Following the government’s consultation on the proposed increase to planning application fees earlier this year, the government response has now been published.
The consultation sought views on proposals to; increase planning fees, build capacity and capability in local planning authorities and introduce a more robust performance regime. As a result of supportive feedback the government has taken forward the national fee increases through draft regulations laid on 20 July 2023 and, if approved, are due to take effect from April 2024. These include;
- An increase to planning fees by 35% for major applications and 25% for householder and all other applications.
- An annual inflation-related adjustment to planning fees on the 1 April each year will commence 1 April 2025 using the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) from the previous September. Annual fee increases will be capped at 10% and in the event that there is deflation the fee will not be adjusted.
- Removal of the ‘free-go’ for repeat applications in order to encourage the use of pre-application services and see improved quality of planning applications first time round.
The feedback indicated strong support for ringfencing the additional fee income for spending within the local authority planning departments, in particular the respondents wanted to see additional resources that would directly lead to improvements in performance such as expanding planning teams and improving IT systems. However, the government has decided not to take ringfencing forward through legislation, rather they expect local planning authorities to protect at least the income from the planning fee increase for direct investment in planning services.
Also included in the measures taken forward in the draft regulations laid on 20 July is the proposal to reduce the Planning Guarantee for non-major applications from 26 weeks to 16 weeks so that they are more in line with the usual statutory determination period of 8 weeks (major applications to be retained at 26 weeks), this is a potential benefit for applicants. There will still be the option of using extensions of time, but this should only be used in exceptional circumstances.
The government response states that “We are clear that an increase in planning fee income and resourcing to local planning authorities must lead to improved performance. It is our intention to introduce a new planning performance framework once we have increased planning fees and invested in supporting the capacity and capability of planning departments.” There will be further consultation on detailed proposals in relation to the performance regime in the future.
The full consultation response document can be read at Technical consultation: Stronger performance of local planning authorities supported through an increase in planning fees: government response – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us.
An example of the fee increases taken from www.gov.uk and the original consultation are set out below;
