Agenda item

Members were informed of the proposed national increase to planning application fees following debates in Parliament, and the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023, being made on the 8 th November, and that came into force on the 6th December 2023.

At the Planning and Highways Committee on 20th April 2023 it was discussed that the Government’s consultation on the 28th February 2023, which focussed on increasing the national planning application fees. The consultation ended on the 25th April 2023. The Committee approved the consultation responses for the Council to the 21 questions set in the consultation, with the aim of providing a more effective and efficient service through additional financing and resources.

The draft regulations relating to the proposed increase to fees, were laid in Parliament before the summer recess, and will come into force 28 days after the day on which they are made. The Statutory Instrument [2023 No.1197] was made on the 8th November 2023, which means the fee increase, will come into force on Wednesday 6th December 2023.

The regulations do the following:

·       Increase planning applications fees by 35% for applications for major development and 25% for all other applications. Introduce an annual indexation of planning application fees, capped at 10%, from 1st April 2025.

·       Remove the fee exemption for repeat applications (the ‘free go’). An applicant will still be able to benefit from a free-go if their application was withdrawn or refused in the preceding 12 months, subject to all other conditions for the free-go being met. This means the application must either be submitted or determined on or before the 5th December 2023.

·       Reduce the Planning Guarantee for non-major planning applications from 26 to 16 weeks. Regulation 9A states that where a decision has not been made within 26 weeks of a valid planning application being received, a refund should be paid to the applicant/agent, unless there has been an agreed extension of time made between both the LPA and the applicant/agent [para 2 (a)].

·       Introduce a new prior approval fee of £120 for applications for prior approval for development by the Crown on closed defence sites

The regulations show the maximum fee for major applications will therefore rise to £405,000, while the fee for householder applications will increase from £206 to £258. Applications fees will also be adjusted annually from the 1st April 2025 based on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) from the previous September, with any annual fee increases capped at 10%.

The consultation looked to introduced higher fees i.e doubling, for retrospective planning applications. Various respondents to the consultation raised issues, such as whether retrospective fees for householder applications should be doubled and whether doubling retrospective fees would result in an increase in unauthorised development. The Government in view of these responses determined this required further consideration. In order to not delay the national fees increase, the Government are continuing to develop proposals to double fees for retrospective applications for delivery through regulations at the next available opportunity.

The consultation also looked at ring-fencing the additional income for spending within the local authority planning department. There was strong support for this in the responses to the consultation (88%). However, the Government has decided to not take this measure forward, stating: “We want to ensure that the fee increase results in additional funds being available to local authority planning departments, but we will not take ring-fencing forward through legislation as this would impose a restriction on local authorities when they are best placed to make decisions about funding local services, including planning departments. However, we would expect local planning authorities to protect at least the income from the planning fee increase for direct investment in planning service.” [Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) response to the consultation “Stronger performance of local planning authorities supported through an increase in planning fees”, dated 25th July 2023].

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.