We have a statutory responsibility to make the details of the Community Infrastructure Levy and Section 106 contributions that we have collected and spent publicly available. Find this information in our annual CIL reports, and information on both CIL and Section 106 contributions in our new Infrastructure Funding Statement. Town and Parish Councils also publish annual reports on Neighbourhood CIL collected and spent on their websites.
How we allocate Section 106 contributions
We sometimes require developers to contribute towards infrastructure by way of a Section 106 agreement which is a legal agreement (usually between developers and us) linked to planning permissions. These are also known as planning obligations, and we will agree to spend the Section 106 contributions in accordance with the terms of this legal agreement.
Examples of Section 106 agreement contributions include contributions towards parks and play areas. For large sites, there may be contributions towards the extension of schools, or new schools, or transport improvements including bus services.
Section 106 agreements are secured when it is considered that a development will have significant impacts on the local area that cannot be addressed by the conditions attached to a planning decision. They also set out contributions the developer has to pay for, or works they must carry out (for example, to provide a footpath), as well as the purpose for the contributions and by when they must be paid.
See our Infrastructure Funding Statement for details of the Section 106 agreements that developers have signed, and Section 106 contributions collected and spent in 2019 to 2020.
How we allocate CIL
Strategic CIL
CIL is allocated to essential strategic infrastructure such as school expansion projects, highways, flood defences and waste facilities required to enable housing growth allocated in our Development Plan. We identify the infrastructure required for the district in our Infrastructure Delivery Plan. We draw up a CIL Infrastructure List, containing a list of types of infrastructure that CIL funding can be spent on.
First we allocate money to the Parish Council or local area where the CIL was generated (generally around 20-25%, see below) and we use 5% of the total charge for the administration of CIL. The remainder (generally 70% or 80%) makes up our Strategic CIL budget. Read more on how we spend Strategic CIL.
Neighbourhood CIL
A proportion of the CIL funds collected from new developments is passed to the Town or Parish Council where the CIL was generated, for that council to address local priorities.
The neighbourhood portion of CIL can be spent on a winder range of items than the Strategic CIL, provided that these items support the development of the local area. This means that neighbourhood CIL may fund parish needs which aren't strictly 'infastructure', such as affordable housing.
We allocate these funds as follows:
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25% in areas with an adopted Neighbourhood Plan
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15% (up to a maximum of £100 per tax year, per existing council tax dwelling) to other parish and town councils
Bath does not have a town or parish council, but instead retains 15% of funds for allocation in the Bath City area. Details of each round of applications for funding is published on the Council Consultation page. An Advisory Board made up of Bath Ward Councillors reviews the applications and makes recommendations on how to allocate the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funds. The Council Leader makes the final decision on how to spend the Bath neighbourhood portion of the funds. For further details, see the Bath Forum Neighbourhood CIL page.
For parish and town councils, we have published guidance on how to manage the spending of Neighbourhood CIL funds.
CIL administration
We spend 5% of our total CIL revenue per year on the costs of running the scheme.