Issue - meetings

Raised by Chris Gittins, Clerk of Timsbury Parish Council

Lisa Bartlett updated the meeting on the process that had been followed for last year’s allocation. That process had been reviewed, and a project had been established to help the Council better link CIL spend with infrastructure included on the Council’s Infrastructure Delivery Plan. Parishes would be contacted individually in connection with this.

Rosemary said that a major concern had been that no parish had been successful in bidding for funds and no feedback had been given on why they had not been successful. It would be helpful if feedback could be provided. Lisa said she would take that on board; last year had been the first year of the CIL and officers were reviewing how the process and communication could be improved.

Cllr May commented that the application process had been very bureaucratic and that Keynsham, Whitchurch and Compton Dando had considered that putting in a bid had been well beyond their capability. Lisa replied that work was being done to simplify the process.

Mike Townley, Clerk of Batheaston Parish Council, noted that Town Parish Councils were supposed to receive 15% of CIL from development in their area and suggested that if CIL was raised in a parish, it should all be spent in the parish. Lisa replied that CIL is designed to support the provision of infrastructure across the district and 15% or 25% (with a Neighbourhood Plan) is specifically allocated to local councils to cover local infrastructure needs. Where the money was to be spent was a budgetary decision for the Council. Parishes were supposed to be able to spend their 15% on what they liked, but the Government found this problematic for accounting purposes.