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For an English housing project, estimate the impact by separating Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), section 106 and section 278 obligations; calculating each from the current project documents; then putting both the amounts and their trigger dates into the development appraisal, cash flow and programme. There is no defensible national average for either the cost or the delay caused by a “planning levy”. The result is site-specific: it depends on the charging schedule, permission, agreements, phasing, payment notices, finance assumptions and the critical path.
This guide uses “planning levy” to mean CIL in England, while also checking the related obligations that can affect the same scheme. Other jurisdictions use different systems, so apply the method to your own authority’s rules and documents rather than transferring English rates or procedures.
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First, distinguish the contributions you may be estimating
A housing project can face several infrastructure-related requirements. They are not interchangeable, and each has a different calculation and timing method.
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| Route | What it is | How it is normally established | What to model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) | A charge adopted by a charging authority on liable development. | The authority’s current charging schedule, rate zone, use category, chargeable area, indexation and the liability notice. | Calculated liability, relief or exemption, instalment terms, notices and the payment date, generally linked to commencement. |
| Section 106 | A planning obligation for mitigation that is specific to the development. | The executed agreement, including cash sums, indexation, specified works and triggers. | Each obligation, trigger, delivery dependency, indexation provision and cash or in-kind cost. |
| Section 278 | An agreement for highway works associated with the development. | The signed highway agreement, design and cost requirements and construction programme. | Design, approval, bond or payment requirements, work sequence and any dependency on access or occupation. |
Section 106 obligations must be necessary to make the development acceptable, directly related to it, and fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind. The Planning Inspectorate’s Planning obligations: good practice advice, updated 5 February 2025, explains those tests for England. A CIL charge does not replace the need to inspect development-specific obligations, and a section 278 agreement is a separate highway matter.
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Collect the documents and assumptions before doing arithmetic
A reliable estimate starts with an evidence register. Record the document version and date for every input so that a later appraisal can show what changed.
- Project location, local planning authority and the authority’s current CIL charging schedule, rate zone and instalment policy.
- Planning permission, approved floorspace and uses, permission type, outline or phased status, reserved matters position and assumed commencement date.
- CIL liability notice, assumed-liability notice, commencement notice, relief or exemption application and decision.
- Signed section 106 and section 278 agreements, including indexed amounts, in-kind works, triggers, bonds, payment provisions and delivery dependencies.
- Dated programme covering application, permission, pre-commencement requirements, site start, phases, build rate, sales rate and completion.
- Appraisal assumptions: gross development value, base and abnormal construction costs, on-plot and strategic infrastructure, professional fees, finance rate and drawdown, contingency, sales and marketing, developer profit and benchmark land value.
- Any evidence that circumstances differ from the plan-level viability assumptions, if you intend to submit an application-stage viability case.
Do not use a generic levy calculator as the final answer. The authority’s current schedule, notices and agreements control the project-specific liability and timing.
Calculate the cost obligation by obligation
1. Confirm whether CIL applies
Check that the authority has adopted CIL, that the development is in a charging area, and that the proposed uses and floorspace fall within the relevant charging categories. Confirm the chargeable area and any existing lawful floorspace treatment in the project documents. A permission can be outline, phased or subject to reserved matters, so the relevant area and liability may need to be confirmed for each phase.
2. Apply the current charging schedule
Use the rate for the project’s geography and use, the chargeable area and the indexation mechanism specified by the authority. A simplified structure is:
CIL liability = indexed rate applicable to the use and zone × chargeable area, adjusted for the authority’s rules and any relief or exemption.
This is a model structure, not a substitute for the authority’s calculation. Reconcile your worksheet to the liability notice. Keep the rate, indexation date, area measurement, permission reference and relief assumption in separate fields so that an error can be traced.
3. Check relief, exemption and notice compliance
Record whether social housing relief, charitable relief, self-build relief or another applicable route has been granted, rather than merely assumed. CIL exceptional-circumstances relief is not automatic. Official guidance describes conditions that can include an existing section 106 agreement and the charging authority’s view that the full levy would have an unacceptable viability impact; the authority must have activated the procedure and the project must satisfy the applicable conditions.
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Timely assumption-of-liability and commencement notices matter. Non-compliance can affect when payment is demanded and whether an instalment policy is available. Use the demand notice and the authority’s current policy as the controlling evidence.
4. Extract every section 106 requirement
Read the executed agreement line by line. Create a separate row for each financial contribution, land transfer, monitoring fee, affordable-housing requirement, specified operation and delivery obligation. Capture the indexation base, trigger, payment recipient, notice period and whether the requirement is a condition precedent to commencement, occupation or a particular phase.
Do not replace an agreement trigger with an average payment date. A sum due on commencement, for example, has a different finance effect from a sum due on first occupation, even if the total amount is identical.
5. Scope section 278 works
Obtain the highway authority’s agreed design, cost estimate, approvals, bonds and construction sequence. Include design and professional costs, traffic management, temporary works and any required bond or commuted sum where the agreement makes them the developer’s responsibility. Show whether the work controls access, commencement or occupation; that relationship can be more important to the programme than the cash amount.
6. Use a single obligation register
A practical worksheet has one row per obligation and at least these columns:
| Field | Entry to record |
|---|---|
| Route | CIL, section 106 or section 278 |
| Amount or cost basis | Liability notice, indexed agreement sum, priced work or authority estimate |
| Source | Schedule, notice, executed agreement, drawing, specification or quotation |
| Relief and indexation | Decision reference, index and date used |
| Trigger | Permission, commencement, phase, occupation, completion or specified operation |
| Forecast payment or delivery date | Dated programme assumption |
| Cash-flow period | Month or quarter in the development model |
| Confidence | Confirmed, agreed estimate or unresolved assumption |
Sum the register by phase and by cash-flow period. A single total obligation figure is useful for a headline, but it cannot show financing or critical-path effects.
Put the contributions inside the whole development appraisal
Homes England’s Financial viability for housing-led projects (first published 10 December 2021) treats viability as a relationship between development value, costs and an allowance for profit. Contributions therefore belong alongside, not outside, the rest of the scheme.
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At minimum, the appraisal should contain:
- Gross development value, with the sales values, tenure and absorption assumptions that support it.
- Base build cost and abnormal cost allowances.
- On-plot and strategic infrastructure.
- CIL, section 106 and section 278 costs, with their actual payment or delivery dates.
- Professional fees, surveys, statutory charges and contingency.
- Sales, marketing and disposal costs.
- Finance interest and fees calculated from the dated drawdown and repayment profile.
- Developer profit and the benchmark land value or other clearly identified land-value output.
State the chosen output explicitly. For example, a residual land value is the value left after development value, all costs and the required profit allowance have been accounted for. A margin or profit-on-cost measure answers a different question and should not be presented as if it were residual land value.
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Run at least two appraisals with the same structure and all unrelated assumptions held constant. This isolates the financial effect of the contribution rather than mixing it with a change in sales values or construction costs.
| Scenario | Contribution input | Timing input | Outputs to compare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expected case | All liabilities and works supported by current documents. | Most likely triggers, instalments and delivery dates. | Total contribution, finance cost, profit, margin and residual land value. |
| Contribution comparison | Relevant CIL or obligation removed or varied solely for the test. | All other dates unchanged. | Change in profit, margin and residual land value. |
| Payment-timing case | Same total contribution as the expected case. | Earlier or later payment dates, or an approved instalment profile. | Interest, peak funding requirement, cash balance and completion date. |
| Programme-risk case | Same amounts. | Agreement, notice or infrastructure trigger moved to the evidence-based risk date. | Critical-path completion, sales start, finance duration and profit. |
The difference between the expected case and a no-contribution case is a financial scenario result. It is not a complete measure of the levy’s social or infrastructure value, and it does not prove that a contribution caused a market outcome.
Model cash timing, not just the aggregate amount
CIL generally becomes payable when chargeable development commences, but the actual cash date depends on liability assumption, required notices, the demand notice and the charging authority’s instalment policy. Put the forecast date in the cash flow and keep the evidence behind it.
For section 106, use the executed agreement. A contribution can be due on signing, commencement, a particular phase, a specified dwelling count, first occupation or another defined event. In-kind works may create a cost before any cash payment and may require design, procurement or approval time.
- Set the baseline programme and monthly or quarterly cash-flow periods.
- Enter each obligation’s trigger as a dated event, not as a percentage of total cost.
- Link each cash payment or works package to the period in which funds leave the project or the cost is incurred.
- Recalculate interest from the actual drawdown profile and payment dates.
- Check peak negative cash balance, facility headroom, repayment date and the effect on profit.
- Run an earlier-payment and later-payment sensitivity without changing the total obligation.
Two projects with the same contribution can have different finance costs if one pays before sales receipts and the other pays after several phases have sold.
Estimate timeline impact through the critical path
No official source establishes a standard number of weeks or months that a levy adds to every housing project. A defensible estimate comes from comparing a dated baseline with dated contribution scenarios.
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Build the baseline
Show application submission, permission, discharge of pre-commencement requirements, agreement execution, assumed liability, commencement, each phase, build rate, sales rate and completion. Homes England identifies build and sales rates as drivers of development duration, so do not leave them implicit.
Classify every obligation by schedule role
- Pre-permission activity: negotiation or execution of an agreement that must be completed before permission can be issued.
- Pre-commencement requirement: a condition, notice or agreement step that must be satisfied before work starts.
- Payment event: a cash obligation that may affect funding but not the physical critical path.
- Delivery dependency: a highway or infrastructure work that controls access, occupation or a phase.
- Later cash event: an obligation triggered after construction has begun and therefore not necessarily a start-date delay.
Run dated schedule scenarios
- Record the earliest date supported by the permission, agreement and authority process.
- Record the expected date used for the investment decision.
- Record a risk date only where a specific unresolved dependency supports it.
- Recalculate the critical path, build and sales dates, finance period and completion date for each case.
- Attribute a delay to the contribution only when the project evidence shows that the contribution-related event caused the movement.
Potential causes to investigate include time to agree section 106 wording, satisfying a pre-commencement requirement, meeting notice deadlines, waiting for a relief decision, or coordinating highway and infrastructure works. These are investigation points, not guaranteed delays.
Use viability evidence carefully in negotiations
National planning guidance says development policies should be informed by infrastructure and affordable-housing need and by proportionate viability assessment. An application-stage assessment should refer back to the plan-level assessment and explain what has changed, with inputs and assumptions clear enough to be interpreted and interrogated. The decision maker determines what weight to give it; a spreadsheet result does not guarantee a reduced obligation or relief.
For a credible submission:
- Identify each changed assumption, such as values, abnormal costs, build rate, sales rate or finance terms.
- Show the source and date for every material input.
- Separate agreed obligations from disputed or estimated costs.
- Provide the expected case and sensitivity cases rather than selecting only a favourable output.
- Explain how the requested obligation level still addresses the development’s evidenced impact.
If considering exceptional-circumstances CIL relief, first verify that the authority has activated the procedure and that the project satisfies the current conditions, including any requirement for an existing section 106 agreement and an unacceptable viability impact from the full levy.
Stress-test the assumptions that can change the answer
Sensitivity analysis is most useful where a modest change can alter land value, funding or the critical path. Test the variables below independently before combining the most severe credible cases.
| Variable | Why it matters | Useful test |
|---|---|---|
| Gross development value | Changes the value available to absorb contributions and profit. | Lower and higher supported sales-value cases. |
| Abnormal and infrastructure cost | Can consume the same residual value as a levy. | Base estimate versus evidenced risk allowance. |
| Build rate | Changes duration, interest and the date of later triggers. | Slower and faster monthly output. |
| Sales rate | Changes receipts, funding peak and completion. | Slower absorption and a supported upside case. |
| Payment date | Changes interest even when the liability is unchanged. | Expected, earliest and latest evidence-based dates. |
| Indexation | Can change a charge or obligation between estimate and payment. | Current index assumption versus the agreement or schedule rule. |
Controls that prevent common estimating errors
- Do not call every infrastructure contribution “CIL”; identify the legal route and document.
- Do not use a national levy rate when the local charging schedule controls the amount.
- Do not assume relief or an instalment plan before the authority has confirmed eligibility.
- Do not model section 106 as a single lump sum when the agreement contains multiple triggers.
- Do not treat a payment date as a delay unless it moves an activity on the critical path.
- Do not report a finance effect without changing the dated cash flow.
- Do not hide uncertain amounts in contingency; show the obligation, confidence and basis separately.
- Do not claim that a viability appraisal guarantees negotiation success.
Frequently asked questions
Can I estimate the amount from the number of homes alone?
No. CIL depends on the authority’s charging schedule, use and zone, chargeable floorspace, indexation, permission details and any relief. Section 106 and section 278 depend on the executed project agreements and their specified works.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsDoes CIL always delay a housing project?
No. A payment can increase funding need without changing the critical path. Delay is project-specific and should be reported only when a notice, agreement, relief decision or infrastructure dependency moves a dated activity.
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Should the appraisal show CIL separately from section 106?
Yes. Keeping them separate preserves the different calculation, legal basis, trigger and evidence for each route and makes a negotiation or audit possible.
What is the most useful output for a lender or investor?
Provide the obligation register, expected and sensitivity appraisals, dated cash-flow profile, peak funding requirement, programme scenarios and a clear record of unresolved assumptions. A single headline total cannot show timing risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I estimate the amount from the number of homes alone?
No. CIL depends on the local charging schedule, use and zone, chargeable floorspace, indexation, permission details and relief. Section 106 and section 278 depend on the executed agreements and specified works.
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No. It may change funding without changing the critical path. Attribute delay only when a documented notice, agreement, relief decision or infrastructure dependency moves a dated activity.
Should CIL and section 106 be shown separately?
Yes. Their calculation, legal basis, triggers and evidence differ, so separate lines make the appraisal auditable and useful in negotiations.
What should a lender or investor receive?
An obligation register, expected and sensitivity appraisals, dated cash flow, peak funding requirement, programme scenarios and a record of unresolved assumptions.
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