Latest news with #LizTownsend
BBC News
17-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Waverley Council approves £650k Cranleigh skate park plans
A "much-needed" new skate park is to be built in a Surrey after a local authority backed spending nearly £650,000 in developer money on the Borough Council unanimously approved the plans to replace the current out-dated facility in Cranleigh Leisure Centre at a meeting on new funding will be used to purchase land for the skate park as well as its Borough Council portfolio holder for planning Liz Townsend said the skate park had been "long anticipated and will be a much-needed and necessary upgrade". She added the park would be an "important addition to recreational facilities in Cranleigh and the surrounding villages which have experienced significant development over the past few years".Planning permission was given in March 2025 to replace the leisure centre, including tearing down the old skate details surrounding the project are still being kept confidential – including where it will be built, according to the Local Democracy Reporting project will be fully funded by contributions from developers through Section 106 funding and money from the Community Infrastructure Townsend added: "There is a huge amount of interest in the project already and its design."There are some extremely enthusiastic future users of this facility."The new skate park represents a fantastic opportunity to build a new and existing community space on a new site."Leader of the opposition Jane Austin added the new skate park was "really great for Cranleigh".
BBC News
02-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Godalming man to receive £70,000 planning charge refund
A man who was charged £70,000 by his local council for making "a small home improvement" is to get a Dally had been granted planning permission to replace an existing house extension that was exempt from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), but he did not realise an extra application to make minor amendments was subject to the Borough Council leaders agreed on Tuesday to launch a scheme so which would review if money could be returned - if the local authority had made an being told he would receive a refund, Mr Dally, from Godalming, said: "I'm actually quiet speechless. I think [it's] the shock after all of these years, the trauma, the stress." A CIL is a fee meant for large-scale developers which is used to fund local improvements including new roads and it is estimated about 20 residents in Waverley have also found themselves having to pay tens of thousands of pounds."This battle isn't over," Mr Dally Democrat councillor Liz Townsend, the council's portfolio holder for planning and economic development, said the authority wanted to "rectify any errors". Councillor Townsend also said the council was exploring other measures to help residents, including looking at how it enforces CIL added: "During my time as portfolio holder I can only say that officers have acted in a professional way and there has been certainly no entrapment." However, councillor Jane Austin, the local Conservative leader, said the agreement of the review scheme was a "spectacular failure" to deliver said the delay in the review was "calculated and deeply unimpressive" for people who were still waiting for an councillor added that what had been delivered was "insufficient to address the problems".
BBC News
16-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Waverley Borough Council outlines planning fees review
People hit with huge bills from a local council for work done to their homes will be "refunded" if the correct processes were not followed, official papers Borough Council (WBC) has published details on how residents who believe they have been mischarged community infrastructure levies (CIL) can apply for a homeowners have said they have been asked to pay unexpected fees worth thousands of pounds for making home improvements, including extensions, without the ability to appeal.A report for WBC said grounds for appealing decisions were limited, and that liability notices cannot be withdrawn unless there has been an administrative or legal error. CIL are fees issued by local authorities on any new developments and are used to pay for infrastructure, such as schools and roads."Where a CIL liability notice has been incorrectly served by the council, it will be withdrawn where the law permits, and any charge that has been paid…will be refunded," the documents report added that legal advice to WBC was that the "regulations do not provide general discretion…to withdraw liability notices in order to relieve householders of the consequences of their misunderstandings or omissions, which have resulted in them not complying with the steps they need to follow…to benefit from an exemption".WBC said it was proposing measures relating to the way CIL is collected and allocated. 'Put this right' Councillor Liz Townsend, Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development, said: "We recognise that some homeowners feel they have been treated unfairly under these national rules. "I would like to thank them for sharing their experiences and in response to this, we are proposing to introduce a formal process so that these cases can be reviewed. "This discretionary review will give homeowners the opportunity to have their case reassessed if they believe CIL was applied incorrectly. "If the council has made an error, we will work to put this right, because we are committed to making CIL work for all of our residents."The report will be discussed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at WBC on Friday 23 June and then the Executive will make decisions on the options at a meeting on Tuesday 1 July.
BBC News
04-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Waverley council to review homeowners' CIL bills
Homeowners in South West Surrey who believe they have been wrongly charged for work to their houses will be able to appeal under a new Borough Council says homeowners who believe they have wrongly received community infrastructure levy (CIL) bills for work including home extensions and annexes will be able to ask to have their charges new review system comes after residents protested in April, saying they had incorrectly received bills up to £70, for the review scheme went before the council on Wednesday, 4 June ahead of a decision on 1 July, with more information set be released on 12 June. Liz Townsend, Waverley portfolio holder for planning and economic development, said: "We know that the Community Infrastructure Levy legislation has been a source of stress and concern for some of our residents who believe they have been unjustly charged and unfairly penalised by these complex and inflexible rules."This is a new process for the council, and we have taken independent legal advice to ensure our approach is both robust and fair."I want to assure them that we are absolutely committed to addressing those concerns through a fair and transparent review process."CIL is typically charged to developers as a contribution towards essential infrastructure. However a number of homeowners across Waverley have also faced the the new scheme, cases would be reviewed by someone independent from the council previously said that, in most cases, it had been correct in issuing the bills despite anger from exception, it said, was the case of Steve and Caroline Dally who were billed £70,000 for a home extension and given no opportunity to argue their will go before the council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 23 June.
BBC News
25-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Waverley Borough Council to set up group to look at planning fees
A cross-party working group will be set up by a council to examine residents being charged thousands of pounds in fees after making home homeowners were charged the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) by Waverley Borough Council (WBC) when they carried out self-builds or extended their MPs in Surrey have raised concerns about the size of bills, which have been as much as much as £97, councillor in charge of planning and economic development, Liz Townsend, said it was important to "shine a light" on the situation. CIL is typically charged to developers as a contribution towards essential infrastructure but a number of homeowners across Waverley have also faced the charge.A review is already being carried out into how and why people were sent surprise planning bills and whether this was done in an incorrect a meeting of WBC on Wednesday Townsend introduced a motion to form the working group so that a way forward on the issue could be agreed."We also need to shine a light on how we got here and we need to make the CIL journey even better for homeowners across the borough," she said."We need to look at what additional guidance and processes we may be able to introduce locally and we need to call on government to act nationally." Steve Dally from Godalming, who was charged £70,000, told BBC Radio Surrey that he was worried the motion could delay the urged WBC to follow the example of West Berkshire Council, which has previously made changes to help homeowners affected by CIL."There seems to be a lack of appreciation of the impact," he a statement, Townsend said at the time CIL was adopted no protocol was established for discretionary powers for withdrawal of a CIL liability notice, where "genuine errors" had added: "We need to comprehensively explore what a discretionary relief policy for Waverley might include, if additional monitoring is required, how we might legally revise or withdraw CIL liability notices and if necessary, define a protocol to ensures the council continues to act lawfully."A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: "Councils are ultimately responsible for their own enforcement decisions in line with regulations and guidance, and we expect these to be carefully considered."We are reviewing how some of the intended exemptions from the Community Infrastructure Levy for people developing their own homes are working in practice, as part of our commitment to improve the system."
