Reporting on developer contributions helps local communities and developers see how contributions have been spent and understand what future funds will be spent on, ensuring a transparent and accountable system.
In accordance with the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 (as amended) any authority that receives a contribution from development through the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) or through section 106 planning obligations (s106) must prepare an infrastructure funding statement (IFS). This includes county councils.
It is likely that future editions of the IFS will be presented differently as technology to deliver digital reporting is enabled.
The IFS contains three key documents:
The focus of developer contributions is to deliver sustainable development and to mitigate the harm of development. The Infrastructure Delivery Frameworks, appended to the Waveney and Suffolk Coastal Local Plans, form the bedrock of the identification of infrastructure required to support planned development. They identify the first considerations of how the critical, essential and desirable infrastructure may be funded and the period in which it may be delivered. The Infrastructure List takes this information a step further and begins to express those projects which the council is looking to support delivery of in the short, medium and longer term, through the allocation of District CIL and through the collection of s106 contributions or other funding mechanisms.