Cash injection for communities in Babergh and Mid Suffolk
Town and parish councils in Babergh and Mid Suffolk are set to receive more than £813,000 in developer contributions to help community infrastructure keep pace with housing growth.
Developers building homes within the districts are charged a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), which the councils then reinvest in neighbourhoods via their towns and parish councils.
Of the £813,000 funding, 28 town and parish councils in Mid Suffolk will receive a share of a £539k, with 22 of Babergh’s town and parishes receiving a portion of £274K.
The town and parish councils can decide how to spend this money to best support the development of their local area and meet the need of the community.
Those areas with successfully adopted neighbourhood plans will receive a higher amount of funding.
This round of neighbourhood CIL is in addition to the £18 million of district CIL funding which has been allocated in both districts since 2018 and which has included recent awards of £538K for the extension and refurbishment of Stowmarket Library, in Mid Suffolk, and £100K each for East Bergholt Tennis Club and Layham Road sports ground pavilion rebuild in Hadleigh, for Babergh.
Sallie Davies, Babergh District Council’s cabinet member for Heritage, Planning and Infrastructure, said: “Although the larger projects funded by district CIL grab the headlines, it’s this neighbourhood CIL funding that enables our towns and parishes to reinvest in the truly local infrastructure that their communities need.”
And Andrew Stringer, Mid Suffolk District Council’s cabinet member for Heritage, Planning and Infrastructure, said: “CIL is a crucial funding stream for our towns and parishes and enables them to fund much needed additional facilities to help their neighbours keep up with the ever-increasing demand placed on local infrastructure.”
Neighbourhood CIL is distributed twice a year. Meanwhile the latest bid round for communities wishing to benefit from future district CIL funding will be open from May 1 to May 31, 2025.
Successful bids will receive their funding decision in due course, subject to approval by the councils’ cabinet.