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Government opens consultation on increasing planning fees by 35%
The government is seeking views on its proposals to increase planning fees by as much as 35%, at the same time as improving the performance of local planning authorities.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) published the details on its proposed consultation earlier today and has set a deadline for responses on 25 April.
As part of an eight-week consultation, DLUHC has identified 10 proposals it would like to hear views on, including an increase in planning fees by 35% for major applications and 25% for all other applications.
Other proposals include making an annual inflation-related adjustment to planning fees, ringfencing additional fees income, and doubling fees for retrospective applications.
The plans propose building planning capacity and capability within local authorities, including challenges in recruitment and retention, and reducing the planning guarantee from 26 weeks to 16 weeks for non-major applications.
Views are also being sought on improving the quality of the local authority planning service by monitoring more performance measures.
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The consultation follows concerns that have been raised about a number of changes to the government’s national planning framework and with regard to the provisions set out in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.
At the start of last week, an amendment to ensure that 75% of the proposed new Infrastructure Levy is used to meet affordable housing needs was added to the bill as part of the committee stage of its passing.
The levy is set to replace Section 106 and the Community Infrastructure Levy. The new tariff will be paid by developers to local authorities, with rates and minimum thresholds being set by councils.
The amendment will require local authorities to devise their infrastructure delivery strategy – the key document that will determine how proceeds from the levy are spent – in a way that prioritises spending on affordable housing to meet the requirements identified in their local plans.
Prior to this, Inside Housing revealed that least a dozen local authorities paused or withdrawn their local plans since the government announced it would consult on housing targets at the end of last year.
The impact on council development plans was spelled out in a letter to the chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee in parliament by the Land Promoters and Developers Federation.
The letter was sent around a month after the government said it will “consult on how to better take account of local density” in housing targets, amid reports that it has caved in to pressure from backbench MPs to make them advisory.
It is possible further changes have been made to local plans since the letter was sent.
This announcement in December last year followed pressure from around 60 backbench MPs who tabled an amendment calling on the government to back down from its target to build 300,000 homes a year.
At the time it was reported that housing secretary Michael Gove had written to MPs informing them that the targets will be a “starting point” and become “advisory”.
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