CIL: Local Funding Application Guidance
This guidance aims to assist those completing a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Neighbourhood Funding Application.
To discuss a potential project or for further guidance, email sarah.oram@molevalley.gov.uk or call 01306 885001.
You may also wish to make your local councillor aware of your proposal.
What is CIL and how is it allocated?
CIL allows us to raise funds from some forms of new development to help fund the infrastructure needed to mitigate the impacts of new development.
CIL funds are used for either local infrastructure or infrastructure of wider strategic benefit to Mole Valley.
An initial 5% of CIL funds collected is retained by us for administration purposes. We then allocate 15% of the funds to be spent on local infrastructure that is required in the communities (25% where an area has a Neighbourhood Plan).
In areas that have a Parish Council, these funds are passed directly to the Parish Council.
Where there is no Parish Council, ‘Neighbourhood CIL Local Spending Working Groups’, comprised of local councillors, have been set up to decide how this money will be allocated in the unparished areas.
There are two working groups:
- The North Working Group covers the wards of Bookham West, Bookham East & Eastwick Park, Fetcham, Leatherhead North, Leatherhead South, Ashtead Lanes & Common, and Ashtead Park
- The South Working Group covers the wards of Dorking North, Dorking South, and the unparished areas of Mickleham, Westcott & Okewood, Holmwoods & Beare Green, and Brockham, Betchworth, Buckland, Boxhill & Charlwood wards
The remaining CIL funds are allocated towards strategic district-wide infrastructure to support and enable growth. These are governed by a Strategic CIL Member Working Group.
Criteria
The CIL Regulations govern Neighbourhood CIL be allocated towards funding the provision, improvement, replacement, operation or maintenance of infrastructure to support the development of its area.
These definitions allow the local community to consider quite broadly what is needed to help mitigate the impacts of development in their area.
The definition of infrastructure as per the regulations is broad and includes roads and other transport infrastructure, flood defences, schools and other educational facilities, medical facilities, sporting and recreational facilities and open spaces.
We expect applications to come from not-for-profit organisations.
Applicants may include:
- statutory infrastructure providers state schools
- community groups
- registered charities
Applications by membership organisations must be able to demonstrate a wider community benefit.
Given that CIL is public funding, any new or improved facilities should be accessible to a range of people within the community.
Please give yourself time to put your bid together. It will take time for you to ensure you have all the information needed and have spoken to the appropriate people and/or got the right numbers of quotes.
- Projects that have commenced or completed prior to a funding decision being made by the Neighbourhood CIL Working Group
- Ongoing costs for the running of a project, for example staffing costs
- Annual maintenance or repair
- Projects promoting a political party
- Projects that conflict with existing council policies
- VAT that you can recover
Please note it may be determined that some projects are better funded through other funding sources.
Applications can be made for full or part funding of a project.
If a project has deliverable phases, it is beneficial to break down the project and list the phases and associated cost of the phase in the application.
If other forms of funding have been sought but unsuccessful, please provide details within the application.
Please provide details of how a successful CIL bid may unlock other funding opportunities.
You may wish to do this in a separate document. Evidence may be requested that other sources of funding have been sought. Grants can only be offered if there are sufficient funds available within the area that the project falls.
We want to ensure that infrastructure provided by CIL meets the needs of communities.
When bids are considered there is an element of scoring to ensure a degree of consistency.
Higher scores can be achieved within Neighbourhood Plan areas, particularly if the infrastructure proposed is listed within the Neighbourhood Plan, where the proposal delivers infrastructure types identified by communities, where financial support from elsewhere is difficult to obtain and a high degree of deliverability.
Scoring that can be applied:
Neighbourhood Plan in Place – 40%
Criteria and considerations:
If the infrastructure proposed is within an area with a Neighbourhood Plan and the proposal is for infrastructure supportive of policies and/or specifically named in the Neighbourhood Plan relevant to that area – 3 points.
If the infrastructure proposed is within an area with a Neighbourhood Plan but the infrastructure is not covered by policies or specifically named in a Neighbourhood Plan – 2 points.
Other scenarios will score zero points in this category.
Benefits to residents/community support – 35%
Criteria and considerations:
A Mole Valley wide consultation has ranked community priorities. The primary category of a bid will be scored depending on where it falls within the ranked priority list.
The top-ranking priority will score 15 points, the second ranking priority scoring 14 points and so on down to the lowest ranked priority which will score 1 point.
Financial support needed – 15%
Criteria and considerations:
Consideration of the amount of funding that has been secured from other funding opportunities and the extent to which CIL funding would enable additional funding to be secured.
- 0-25% funding from other sources – 2 points
- 26-50% funding from other sources – 3 points
- 51-75% funding from other sources – 4 points
- 76% or more funding from other sources – 5 points
Deliverability – 10%
Criteria and considerations:
The score in this case will be a judgement out of 5. The questions being asked by way of assessment are as follows, but not necessarily limited to these:
- Have the project milestones for delivery and funding been identified, preferably through a project plan?
- Is the project being progressed already through early stages of feasibility, design etc?
- Have risks and mitigations been identified, preferably through a list of risks and how they will be minimised, as part of a project plan?
- If the project is being delivered by your organisation is the project included your existing priorities? If the project is being delivered by another party is it included as one of their priorities?
Maximum score for each area is 5 (except Neighbourhood Plans, which is 3) and then weighting is applied.
The Working Groups will also be aware of the location from which CIL funding has derived and this will form part of the considerations..
It is important that bidders seek to engage with the community prior to making their bids.
Bidders may wish to consider engaging with local elected Members, Residents’ Associations and other community groups.
If an area has a Residents’ Association they should be consulted on the bid before it is submitted to us.
Please provide any evidence of such engagement with your application.
There are three spending rounds per year with bids considered by the Working Groups in:
- April
- August
- December
The deadlines for the spending rounds are the first working day in the months of:
- February
- June
- October
Applications received after these dates will be held over to the next available spending round.
What happens after submitting an application?
We will confirm receipt of your application and whether all required information has been received. We may ask you to provide further information, if necessary.
Applicants who have applied by the closing date deadline will have a further period of time to provide any outstanding details needed.
We will let you know the deadline for submitting these additional details. Failure to provide the requested details by the deadline will result in the application not being considered until further information is provided, which may delay your project.
You will be told when the Working Group will consider your application for funding.
Your application will be presented to the Working Group in full together with a council officer report and recommendation, which will take into account the scoring criteria. Working Group meetings are open to all councillors.
Those members who are not members of the Working Group or acting as substitutes for members of the Working Group, can participate subject to the agreement of the chairman and will seek to keep their points to those applications falling within their respective Wards.
You will have the opportunity to address the Working Group and answer any questions they may have.
If your bid is within an area covered by a Residents’ Association, we will invite them to the meeting. Subject to the agreement of the Chairman they may make verbal comments on bids that fall within their particular residents’ groups’ area.
The Working Group will make a recommendation on your proposal, which would then be considered by the Cabinet at a separate meeting, who will make the final decision.
Approval of bids may be conditional.
Payment of CIL funding
Full terms and conditions will be sent along with an award letter to successful applicants a few weeks after the Cabinet meeting.
Where relevant, the CIL funding will be conditional upon the applicant obtaining any necessary consents or permissions as may be required, or additional funding. A payment plan may also be required with key milestone for the project, which will be monitored by the Working Group.
The CIL funding is a one-off payment and will not result in any future revenue commitment by the council. Any maintenance responsibility, revenue liability or ongoing future funding related to the application lies with the applicant.
Publicity
The applicant will need to agree to publicise our support. We reserve the right to use images of the project resulting from the award of the CIL funding as part of any publicity material that it may wish.
The assessment process is competitive and not all applications will be funded.
There is no right of appeal against the recommendation of the Working Group. The Cabinet decision can be challenged in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.