The Portfolio Holder for Local Planning & Environment presented the report which set out recommendations arising from the Member and Officer workshops for the structure of a new board, guidance on the information that would need to be supplied to support bids for funding and the factors that the Council would need to take into account in making a decision.  It also recommended that the Council prepare an Infrastructure Plan, which would inform the allocation of funding to schemes that supported development planned in the Allocations and Development Management Plan.  It was not anticipated that the Board would meet until after May 2015.  It was also noted that there should be an extra recommendation to the report for preparation of the Infrastructure Plan.

The Chief Planning Officer felt that the proposed governance arrangements were sensible and would provide a good structure for the distribution of CIL monies, once these had been received. The CIL Schedule placed the Council in a better position and would secure the affordable housing element.

Members noted that Parish and Town Councils would benefit by receiving 25% of CIL revenue, although some Members felt that Parishes would come under additional pressure from their residents to meet their aspirations for local infrastructure if the District and County Council were not able to deliver these.

It was also noted that the strong recommendation arising from two CIL governance workshops with members of the Local Planning & Environment Advisory Committee was that all Members appointed to the CIL Spending Board must receive training before taking any decisions and that this was not covered in the report. It was agreed to add this to the recommendations.  

This item had also been considered by the Local Planning & Environment Advisory Committee on 27 January 2015 which had supported the recommendations to the Cabinet.

Public Sector Equality Duty

Members noted that consideration had been given to impacts under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Resolved:  That

a)            a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Spending Board be established to recommend to Cabinet how CIL funding should be prioritised with Terms of Reference consistent with the body of the report;

b)            the CIL pro-forma attached at Appendix A to the report be published setting out the information that bidding organisations, including Sevenoaks District Council, would need to provide;

c)             the guidance on the CIL decision making process attached at Appendix B to the report be published;

d)            all members of the CIL Spending Board be mandated to receive training before sitting on the Board.