20% increase in planning application fees expected imminently.

The long-awaited 20% increase in fees on planning applications submitted in England is due to be confirmed imminently. The increase, which was first announced in the January 2017 Housing White Paper, was initially expected as early as July 2017, although this has been delayed whilst clarity has been sought on the extent of fees and detail on implementation. However; draft regulations have now been laid before Parliament. If approved, they will take effect in just 28 days, and are expected to be in force by the end of 2017.

The increase is the first since 2012 and will affect all applications where a fee is currently required to be paid to Local Planning Authorities (LPAs). The draft regulations also include provisions for LPAs to charge a fee in instances where permitted development rights have been removed either through Article 4 directions or conditions. Mayoral development corporations and urban development corporations will also be able to charge for giving pre-application advice on relevant developments within their jurisdictive areas.

The increase comes at a potentially challenging time for both private and public sectors. With increasing planning and development costs, including CIL and S.106, as well as wider uncertainty over Brexit, front-end increases will place an added financial burden on developments, especially on larger schemes. Equally, many planning departments have suffered from cuts to service and are struggling to determine applications within the statutory 8 and 13 week deadlines, as well as dealing with pre-application requests.

It‘s intended that fee increases will be ring-fenced for LPAs to improve planning resources and service delivery, which many applicants will welcome, especially if this helps deliver more certainty over decisions and the time taken to make them.

If approved, the full list of increases to fees will be:

-       Creation of a dwellinghouse: £462 (currently £385)

-       Creation of non-residential floorspace (retail, leisure, commercial, office, etc): 75sqm > 3,750sqm: £462 per 0.75 sqm (currently £385)

-       Maximum OUTLINE: £150,000 (currently £125,000)

-       Maximum residential FULL: £300,000 (currently £250,000)

-       Change of Use: £462 (currently £385)

We believe communication with clients to keep them up to date on such changes is of upmost importance given the direct impact they will have. Therefore, Planning Potential are committed to the continued monitoring of progress and adoption of this legislation. In the meantime, for more information on this matter, or how it could affect you, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.