As of 31st October, Waltham Forest Town Hall had accrued £19,487,990 in community infrastructure levy (CIL) payments, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter
Main image credit: Scott O’Neill via Canva
Waltham Forest Council is sitting on more than £19million in unspent infrastructure funding, a Freedom of Information request reveals.
As of 31st October, the town hall had accrued £19,487,990 in community infrastructure levy (CIL) payments.
Landowners or developers are expected to make financial contributions, called CIL, to local authorities as part of the planning process. The intention is that the boost in infrastructure funding will partly offset the strain of new residents or shops in the borough.
The vast majority of the council’s £19.4m will be spent on improvements to Walthamstow Central, Leyton and Lea Bridge stations, at a combined cost of £15.12m.
The £9m for Leyton, which will be spent on making the station step-free and on a new ticket hall, was first put aside in 2019.
Work was expected to start this summer but “detailed design work” had not been completed, Transport for London said in September. Under the initial projections, the project would have been completed in 2026.
A further £2.62m will be spent on a similar step-free scheme for Walthamstow Central. Improvements to the area around Lea Bridge, including a new ticket hall and plaza, will cost £3.5m.
Councillor Ahsan Khan, the deputy leader of Waltham Forest Council, said: “Significant amounts have been set aside to use for strategic transport investments at Walthamstow Central and Leyton stations that will make them more accessible and easier to use.
“These CIL contributions will be matched by government and TfL funding, ready to be used at the appropriate stage as is usual with complex projects.”
The rest will be spent on a string of projects over the next five years, including improvements to Fellowship Square, by the town hall, and safety for cyclists in Forest Road.
More than £110,000 has been allocated for parks and open spaces. A further £100,000 will be spent on improving fibre broadband in the borough.
Five-figure sums have been allocated for a string of smaller projects.
The council is eyeing £62,100 to improve the Walthamstow town centre square playground, while the installation of LED streetlights in Chingford will cost £12,370. Removing a planter at the junction of Fillibrooke will set the town hall back £39,000.
Last year, Waltham Forest spent £1.7m from the CIL on infrastructure schemes.
They included investment in the William Morris Gallery and the Brookes Road rain gardens and ‘sustainable drainage initiatives,’ alongside improvements to Langthorne Park and Jubilee Gardens, and the Signal Walk play area.
There is currently no public timeline for how the CIL will be spent by 2029.
Cllr Khan added: “It is best practice to carefully consider where the money should be invested to support important strategic priorities, rather than rushing to spend it immediately.
“Many of the things that local people value, for example the Walthamstow Wetlands, have only been made possible through the carefully allocated use of contributions from developments.”
Every local authority in the capital will levy CIL from developers.
In the nearby borough of Havering, the town hall is sitting on £8.205m, having spent just £1m over the past five years.
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