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In The Press

Developer takes Camden council to Court of Appeal; Appeal could pave the way for more CIL disputes (Property Week) (9 April 2019)

Date: 09/04/2019
Duncan Lewis, InThePress Solicitors, Developer takes Camden council to Court of Appeal; Appeal could pave the way for more CIL disputes (Property Week)

Property Week have reported on the case of R (Giordano Limited) v London Borough of Camden - the first ever Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) dispute brought to the Court of Appeal. The Appellant instructed director James Packer and solicitor Kate Newman, both of Duncan Lewis’ public law department, to represent them in challenging Camden council's imposition of a CIL charge of £547,000 for the redevelopment of a warehouse into a mixed-use scheme. With the hearing scheduled for July 2019, many anticipate that this appeal will be the first of many to address issues with CIL legislation. James has commented on the hefty bill issued by Camden council: “The entire purpose of the CIL regime is that the additional costs incurred in supporting a proposed development of an area can be funded by owners or developers of land. That is a laudable purpose. However, in this particular instance, planning permission for residential development was granted before the CIL regime was introduced, and the Council are arguing that CIL can be imposed simply because the developer is now proposing to reduce the number of units that it constructs (though this would not alter either the use class or the floorspace of the development), while accepting that no CIL at all would be payable if the developer continued with its original plans. As the developer’s revision to its plans would not in any way augment the burden on local infrastructure, it is hard to see why CIL should be applied. Further, the logic of the High Court decision would mean that whether or not CIL was payable in these circumstances would turn on the exact physical state of the building the day before the planning application is considered, which we consider to be not only mistaken in law, but also unworkable in practice, given that these applications are not considered according to a set timetable.” Since CIL is a voluntary tax that councils can choose to impose, it is hoped that cases like this will pave the way to providing greater clarity on when the tax should be applied.

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