A Lewisham Council proposal to use local assemblies to choose projects of up to £500,000 using money accumulated from a levy on developments has been met with concern by councillors.

The community infrastructure levy (CIL) is a cost local authorities can charge new developments, which must be spent on local infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, roads, open space and leisure facilities.

Lewisham Council has accumulated £9.3m since the levy was introduced in 2015, with a proposal suggesting a quarter of this go towards neighbourhood projects where local assemblies can choose projects of up to £500,000.

But proposals to redistribute a portion of the money across wards and set aside money for the whole borough has been met with concern.

Evelyn ward Cllr Silvana Kelleher said the money should be spent on the areas it was accumulated.

“It’s not a compensation scheme, it’s reparation and if you have not had the work done there is nothing to make reparations for,” she explained.

Councillors also asked for clarity over level of involvement of council and councillors in the oversight of spending, and that the criteria for projects was clear.

Cllr James Walsh raised concerns over how local assemblies would choose projects, with the potential for minority groups to be overlooked.

“I am really surprised at the proposal. I think what is being proposed is too simplistic and I don’t think it is what CIL should be used for and that is to mitigate the damage being done by development in an area.

“Funding something for drug user centres, it’s not going to get the popular vote. I am a bit worried about how we go about doing that stuff.

“What I would like to see is not only communities of geography but communities of identity because I think they have specific needs as well from development. Minority groups are a real consideration for this borough.”

The council built up £4.9m of CIL in 2016/17, £1.4m in 2015/16 and £3.4m in 2017/18, according to a report.

Evelyn ward has the largest pool of CIL funding, with £573,080 accumulated.

This is followed by New Cross which has £271,240 of funding accumulated.

The proposals outlining how to allocate CIL spending are yet to be approved by the full council.