Planning fees to increase by 15%
Planning minister Greg Clark speaking on Tuesday, March 27.
Source: PANext steps to simplify planning system announced
The government is to increase the planning application fee by 15% from this autumn.
The move was announced by minister for decentralisation and cities Greg Clark this week as part of the wider planning simplification review.
Rhian Kelly, CBI director for business environment, said the increase could put a strain on cautious developers.
“Hard-pressed businesses and investors will expect the fee increase to be matched by service improvements, and the onus is on the government to monitor performance, so that investment is not deterred,” she warned.
The government has also announced a consultation on changes to the Use Class Order, which proposes allowing the reuse of existing buildings without applying formally for planning permission. The consultation runs until September 11, 2012.
Clark said: “Our reforms to the planning system are making it simpler, clearer and more accesible to people in communities.
“Our aim is to have a system that applicants and members of communities can be confident will give a reliable, swift and fair outcome.”
Under the new measures organisations supporting neighbourhood planning, including the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England and Locality, will receive extra funding.
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Readers' comments (15)
Minutes from 'Planning simplification review'::
Simplification #1: It will cost you more.
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The planning system allows substandard large scale housing developments while restricting individuals from expressing their choice of dwelling. The housing lobby is large, sitting in the Lords and gets crap repetitive housing built on an oligopoly favoring basis due to the size of the procurement bundles and the lack of regulation about the variation of design that could be achieved if these developments were broken up in design terms. The government knows that in projects like in Malmo in Sweden this has worked but they have no desire for housing to work, its about profit maximization only and legitimizing this process. Localism would challenge the embedded interests and thus was never actually going to be implemented and this has been shown to be true. The real issue is how planners have been duped into supporting this position in the name that the big builders would produce more housing than if each house or group of houses was designed by professionals. Look how many houses are produce now compared to after the war.
will this be audited and would we believe it even if it was?
Planners here are generally ok (provided you getthe registration sorted by satisfying clerks ticking their boxes) except the ones that don't admit they're not qualified to comment on detaied design. But listed building consent is a different matter - what a free service! Unhelpful preservationists in the extreme delaying & prevaricating whenever they can - it would be good if going round in circles did result in their demise.
Planning fees have already been effectively hiked, and by far more than 15%. I am referring to the fact that now LPSs charge hude amounts (often well over £1000) for pre application discussions, then they want fees every time information is lodged to discharge one of the conditions THEY imposed on the planning consent, then they even want paying £85 to write to confirm that conditions have been complied with, oh and lets not forget the reduction in the time you have to enact a planning approval from 5 years to 3 years resulting in identical planning applications which still incur a full fee, and then there are the legal costs for Unilateral Undertakings then the huge off-site contributions and the list goes on and on. Its time to scrap the system and start again