Agenda item

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The Senior CIL Officer updated the Panel on the amendments made to the Spending Strategy and Policy document since the previous meeting held on 29 July 2025 and following advice from Legal and Audit. 

The Senior CIL Officer outlined the purpose of the meeting to the Panel was to create an application form and identify validation criteria, and from the Strategic Infrastructure Projects consider setting up an Officer/Member Working Group and agree the process to recommend projects.  The Senior CIL Officer added that Members had been provided with a copy of the draft funding application form.

In response to a comment from the Chair regarding training, the Senior CIL Officer explained that this would come under Stage 3 of the process, and a link had been distributed to a good example of guidance for the production of Parish Infrastructure Investment Plans produced by East Suffolk.  Officers would be producing a similar guidance document for Parish Councils within King’s Lynn and West Norfolk which would be used as a basis for parish training in relation to their infrastructure plans.

In terms of a timetable for training, the Senior CIL Officer explained that it would depend on the outcome of the meeting today because the Panel would be considering setting a ‘go-live’ date and producing and publicising documents and provide training, under stage three.

In response to a question from Councillor Blunt, the Senior CIL Officer confirmed that as part of stage three, there would be awareness training for Members and Parish Clerks.

AGREED:       That the Panel was content with the proposed application form and validation criteria.

Setting up an Officer / Member Working Group to identify Infrastructure Projects and agree a process to Cabinet

Members attention was drawn to page 14 of the CIL Spending Strategy.  It was advised that projects would be selected from the Council’s Capital Projects Programme from Tiers 1 to 3.  It was noted that:

Tier 1 – Major projects / schemes that were approved by Cabinet / Council to go live / were in progress.

Tier 2 – Operational projects that were approved by Cabinet / Council to go live / were in progress.

Tier 3 – Projects and schemes awaiting detailed consideration by Cabinet or Council before transition to go live under either Tier 1 or 2.

The Planning Control Manager advised that within the projects the CIL Officers would identify what projects fitted within the definition of CIL Infrastructure – essential, desirable and beneficial and that then created the Panel’s list of projects to consider and to make recommendations on.  It was noted that the CIL Spending Panel had approval to spend up to £100,000 on strategic projects and anything above that would have to go to Cabinet with recommendations from the Panel.

The Panel discussed the setting up of a Member / Officer Working Group to identify Infrastructure Projects or whether the Panel felt that there had already been a level of scrutiny taken place for the projects to have been included in the Capital Programme.

The Chair expressed concern in relation to timing if a Member / Officer Working Group had to be scheduled in.   Councillor Sandell agreed that another level was not required.

In response to a comment from Councillor Blunt, the Senior CIL Officer explained that strategic projects criteria would be separate from the local application process as defined within the policy document.  In relation to strategic projects, the onus would be on the lead project officer to notify the CIL Team of expenditure and keep the team informed of progress with the project and the CIL Spending Panel should be reviewing that at least once a year. 

A list of projects within tiers 1, 2 and 3 from the Council’s Capital Programme were displayed on screen to the Panel.    The Planning Control Manager stated that there were lots of projects on the list, but they would need to be thoroughly scrutinised to ensure that they met the requirements of the Spending Strategy.

AGREED:       (1)        That the Panel were minded not to create a Member / Officer Working Group to identify infrastructure projects.

(2)        That officers would review the Tiers 1-3 list and filter the relevant CIL applications that were relevant and then categorise them within the three criteria and present that to the Spending Panel in consultation with the Chair of the Panel.

Process to Cabinet

The Chair explained the process to recommend projects to Cabinet.

Application timetable

Open 1^st March, closes 1 May 2026.  The CIL Spending Panel would meet in July.

AGREED:       (1)        That the draft application form was agreed.

(2)        That in relation to the validation criteria, if the applications did not meet the criteria, then the application would not be reviewed by the Panel.

(3)        That two meetings would be held – one for strategic and one for local infrastructure:

·        Strategic meeting – early May

·        Local Infrastructure meeting – July.

It was noted that these meetings would also need to take into account the timings of the Cabinet Meeting.

The Chair and Planning Control Manager thanked the Senior CIL Officer and CIL Officer for their hard work in getting to this stage