Last October, I was approached by Godalming resident Steve Dally, who was at his wits end. For nearly four years he and his wife had been fighting Waverley Borough Council’s planning department after being charged a huge levy of £70,000 in CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) for his home extension.

CIL is a tax on developers to contribute to local infrastructure growth. Residential homeowners, self builds and extensions are exempt; if the net area increase is over 100 m² in some councils you need to fill out paperwork confirming the exemption.

After years of fighting and exhausting all legal avenues open to them the Dallys eventually concluded they had no choice but to pay, so they remortgaged interest only and will have to sell their home in a few years’ time once Steve retires.

But what’s scary is it turns out Steve wasn’t alone. Since October 20 different homeowners have come to us asking for help. These people have been charged life changing amounts of CIL - between £40,000 and £235,000 - and they are traumatised. Because CIL legislation is full on: you must pay within 90 days or threat of seizure of assets and imprisonment. If you don’t comply you get slammed with thousands of pounds of late charges and fees on top. It is robust legislation; drafted to incentivise a developer to cough up; utterly terrifying for homeowners. Victims who were often completely unaware of the existence of CIL, describe the ruthlessness of the CIL collecting team.

Some have had to sell the homes they have worked for all their lives. The stress and the injustice of it all has caused serious mental and physical health issues. Many have additionally spent thousands of pounds on legal and other fees fighting the charges, unsuccessfully in most cases.

Since then, it’s been my mission and that of my fellow council group plus some Farnham Resident councillors to understand what on earth has happened here and to try to fix it. In West Berkshire last year, a similar scandal culminated in the council undertaking a discretionary review and refunding £200,000 to 18 impacted homeowners. Other pockets of issues are popping up all over the country - including Chester, Merton and Sevenoaks.

Approximately 200 councils across the country operate CIL, but why has this situation become so bad in just a few of them - and especially Waverley? The reasons are:

1. CIL legislation is difficult to navigate and it’s not user-friendly - lots of form filling , which is time dependent.

2. While some councils use a pragmatic common-sense approach in applying CIL, others (including Waverley) have done so slavishly and ruthlessly without regard for its overriding intention.

3. Retrospective planning applications. The CIL ‘kiss of death’. if you apply for planning permission retrospectively or if you need to change your planning permission part way through the build you become automatically liable for CIL – WITH NO RIGHT OF APPEAL. If the council thinks you have started work on site before the relevant notices are served, that’s it - liable. No appeal. Error filling out the form? Liable.

4. Finally, the CIL rates in Waverley are some of the highest in the country at £552 / sq m. This means a £15,000 levy in West Berkshire equates to an eye-watering £75,000 in Waverley.

How are these people being caught out? Ian Colvin, for example, used a third-party to fill out the form; his family home is on the market in his home to find the £92,000 CIL charge to the council.

Mr and Mrs S in Godalming put their temporary address on the CIL form so were deemed developers - £58,000 levy. No right of appeal.

In Farnham Karen Baxter has been charged £75,000 for a loft, while the King family have been charged £55,000 for a 3 sq m extension - they’ve been charged their own CIL, each other’s – and the developer’s CIL already paid!

The terrible irony of this all is that Waverley Council is currently collecting so much CIL it can’t even spend it - nearly £10 million is sitting unallocated in Waverley’s CIL bank account right now.

So, what next? In January we secured a resolution of Full Council for a discretionary review of CIL but now that is in doubt.

To date, the words of council leader Paul Follows and portfolio holder Liz Townsend do not fill us with confidence – is there a lack of political will to deliver a meaningful review?

There has been mention of a means tested CIL policy... but so only people the council deems to be poor enough deserve justice?

Separately we are escalating via the LGA and our MP’s Jeremy Hunt and Greg Stafford; CIL legislation needs to be changed so it will only capture those it is intended for: commercial developers.

We are passionately supporting these people, and we will not give up. These residents deserve justice, a refund and to get on with their lives. And this could have happened to any of us.

Councillor Jane Austin is Conservative opposition leader on Waverley Borough Council