Neighbourhood CIL

A minimum of 15% of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) that is received by each District Authority is given back to Parish or Town Councils. This amount rises to 25% when a Neighbourhood Plan has been adopted. The funding is known as Neighbourhood CIL and is intended to support growth at a local/community level.

It is for the individual Parish and Town Council’s to agree how neighbourhood CIL is allocated in their local areas.

Broadland and South Norfolk

Broadland District Council and South Norfolk Council engage with Parishes about the delivery of infrastructure, including how this relates to the development and implementation of Neighbourhood Plans. Both Councils have introduced a Community Infrastructure Fund (CIF), which allows Parish or Town Councils to borrow money from the District. This money can be used to deliver community infrastructure projects which address the demands of growth in their area. Community Infrastructure Levy receipts, due to be paid to Parish or Town Councils, are used to repay the money to the District.

Norwich

In the Norwich City Council area there are no parishes, so the council consults directly with communities to allocate this element of CIL income. The council use multiple ways in which to encourage applications into this fund:

• There is a yearly allocation to Pledge Norwich which is set up to be an open match fund for community driven and delivered projects. It will fund up to 50% of a project cost (to a maximum of £5000). These applications are assessed for suitability against the requirements of the Neighbourhood CIL legislation, and then scored and weighted based on local priorities. Areas of higher deprivation receive a more heavily weighted score.
• Other Neighbourhood CIL allocations in Norwich are based on bids and suggestions received during the year. Shortlisted applicants are invited to submit a full application which is scored against selection criteria, to ensure it is best value for money and addresses locally identified priorities.
• The council proactively uses community engagement opportunities to identify projects which might be suitable for Neighbourhood CIL, including where it can fund feasibility studies in preparation for making an application to the GNGBs separate strategic CIL fund. The website Get Talking Norwich has been set up as an online engagement platform to gather local intelligence and to help determine priorities.

Projects in Norwich can apply for CIL here.