Council's CIL Rates A Missed Opportunity for Wiltshire

Today's decision by the Conservative Cabinet at Wiltshire Council to charge the new Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) at just two bands across Wiltshire has been attacked by Lib Dem Group Leader Jon Hubbard as "once again subsidising the rich at the expense of the poor".

The cabinet have decided to charge the new development tax at just two rates, whereas a backbench scrutiny task group who had been investigating the issue for the past year had recommended a 4 band structure, with more affluent areas of the county being charged at a higher rate.

Commenting on the decision Cllr Hubbard commented "This is a really disappointing decision by the council. We have seen here a decision to subsidise the profits of developers building executive homes in premium locations. Everyone knows that CIL will not change house values, it will affect the amount of profit made by developers and the price paid to landowners for plots.

"This is a missed opportunity for Wiltshire to raise much needed money to pay for essential infrastructure projects in our county such as building new schools and creating by-passes around our congested towns."

The cabinet papers complete with the proposals that were approved can be found on the council's website at https://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=37631#mgDocuments and the report from the CIL Scrutiny Task Group can be found here https://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/documents/s67989/Report%20of%20CIL%20Task%20Group%20-%20covering%20report.pdf