Latest news with #LizTownsend
BBC News
6 days ago
- 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."
