Opinion: Why We Need an Independent Investigation of CIL at Waverley

Published on: 6 Feb, 2026
Updated on: 9 Feb, 2026

By Cllr Jane Austin

leader of the Conservative Group at Waverley Borough Council

One year on and Waverley’s CIL scandal continues. Not one victim has been refunded under Waverley’s review and refund scheme.

Victims are struggling, carrying the mental burden of this fight – in some cases their homes are still for sale to pay the council.

Cllr Jane Austin

These residents have suffered the outrage of being charged tens of thousands of pounds, captured by a developer tax which was never intended to hit them. Some have already lost their homes. Some have had nervous breakdowns from the pressure.

Waverley CIL victims, having recently learned of a High Court judgement against Waverley (described as O’Brien vs Waverley), are now crying “cover up”.

A Damning Judgement

Why? Because this judicial review confirms exactly why an independent investigation of CIL practices at our council is necessary.

The reported case details: a Godalming householder was issued with a CIL bill for home improvements that should not have been chargeable. The homeowner challenged it in the courts. Once planning permission was granted, Waverley admitted it had got the law wrong, withdrew the CIL liability notice and was ordered to pay the resident’s legal costs.

Then, extraordinarily, Waverley reinstated the CIL charge – increasing the bill and adding further interest and surcharges. The resident’s solicitor James Packer described this behaviour as “extremely concerning”.

This story is repeated by residents who have told me disturbingly similar accounts: liability notices cancelled then reissued; the council refusing to accept evidence which would have meant CIL would not have been chargeable; in each case associated interest and surcharges mounting every month.

Here are a couple of the numerous cases:

Haslemere resident Mr A (a legal specialist) overturned nearly £50,000 in charges against him but not before incurring £5,000 in legal expenses fighting the case.

Another Haslemere resident was issued a £200,000 CIL liability notice for a minor amendment to his self-build – also a legal expert, he fought to get the charge overturned after launching legal action, describing concerns about the actions of the council’s CIL team.

Others have not been so lucky and paid the charge. An Enton resident fought a £56k CIL charge but eventually paid – then the council came back having ‘found’ an additional £5,000 interest and charges payable last year. They and others describe the aggressive actions of the council in pursuing them.

Last week at Full Council, Waverley’s public gallery full of CIL victims stood up and walked out in audible outrage at remarks by Lib Dem Council Leader Paul Follows. Why? Because they feel Waverley’s political leadership have undermined and attacked them in public and on social media.

Our Council Could Have Avoided This

I believe it didn’t have to be this way. We now know many other councils across the UK applied CIL with common sense discretion and with an overarching understanding that this legislation should not capture homeowners – so they made sure it didn’t.

Why couldn’t our council do the same?

Keep Fighting

But now I say to Steve Dally and the CIL Injustice Team – do not lose heart. Keep fighting. Because we are making progress and we won’t give up.

Cllr Jane Austin (right) with CIL campaigners.

Last Tuesday night, councillors finally voted for an independent investigation into CIL practices in Waverley. Six months ago, I proposed the same investigation, but Waverley’s Lib Dem Executive quashed and deferred it.

It is not credible to me that Lib Dem Executive members were not aware of the Waverley judicial review judgement at the time – which evidenced my exact concerns. Instead of acknowledging this relevant case, the Lib Dem Executive launched code of conduct complaints against me and other Conservative councillors for raising residents’ concerns.

Government Intervenes

A final reason to keep heart is that we are raising the case at a national level and the government is intervening. Sir Jeremy Hunt MP, Greg Stafford MP and I have met the Housing Minister twice, personally providing him with a detailed dossier of the issues and cases. The Minister listened – confirming that CIL legislation will be amended.

We expect changes in the law will require councils to refund residents who were wrongly billed.

Numerous senior councillors described being embarrassed by their own Council last week. Waverley needs to refund residents before our Executive suffers the further embarrassment of the government forcing them to.

A final thought: as of December 2024, Waverley is holding £33 million in collected CIL which the council estimates is earning around £124,000 in interest every month. That’s equivalent to 10 per cent of Waverley’s council tax income accruing into its main bank account (its General Fund).

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