Advice to Forestry Commission Wales

Enquiry

• From: Forestry Commission Wales
• Date advice given: 18 August 2010
• Enquiry type: Phone

I am working developing a framework for assessing the Community Benefit/Trust Fund commitments made by developers regarding wind farm developments on the Assembly Woodland Estate. I am interested in developing a standard for assessing the mechanism used to establish trust funds and similar community benefits that fall outside the planning process.

Do you have any framework established to assess Community Benefit or Trust Funds activities? Or does is fall outside the planning process and therefore outside the scope of the IPC?

Advice given

Thank you for your query relating to community benefits that fall outside of the planning process; I have the following information for you: The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), in place since April 2010, is designed to replace the current system of planning obligations as set out in Section 106 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990. As of April 2010, Section 106/CIL agreements can be incorporated into a Development Consent Order (DCO) for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects if they are directly related to the new developments; in future, it is envisaged that Section 106 agreements will be scaled back further to ensure operation is effectively alongside CIL. The aim of the CIL is to have a standard set of charges, making the financial obligations of the developer clear from the outset. Such charges will be set by the Local Authorities. The link below details the structure of the CIL through CLG guidance and will prove useful in understanding it's structure: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/communityinfrastructurelevy.pdf . As the IPC has not yet reached an examination stage for a project, it is difficult for us to comment or recommend a suitable approach. A suggestion would be to contact Local Authorities and the Welsh Assembly Government in establishing some best practice examples.