Last edited 22 Dec 2020

Community infrastructure levy commencement notice

Local planning authorities have the power to charge the community infrastructure levy (CIL) on new developments to fund local infrastructure.

Section 8 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 requires that, for chargeable developments, the persons liable to pay the community infrastructure levy must submit a notice to the collecting authority setting out when development is going to start. This is referred to as a ‘commencement notice’.

A person submitting a commencement notice must also serve a copy on each person known to be owners of the relevant land.

The collecting authority then issues a demand notice setting out the payment due dates, and this payment procedure must be followed on commencement of the development.

The collecting authority must receive the commencement notice at least one day before development is due to commence. Otherwise, the parties may be liable for a surcharge and may not be permitted to pay by instalments.

A commencement notice must:

Be submitted in writing on a form published by the Secretary of State (or a form to substantially the same effect).
Identify the liability notice issued in respect of the chargeable development.
State the intended commencement date of the chargeable development.
Include the other particulars specified or referred to in the form.

If a collecting authority knows development has commenced, but has not received a commencement notice, or has received a notice, but considers that the development began earlier, it may determine when the development commenced. This is known as the 'deemed commencement date'.