The Glebe 4 High St, Sutton, Ely CB6 2RB office@sutton-cambs-pc.gov.uk 01353 777189

FAQs

What is Affordable Housing?

Affordable housing is social rented, affordable rented and intermediate housing, provided to eligible households whose needs are not met by the market.

Social rented housing is owned by local authorities and private registered providers, e.g. Sanctuary.Their guideline target rents are determined through the national rent regime and are significantly lower than Affordable Rents.

Affordable rented housing is let by local authorities or private registered providers of social housing to households who are eligible for social rented housing. Affordable Rent is subject to rent controls that require a rent of no more than 80% of the local market rent.

Intermediate housing is homes for sale and rent provided at a cost above social rent, but below market levels subject to the criteria in the Affordable Housing definition above. These can include shared equity (shared ownership and equity loans), other low cost homes for sale and intermediate rent, but not affordable rented housing.

Most of the Affordable Homes that are being built at the moment are Affordable Rent housing and shared ownership. There is very little construction of new Social Rent housing.

What is the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)?

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a planning charge, introduced as a tool for local authorities to help deliver infrastructure to support the development of their area. Most new development which creates net additional floor space of 100 square metres or more, or creates a new home, is potentially liable for the levy.

Some types of development are exempt from CIL:

  • Affordable/social housing (this includes Starter Homes)
  • Charitable development provided by a charity
  • Self build developments (people building a dwelling to live in themselves and not sell for at least 3 years) and self build annexes and extensions

Any existing floor space can be used to offset CIL liability. So if a building is demolished and replaced by a new one, CIL will only be charged on the additional floorspace created. The charge in Sutton is £90 per square metre and paid to East Cambridgshire District Council.

What difference does a Neighbourhood Plan made to CIL payments received by the Parish Council?

Parish Councils usually receive 15% of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)  to pay for infrastructure maintenance and improvements. The legislation caps CIL payments to Parish Councils without a Neighbourhood Plan to £100 per council tax dwelling per year, for Sutton this is £166,800 per annum.

Once a Neighbourhood Plan is adopted a Parish Council  receives 25% of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and the annual cap is removed. The developers do not pay additional CIL charges, the change is that the district council passes more of the levy to the parish council.

The developer only becomes liable for the CIL payment when they have approval for Reserved Matters and not when they receive outline planning permission. Each Reserved Matters planning application is independent. If the Sutton Neighbourhood Plan is not adopted before phase 1 of a development gets Reserved Matters planning permission, but is adopted before phase 2 gets Reserved Matters planning permission, then 25% of the CIL from phase 2 and any subsequent phases will be passed to Sutton Parish Council.