Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether parish and town councils are permitted to spend the neighbourhood portion of Community Infrastructure Levy receipts on the cost of the neighbourhood plan process, including consultation, plan-writing, examination and referendum.

Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) receipts must be used for the purposes which are set out in section 216 of the Planning Act 2008 and Part 7 of the CIL regulations.

Local authorities must spend the levy on infrastructure needed to support the development of their area. Where charging authorities collect the levy, they can use up to 5% of funds from the levy to recover the costs of administering the levy.

Where all or part of a chargeable development is within the area of a parish council, the charging authority must pass a proportion of the CIL receipts from the development to the parish council. The ‘neighbourhood portion’ of CIL can be spent on infrastructure or anything else that is concerned with addressing the demands that development places on an area.

Further information on spending the levy is set out in CIL guidance (attached) and which can be found on gov.uk here.