Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy

Overview

Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL) provides a funding source which local community groups, residents’ associations, registered charities, infrastructure providers and charitable companies as well as council departments and other public sector organisations can access in order to fund/part fund local infrastructure projects.

NCIL is a portion of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), a charge that councils and the Mayor of London collects from new developments like new houses or flats and commercial development, which can be spent on a variety of new infrastructure projects such as sustainable transport, green spaces and community facilities.

Find out more about the Community Infrastructure Levy

NCIL is designed to support local community based infrastructure projects ranging from a few hundred pounds to tens of thousands of pounds where funds are available.

NCIL is allocated by councillors in each of the four Neighbourhoods (Kingston & North Kingston, New & Old Malden, Surbiton and South of the Borough) to help deliver projects and priorities in their local areas. You can find out which neighbourhood your project lies in by using this mapping tool. 

RBK operates an annual bidding process for the allocation of NCIL funds, which consists of a number of phases. We are currently at PHASE ONE

In terms of bid amounts, guidance is provided below on the estimated budget per neighbourhood for this bidding round (based upon a number of factors):

Bids in excess of the above amounts should be avoided. Also, please note that this is a competitive process and there will often be multiple bidders for this money in each round ( 5-6 bids per neighbourhood, but often more in K&NK). Given budgetary pressures, large bids will likely be subject to additional scrutiny.

Similarly, please note that available NCIL Balances (and the recommended maximum bid amounts) can vary notably between cycles and between the four neighbourhoods.

IMPORTANT: Please consider the impacts of inflation on your project costings and adjust/raise your bid requests accordingly. This is because any additional requests for funds will have to go through the process again.

Decisions on the next round of projects to receive the NCIL funding will be made by local councillors at the relevant Neighbourhood Committee meetings. Projects covering multiple neighbourhoods may therefore need to submit multiple ‘bids’ and seek funding and secure authorisation from multiple Committees.

A wide variety of organisations, such as residents' associations, community groups, charities, Council and other public sector departments can bid for this money (subject to conditions).

Projects from across the borough that have previously benefited from the funding include the newly restored pond at Claremont Gardens, in Surbiton, bringing the disused pavilions on Kingston Road Recreation Ground back into use and improvements at Latchmere Recreation Ground, in Kingston, replacing the boardwalk at Six Acre Meadow in Tolworth, improving the Manor Park children’s playground, in New Malden and a new pathway for the park at Woodview in Chessington.

Criteria for projects

Projects that can receive funding should:

• Provide a concrete, robust and fully costed proposal (ie not be speculative)
• Meet the terms of the CIL Regulations (2010 and including all further amendments)
• Meet the objectives of the Council and Neighbourhood as set out in the respective Neighbourhood Plan. 
• Be a one-off project (maintenance/running costs cannot be funded via NCIL)
• Benefit the wider community (and ideally be able to demonstrate community support)
• Provide value for money (and ideally be not for profit)
• Be able to demonstrate suitable expertise and outline how the project will be successfully delivered.

Procedure at RBK

In Kingston, we advertise and operate a bid window system for NCIL.

The initial stage comprises the submission of an online form, known as an expression of interest. This needed to be submitted by 15 October 2024

Projects will be reviewed and those able to proceed will then be asked to submit detailed project bid reports for their proposals (with a deadline of 30/02/2025. Decisions on funding bids will be made at Neighbourhood Committees in June 2025.

If you have any questions about the process, your project idea or the form please email neighbourhood_management@kingston.gov.uk and cc in cil@kingston.gov.uk