Exceptional Circumstances Relief (ECR)

Find out information about our ECR policy.

The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) regulations allow councils the option to have a policy in place allowing applicants to claim relief from payments liable under the CIL.

Solihull Council has introduced this policy, and applications for relief can be made from 13 October 2025.

The following documents provide further information:

It is expected that cases for ECR will be truly exceptional (and few and far between) compared to ordinary cases that could be claimed to have challenging viability issues. 

Exceptional circumstances are likely to include developments that include:

  • major regeneration schemes
  • large scale place-making developments with extensive infrastructure requirements that are expected to rely on public-funding initiatives to ensure development
  • large-scale Previously Developed Land (PDL) developments

Schemes unlikely to be ‘exceptional’ include greenfield developments, especially agricultural (or similar) land.

Conditions for ECR

To grant exceptional relief on individual applications:

  • it must appear to the charging authority that there are exceptional circumstances which justify doing so
  • it must be considered expedient to grant relief for exceptional circumstances
  • a planning obligation under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 must have been entered into for the chargeable development
  • the Council must consider that to require payment of the CIL charged by it in respect of the chargeable development would have an unacceptable impact on the economic viability of the chargeable development

The Council will also need to be satisfied that granting relief (circumstance dependent) is consistent with the Subsidy Control Act 2022 that relates to ‘State Aid’.

As part of the demonstration of expediency, applicants for ECR will need to show the benefits of the development to the public.