Basingstoke residents, businesses and community groups are invited to give their views on proposals to set a charge on new development in the borough in order to pay for community facilities and infrastructure.  

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is planning to introduce the Community Infrastructure Levy, to help fund infrastructure, including transport improvements, schools and community, sport and recreation facilities and is keen to hear views on the charging plans in a further round of consultation from Monday 8 August to Monday 26 September.  

Currently, the council only receives money from developers for facilities specifically related to larger scale development schemes. But the new community infrastructure levy would raise funding to go into a ‘pot’ that could be used for bigger schemes to benefit the wider area, reflecting the cumulative impact of all developments. A proportion of the money collected will be passed to parish and town councils to spend on local community priorities.  

In setting the proposed charges, the council has to strike a balance between collecting money for necessary infrastructure, but still ensuring developers have an incentive to build.. Different land values, the price of housing across the borough and the costs of building all needs to be considered and so the charges are different in different areas.  

On larger allocated sites in the Local Plan, the proposed charges need to factor in the cost of providing key pieces of infrastructure, including on-site primary schools and other community facilities.  

It is hoped that the community infrastructure levy will be adopted in May 2017, following a public examination by a planning inspector, and formally introduced in summer 2017.  

The council’s Cabinet Member for Planning and Infrastructure Cllr Mark Ruffell said: “The council’s priority is to ensure that the right infrastructure is in place to support new and existing residents of the borough and to ensure that we continue to provide affordable housing for those who might otherwise not be able to afford them.  

“Our approach to bringing forward the Community Infrastructure Levy reflects this priority, as well as the need to continue to deliver much needed homes for our residents.  

We are keen to hear the views of local people on the proposed new charges as a means of delivering roads, community facilities and schools in the future, in order to help create a more pleasant, safer and vibrant environment for all who live, work and visit the borough.”  

For more information and to have your say on the Community Infrastructure Levy from Monday 8 August visit www.basingstoke.gov.uk/CIL