Draft Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2019

Lord Mann Excerpts

Thursday 27th June 2019 General Committees

[John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab)]

I have attempted to read these documents, though it gets a little difficult because the Whips on the Labour side choose to put me on one of these Committees every single week. They have done so for several months, and when I failed to get to one on time, they sent me a very heavy, threatening letter. The good news is that there is a new Member back on the Labour Benches, my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson), so he can fill my place on Statutory Instrument Committees in future weeks.

I have spoken about the community infrastructure levy at every stage since it was introduced, and I want to clarify a couple of matters, because it has had a rather chequered history. The Minister used the term “self-build”. Most self-builders are not people who actually build themselves but people who commission small building firms to build a house for them; in areas such as mine, it might be an outhouse, the dividing up of a large mining property from the past, or the conversion of an old barn. People have repeatedly found problems with the CIL, and I want to clarify whether those problems have now been removed.

The first problem was that if a person were developing a single property—let us say, converting a barn—they were required to pay absurd amounts of money. I identified in my constituency a young couple trying to build their first home who were required to pay £47,500; the highest I could find was in Hertfordshire, where someone would have to pay £183,000. Will the Minister confirm that those small developments are not going to be done over and stopped by those fees? That was happening.

Secondly, I found a peculiarity in that a local authority could bring in the CIL for an unused shop building for which there was a change of use. One example that arose in my local area was a building that had been derelict for quite a number of years—about 10 years. A local entrepreneur—a former miner made good—wants to convert it into a premise that will attract people, but because a change of use is required, he is required to pay the CIL. Is that absurdity going to be removed by this SI, and if not, will that be the next stage? Clearly, we are trying to do up town centres where we have buildings that have been derelict for 10 years or longer. Someone is prepared to invest their own money, but has to pay a large tax for the privilege of doing so—in this case, £23,000 for tiny little premises.

Thirdly, nothing is more absurd and damaging than a requirement for up-front payments. I have seen a whole series of developments over the years. When we say “developments”, people normally think of major, large, multi-million or even bigger companies. Actually, in my area, it is often very small companies doing work for individuals who are not very well off. For example, an elderly widow with a large house wished to demolish that house and have a smaller property built. She was asked to pay about £30,000 in CIL money up front, and therefore decided not to proceed. There are countless examples of that kind of thing happening, including someone who was trying to develop—put, say, three properties on—a bit of wasteland. They were not someone who was used to development; it was the first time they had gone into the development field, and they were asked to pay that amount of money up front. That has been a huge problem, so is that up-front payment capped in any way, based on scale of development?

Another problem that has occurred in recent times is the definition of Traveller sites or showman’s sites versus that of park homes. Could the Minister confirm whether Traveller sites are exempt, whether park homes are exempt, and how the two are defined? For example, I have two sites in my area where planning is being sought for what are described as Traveller sites, but they are permanent. If they are permanent, does the CIL apply, and is there a perverse incentive to try to get something categorised if people not of Traveller heritage travel to and from the site as opposed to permanently living there? Particularly when it comes to showmen’s sites, where, for six months of the year, there is a requirement to park and house large vehicles, is that covered by the CIL? If not, is there a perverse bias in the planning system that could operate against the showman getting a suitable location?

Finally, the Minister breezes over the question of the bureaucracy tax. I am concerned if there is a 5% bureaucracy tax for paperwork. I do not know whether the Minister has cleared this with his leadership candidates, but why is there a 5% bureaucracy tax? Why is a developer of whatever level having to pay a tax for bureaucracy? Where is the proof that anyone wants that bureaucracy? My community does not want more bureaucracy. We do not need more bits of paper from the local council. We want more housing suitably located and ideally of the right size. We want local people to be able to get on with their lives. If they want to build or extend their house or convert a barn, they should be able to do so rationally without being stopped by additional tax. Where there is major development, we want the tax going into local infrastructure, not into bureaucracy. Why is there a bureaucracy tax?

[Sarah Newton (Truro and Falmouth) (Con)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[John Mann]

I will let the Minister respond.

[Sarah Newton]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[John Mann]

Okay, I will give way.

[Sarah Newton]

Thank you. I am sorry. I was a little confused as to whether the hon. Gentleman had come to the end of his speech.

As somebody who advocated this openness and transparency, to call it a bureaucracy tax is a misnomer, because the parish councils in my constituency really want to know how Cornwall Council is allocating the section 106 and the CIL funding. People in the villages and communities are sometimes very suspicious about decisions made at the centre about infrastructure, and suspicious that the funds are not flowing from the individual developments in their communities into the infrastructure that they would like to see, such as new schools, road junctions or cycle pathways.

Enabling greater transparency is a good thing, but councils have to bear some cost in doing this—

[Sarah Newton]

Sorry, Mr Gapes. My natural enthusiasm got the better of me.

[John Mann]

I advise the hon. Lady that the best bit of legislation from this Government originated from a Labour Government. Neighbourhood planning was wisely taken up by both the coalition Government and the current Government with my strong support every time. If there is a neighbourhood development plan—Bassetlaw is a leader and has more plans than any other council in the country—25% goes into the local community. Parish and town councils are boldly going forward with their plans and are able to draw down more money. It is the best single piece of legislation by this Government and their coalition predecessor, albeit stolen from a very good Labour Government idea, but that is good politics. Why a bureaucracy tax as well? We do not need it. Neighbourhood planning is one of the good things that the Government have managed to do.