GOVERNMENT LAYS DOWN 20 PER CENT INCREASE IN PLANNING FEES
An increase of 20 per cent will be applied to all existing planning application fees as a result of new regulations brought in earlier this month.
The House of Lords approved the regulations that introduce the fee increase, along with other changes to the fees regime, in December.
The changes came into force across England on January 17th 2018.
“The primary purpose of these changes is to support the resourcing within local authority planning departments. It has been suggested that this additional investment into the skills and system of planning will be beneficial to applications through enabling authorities to provide more effective and timely service.
“Whilst we have had to increase fees as a result of this; the proposed improvements in service this will bring during the determination of planning applications will be welcomed.”
The new legislation was revealed in a letter from Steve Quartermain CBE, which also explained a number of other fee changes, incluing the introduction of a new fee of £402 per 0.1 hectare for permission in principle application; the ability for local authorities to charge for applications for planning permission following the removal of permitted development rights through Article 4 directions or by condition; and for mayoral and urban development corporations to charge for providing a pre-application service.
Further changes to the regulations include a newly introduced £96 fee for prior approval applications to permitted development rights that were introduced in April 2015 and April 2017, including the rights for the erection of click-and-collect facilities within the land area of a shop, the installation of solar PV equipment on non-domestic buildings, and the provision of temporary school buildings on vacant commercial land for state-funded schools.
The Government has also published regulations enabling applications for permission in principle to be made for minor housing-led development, which will come into force on June 1st.