Planning Application Fees Increase Comes Into Effect in England 6th December 2023

Below are brief details of the planning application fee increase as of December 6th 2023

Legislative amendments to increase planning application fees in England have now been formally “made” and will take effect on 6th December 2023.

The main points affecting how fees are calculated on Planning Portal are that: 

• application fees in England will be increasing by 25% across the board, which will rise to 35% for major schemes based on the legislative interpretation of ‘major development’.
• the provision for a ‘free go’ on application resubmissions in England will also be removed, but individual applications that were already eligible for a free resubmission prior to the change (i.e. before 6th December 2023) will remain so. This will see the number of such exemptions fade out over the 12-month period after the amendments have taken effect.
• a fee is being introduced for the prior approval application required, as part of the permitted development rights for ‘development by the Crown on a closed defence site’.

Separately, the amendment introduces an annual rise in application fees linked to inflation (and capped at 10%) every April from 2025 onwards. 

It also tightens the planning guarantee so that undetermined non-major applications (including householder developments) will be eligible to receive a refund after 16 weeks, shortened from the 26-week period which remains ‘as is’ in all other cases. 

What will the new planning application fees be? 

Here is a ‘forthcoming’ version of the fee schedule document to show the increased fees and related changes to rules and exemptions. 

This can be used, alongside the existing schedule to see how the fees will increase for any given application, and how calculation of them may vary (e.g., based on the split between major and all other development).  

Source Planning Portal Content Team September 26, 2023

Rob Duncan - Chartered Town Planner and corporate member at the Royal Town Planning Institute

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