East Suffolk Council has recovered more than £750,000 of unpaid levy from the 54-home Melton Meadows site. Melton Parish Council is due a quarter of it.
East Suffolk Council has recovered more than £750,000 of unpaid Community Infrastructure Levy from the developer of the 54-home Melton Meadows scheme on Melton Road. The money was paid in full on 7 July, part-way through proceedings at Cambridge County Court, nearly nine years after the site was first granted planning permission. (East Suffolk Council, 13 August 2026)
A quarter of the levy is owed to Melton Parish Council. To put that in proportion: the parish took in £2,313.42 in levy money across the whole of the 2025/26 financial year, and held £28,009.51 at the end of it. (Melton Parish Council, CIL report 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026)
What the levy was, and what went unpaid
The levy is a charge councils set on new development, to pay for the roads, schools, open space and other infrastructure that new housing creates a need for.
The published record sets out the figures:
- 6 November 2017: planning permission granted for housing and offices on the former factory site at Melton Road, Melton.
- 19 December 2017: first liability notice served, for £924,700.50.
- 7 February 2019: a revised permission granted under section 73.
- 2 August 2019: development began.
- 30 June 2020: a fresh liability notice served, for £871,840.39.
- 29 December 2020: a surcharge of £43,592.02 imposed.
The council says the developer paid only the first of three instalments, leaving more than £584,000 outstanding. The sum finally recovered is larger than that because it includes the interest that built up on the debt.
Five years in the courts
Melton Meadows Properties Ltd and its director, George Braithwaite, denied liability and took the council to court. They lost at every stage.
Mr Justice Jay refused permission to bring a judicial review on the papers. Mrs Justice Lang refused the renewed application on 28 March 2022, agreeing the claim was out of time and adding that it was wrong on the substance as well.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on 21 December 2022. Sir Keith Lindblom, Lord Justice Singh and Lord Justice Males held that the grounds for challenge had first arisen on 30 June 2020, when the earlier liability notice was issued, so the claim had been brought far too late. They rejected the substantive arguments about the notices as well.
The strike-off, and the winding-up petition
The council’s account of what followed is brief. The public registers fill it in.
On 15 March 2024 Melton Meadows Properties Ltd applied to have itself struck off the Companies House register. The first Gazette notice for voluntary strike-off followed on 26 March 2024. On 16 April 2024 the strike-off was suspended, which is what happens when a creditor objects. (Companies House filing history, Melton Meadows Properties Ltd (11696306))
The council’s action went further than its statement describes. On 12 December 2025 it presented a petition in the High Court to wind the company up, naming itself as a creditor. The petition was listed for hearing at the Rolls Building on 4 February 2026 under case number CR-2025-008697. (The Gazette, notice 5034954, published 14 January 2026)
No winding-up order has been gazetted, and the company remains on the register as active. Mr Braithwaite has been its director and secretary since it was incorporated on 26 November 2018. (Companies House, officers)
The council also says the land was transferred to a second company, Pigeon (Aldeburgh) Ltd. That company shares a registered office with Melton Meadows Properties Ltd, at 4 & 5 The Cedars, Apex 12, Old Ipswich Road, Colchester. (Companies House, Pigeon (Aldeburgh) Limited (07757488))
What it means for you
Melton Parish Council receives 25% of the levy collected in its area, rather than the standard 15%, because it has a neighbourhood plan in force. Melton voted for that plan on 7 December 2017, by 1,172 votes to 77. (East Suffolk Council, Melton Neighbourhood Planning Referendum results)
Neither the council nor the parish has yet published the size of the parish’s share of the recovered money. What the parish’s own audited report shows is how much difference it is likely to make. Melton spent £37,507.78 of levy money in 2025/26, on:
| Item | Date | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Third pedestrian crossing on Melton Road | 11 February 2026 | £20,436.70 |
| Play equipment for Melton Road Park | 10 October 2025 | £14,820.47 |
| Community bench for the recreation ground | 26 June 2025 | £717.99 |
| Post for ANPR speed indicator device | 14 August 2025 | £403.43 |
| Dog bins for the river wall | 31 March 2026 | £253.14 |
| Dog bin for Orchard Close | 10 September 2025 | £149.48 |
| Pavilion path lighting | 19 March 2026 | £644.70 |
| Battery for speed indicator device | 14 August 2025 | £70.00 |
| Health and safety signs, recreation ground | 20 January 2026 | £11.87 |
A single crossing on Melton Road took more than half a year’s spending. The parish started 2025/26 with £63,203.87 carried over and ended it with £28,009.51.
Cllr Mark Packard, the council’s cabinet member for planning and coastal management, said the settlement means “we can now release the 25% share of CIL funding owed to Melton Parish Council, while the remainder will be invested through our wider CIL programme”.
The rest stays with East Suffolk Council for district-wide infrastructure. If you want to see what the parish decides to do with its share, Melton Parish Council publishes its agendas, minutes and annual CIL reports on its own website.
For what is currently in front of the planning department across the district, see our East Suffolk planning news page. Our Woodbridge council tax bands page explains the other, separate charge that funds council services.
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