A momentous victory for an ET Planning client based in Waverley, resulting in two appeal wins with the Valuation Office Agency and the Planning Inspectorate, which contested a CIL Liability and Demand Notice issued by Waverley Borough Council.
What is CIL?
Community Infrastructure Levy is a charge imposed by local authorities on new developments to fund infrastructure.
As such, these are high charges placed on developments that either create 100sqm in new floorspace, or a new residential unit(s). The charge is applied per sqm and these costs vary on area (expect higher rates in London and across the South-East!) and when the Government brought this in, they were clearly intended for developers and not householders.
Case Summary
Following an approved application for an ancillary outbuilding in the client’s garden to be used as a short term holiday let for 365 days in the calendar year, a CIL Liability notice was issued incorrectly by the Council, who stated that CIL was chargeable because this would create a new residential unit.
The winning strategy
Our carefully crafted argument to the Valuation Office Agency and Planning Inspectorate demonstrated that firstly, the outbuilding should not be CIL liable in the first place and secondly, it had been in ancillary use for the enjoyment of the householder consistently for the last few years. The outbuilding due to its lack of key facilities, such as cooking apparatus, kitchen sink and laundry could not reasonably be considered as a separate independent unit.
As such the Valuation Office Agency and Planning Inspectorate agreed with our arguments and that the liability notice & the demand notice with surcharges had been incorrectly implemented.
The appeals were allowed and this win brought the liability with added surcharges, down from £25k to £0 for the client.
If you are a householder or developers that requires CIL advice, our team can provide tailored advice and strategy for your unique situation. Do contact our team on 01344 508048 or email office@etplanning.co.uk and we would be delighted to assist you.
