Under Regulation 14 of the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 ("CIL Regulations") the Council's primary duty when setting the level of Community Infrastructure Levy ("CIL") charge is to strike an appropriate balance between the desirability of funding the cost of infrastructure required to support development from CIL and its potential effects on the economic viability of development.

In our view, the approach taken to assessing the Preliminary Draft Charging Schedule does not achieve an appropriate balance between these two objectives.

We wish to object to the approach taken to assessing the Preliminary Draft Charging Schedule on the following grounds:

1. The Viability Study fails to adequately take account of major changes introduced by the Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) Regulations 2014/385

2. The impact on policies enhancing economic performance;

3. The financial assumptions and viability assessments contained in the Council's Viability Study;

4. The proposal to split convenience and comparison retail development;

5. Issues relating to State Aid; and

6. Concerns about the Council's approach to setting CIL charges generally.

Question 6: Do you support the introduction of an instalment policy in Rother for CIL payments?

Yes, we support the introduction of an instalment policy for CIL payments. Managing cash flow during development is often key in determining whether a scheme will be successfully delivered. We would strongly encourage the Council to adopt a realistic instalment policy that spreads the cost of CIL over a number of months or years (depending on the size of the development scheme proposed).

We would recommend that any instalment policy should link the instalments to the pace of the actual development; and should not link the instalments to an arbitrary time frame following on from the date the development is commenced.