What is the neighbourhood portion of the levy?
The neighbourhood portion is 15% of the levy revenues arising from the development that takes place in a parish, capped at £100 per existing council tax dwelling.
Where a parish has a “made” (adopted) neighbourhood plan, the neighbourhood portion increases to 25% of the levy revenues arising from the development that takes place in a parish.
This amount will not be subject to an annual limit.
For each year that a parish has received neighbourhood funds through the levy, parish, town and community councils must publish the information specified in regulation 62A.
What can neighbourhood funding be spent on?
The neighbourhood portion of the levy can be spent on a wider range of things than the rest of the levy, provided that it meets the requirement to support the development of the area (see regulation 59C for details).
The wider definition means that the neighbourhood portion can be spent on things other than infrastructure (as defined in the community infrastructure levy regulations).
For example, the pot could be used to fund affordable housing where it would support the development of the area by addressing the demands that development places on the area.
Once the levy is in place, parish, town and community councils should work closely with their neighbouring councils and the charging authority to agree on infrastructure spending priorities.
If the parish, town or community council shares the priorities of the charging authority, they may agree that the charging authority should retain the neighbourhood funding to spend on that infrastructure.
It may be that this infrastructure (e.g. a school) is not in the parish, town or community council’s administrative area, but will support the development of the area.
If a parish, town or community council does not spend its levy share within 5 years of receipt, or does not spend it on initiatives that support the development of the area, the charging authority may require it to repay some or all of those funds to the charging authority (see regulation 59E(10) for details).
Please visit each individual Parish’s websites to view their annual reports.