suffolkselfbuild

Hi all First post here - and first self build in general - so apologies for any 'stupid' questions or inadvertent rule breaking! We have a plot of land with two small, redundant agricultural buildings that we would like to convert into holiday accommodation. We had a consent (lapsed in 2008) to do this and have recently approached the planning officer for some pre-app advice with a view to renewing the consent. The plot is outside the village envelope but the planning officer has indicated that an application to convert would likely be approved - however the development would likely be CIL liable and also subject to an 'environment mitigation' fee. My questions are as follows: - Is CIL definitely payable on conversion of agricultural buildings and, if so, does it apply when converting to holiday accommodation? I believe the answer is YES - Our current proposal is for a 115 sq m development. If this were reduced to say 99 sq m, would CIL cease to be payable? Or do holiday lets count as dwellings and therefore it's still chargeable? - If we were to split the land and apply for two separate consents (say 70 sq m each) would CIL be payable on each independently, on the total of the two or not at all? Lastly, and a more general question - would we benefit more from sitting tight and awaiting the Gov's planning reform - or are the new regs likely to put us in a worse position? I have read various 'rumours' that CIL (or its equivalent) will be charegable as a % of GDV - with some sources estimating 20% provided the GDV is above a certain threshold. Whilst I know it is pure speculation at the moment, it would be nice to get a feel for whether it's best to 'sit tight' or 'press on' !