluded that on the balance of probabilities the notice would have been submitted prior to 4 July and confirmed that the relevant date for the purpose of Regulation 67(1) is when the notice was submitted not received. As a consequence the surcharge given to the appellant for not submitting a commencement notice was quashed.
Conclusion
It is clear that the wording in the CIL Regs refers to the date of submitting the commencement notice not the date the Charging Authority receives that notice. If you are liable to pay any CIL payments you should ensure you review the instructions on any liability notice and ensure you submit the commencement notice no later than the day before you are planning to commence your development. The Council have no discretion to waive surcharges or the loss of an exemption or relief previously granted should the CIL Regulations not be complied with. As such it is extremely important the proper process is followed to avoid costly administration errors.
For further information or legal advice, please contact law@blandy.co.uk or call 0118 951 6800.
This article is intended for the use of clients and other interested parties. The information contained in it is believed to be correct at the date of publication, but it is necessarily of a brief and general nature and should not be relied upon as a substitute for specific professional advice.
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