How will the levy affect planning obligations?

Planning obligations (private agreements between the local planning authority and the developer) will continue to play an important role in helping to make individual developments acceptable to local planning authorities and communities.

For example, new affordable housing will continue to be delivered through planning obligations rather than the levy.

However, reforms have been introduced to restrict the use of planning obligations. Some of these have already come into effect and others will take effect from April 2014 – or as soon as a charging authority starts to charge the levy.

Most importantly, after April 2014, planning obligations can no longer be used as the basis for a tariff to fund infrastructure.

The levy will be used as the mechanism for pooling contributions from a variety of new developments to fund infrastructure.

Reproduced from the Communities and Local Government summary pdf on CIL