Croydon Borough Council's CIL methodology is "not appropriate" says London First

Croydon’s proposed CIL charging schedule includes charges of £0-£120 per square metre for residential development, £0-20 per square metre for offices and industrial warehouses, and £120 per square metre for retail and leisure facilities.

London First has objected to Croydon's CIL viability assessment on the grounds that it incorrectly uses development sites' "current use value" rather than the "market value" in its calculations of the levy.

In a letter to Croydon's spatial planning team, London First has said that the council's methodology of using "current use value" in the viability assessments, rather than "market value", is inconsistent with guidance and is "not appropriate".

London First claim that using the "current use value" is inconsistent with recent guidance on this point by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the mayoral agency Transport for London's "best practice on conducting viability assessments".

"Current use value is based on the value of the day, but values can go up as well as down so this is not appropriate as it could be out of sync with development values," said Faraz Baber, London First’s head of planning.

"It could end up with the viability assessment not being accurate – when setting individual tariffs, it’s important to have the right viability assessment," Baber said.

In some instances inspectors have rejected core housing strategies that use "current use value", the business group claim.

The London Borough of Croydon has said that it would be "inappropriate and premature for the council to comment on London First's representation specifically" but has said that "all representations will be considered and responded to as part of the formulation of the CIL draft charging schedule", Planning Magazine report.