Waverley Borough Council residents who feel they were wrongly hit with controversial planning fees will be eligible for an independent review, although opposition members say it falls far short of what people deserve.

Since being adopted by the borough in 2019, anyone who builds an extension to their property over 100 square metres – the equivalent of an additional three or four bedroom house – must pay a Community Infrastructure Levy.

Those below that threshold must fill out a series of complicated forms declaring they should be exempt from the charge – failure, even by honest mistake, has left some facing huge unexpected bills and threatened with repossession and imprisonment.

It has left many furious and facing grave financial uncertainty as the council, which says its hands are tied by Government regulations, scrambles for a solution.

So far about 20 people have come forward saying they’ve been hit with huge bills. The council has acknowledged its fault for one.

At the July 1 meeting of the council’s executive committee, it agreed to launch a formal independent review process for anyone who feels they’ve been wrongly charged, as well as set out a path to reform enforcement, and promised to learn from its mistakes.

It said that real change to the CIL system could only come from the Government. Opponents argued the council has not gone far enough and that it should have the courage to give residents the ‘justice’ they deserve.

The agreed review will target specific known cases which the council says will  create fair and fast outcomes to those impacted.

More widely, it is continuing to press the deputy prime minister for change – and is looking at how it carries out enforcement should future errors arise.

On that latter point, this is expected to come into effect next year with updates in three and nine months to monitor progress.

Leader of Waverley Borough Council, Cllr Paul Follows said: “We’ve seen a great deal of misinformation put out into the public domain on this matter, opinions given by those who are not qualified to state so, and conflicting legal and technical opinions from different sources.

“And like many things in local government, this makes it a complicated task for any elected person to address, particularly for those in responsibility to make lawful decisions.”

He said the executive had to act “properly and lawfully as a local authority” adding “We can not simply pick and choose which legal and professional advice we want to hear.

“And we certainly can’t,  as has been suggested by people up to and including the MP, that we simply ignore legislation that we don’t like or find inconvenient.”

CIL in Waverley has contributed to more than £90 million to infrastructure providers for projects such as highways safety, leisure centres, and extra GP facilities.

In Farnham £2 million was used for extra school places, unlocking an additional £10 million from Surrey County Council in matched funding.

Cllr Peter Clark (Farnham Residents: Farnham Rowledge) urged the council to get its house in order to prevent CIL from becoming the bogeyman at Waverley.

He added: “The Government regulations are deeply flawed but we need to consider the risk to CIL if they are not followed through.”

Residents must file for exemption to CIL charges and demonstrate they are genuine householders carrying out extensions or building annexes, rather than a developer buying, fixing up and then flipping houses.

Issuing a statement after the decision was passed Cllr Carole Cockburn the Conservative member who chairs the overview and scrutiny committee, said: “Residents weren’t asking for special treatment.

“They were asking Waverley to show the same moral courage West Berkshire did last year when it implemented a discretionary scheme that helped everyone affected.

“Waverley’s Executive may believe it has ticked the legal boxes but legality is not the same as justice.”