RESIDENTS, businesses, parish councils and community groups are being asked what they think of proposals to charge developers for community facilities and infrastructure for every new private home built.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is set to introduce the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), which is a new charge that it can apply to developers to fund infrastructure, including transport schemes, schools and community, sport and recreation facilities.

Currently the council receives money from developers for facilities specifically related to individual development schemes such as providing a new play area.

But, the new CIL charge would be used to raise money to go into a ‘pot’ that could be used for bigger schemes to benefit wider areas across the borough, including schemes such as new roads. A proportion of the money collected would be passed to parish and town councils to spend on local community priorities.

The largest housing development planned over the next 15 years across the borough is Manydown.

It will be expected to provide key pieces of infrastructure as part of the development, including roads and public transport, two primary schools and a substantial amount of open space. The council will secure these through legal agreements so a CIL charge will not apply to Manydown.

The proposed charging schedule would mean developers of the other larger sites in the draft Local Plan in and around Basingstoke would need to pay £65 per square metre of floor area built.

In Basingstoke and Tadley, developers would be required to pay £70 per square metre built and across the rest of the borough developers would need to pay £150 per square metre.

The council would also charge between £35 and £150 per square metre for commercial development. These charges are all based on the viability of the development and take into account the different ways the infrastructure will be provided.

In drawing up the proposed charges the council took into account research on the different values of land and price of housing in different areas of the borough. It also had to take into account the cost of providing new affordable housing as a part of new development.

It is anticipated that the Community Infrastructure Levy would be adopted in April 2015, following a public examination by a Government planning inspector.

The Cabinet member for planning, Councillor Mark Ruffell, said: “We have taken on board the comments that were made earlier in the year and updated the viability evidence for the largest sites.

“The council expects them to deliver a lot of infrastructure as part of the development and we intend to secure this through legal agreements. This means that it is not financially viable to expect them to deliver high rates of Community Infrastructure Levy as well, so we have proposed lower rates.

“Our priority remains to have infrastructure improvements being provided at the time that new homes are being built and to provide homes for the borough’s residents who might otherwise not be able to afford them. We are keen to hear what people think of our proposals.”

To take part in the public consultation, which runs until December 19, visit basingstoke.gov.uk/go/cil.