Review of planning application fees

We consider that if our vision for the development management system is to be realised we need to ensure local planning authorities have the necessary resources and use these in the most efficient and effective way.

This consultation document puts forward proposals for changes to the system of planning fees to help achieve this aim. The main changes include:

• an increase in fee levels;
• to provide a refund of the application fee where an application remains undetermined after a period of time; and
• to extend the scope of planning fees.  

We have prepared a draft partial Regulatory Impact Assessment (annex 1). It assesses the likely impacts of the proposals.