The Community Infrastructure Levy: An Information Economics Approach to Understanding Infrastructure Provision under England's Reformed Spatial Planning System

Abstract

This review paper introduces a research agenda designed to invigorate interest in information economics as a conceptual framework within which to analyse the purported transition from regulatory land-use planning, such as that operating in England prior to 2004, to “spatial planning”. In considering one specific area of reform—the management of infrastructure provision—a research agenda is introduced to investigate a specific policy instrument, the Community Infrastructure Levy. It is approached as a transaction cost, the determination of which is a function of how information is traded between counterparties. In conceptualizing important information asymmetries between local planning authorities and the development industry a case is made for further empirical research.

Keywords:

• Information economics
• planning theory
• developer exactions
• community infrastructure levy

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank all four anonymous referees for their detailed comments and the editorial team at Planning Theory and Practice for their support.