In April 2025, significant changes to planning application fees in England will take effect. These changes have been introduced following the government’s National Planning Policy Framework consultation, which took place last year. The goal of the updates is to make fees more reflective of the actual costs of processing planning applications. We all know that local planning authorities are under resourced and that the speed of determining planning applications is suffered due to this (as well as other things), so we do hope that these fee increases will allow Council’s to better resource their planning teams in order to provide a more efficient service.
Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming updates:
Overview of Fee Changes
The government has released draft legislation outlining these new planning fee structures, which will result in an increase in many fees across the board. The Planning Portal have published a forthcoming version of the updated fee schedule. This will help users navigate the changes and stay informed.
Key Changes Set to Take Effect
The following changes are scheduled to come into effect on April 1, 2025:
- Inflationary Uplift
A 1.7% inflationary increase will be applied to all planning fees, based on the Consumer Prices Index for September 2024. This increase will be rounded to the nearest whole pound. For example, if a fee is currently set at £100, it will rise to £101.70, and rounded to £102.
- Cost Recovery Changes
Some targeted fee increases will better reflect the actual costs local authorities face when processing certain types of applications. These changes mainly affect:
- Householder applications
- Prior approval applications
- Discharge of conditions and variation/removal of conditions applications
- Specific Fee Changes
Householder Application Fees
- For alterations or extensions to houses, the application fee will more than double, rising from £258to £528.
- For smaller ancillary works (such as works not directly impacting the house structure), the increase will be much smaller, rising from £258 to £262.
Prior Approval Fees
- Fees for most prior approval applications will also see a significant increase, doubling in many cases. The following is a breakdown of these increases:
- From £120 to £240
- From £125 to £250
- From £258 to £516
- However, applications for communications infrastructure and the construction of new dwellinghouses will only see the inflationary uplift, not the full increase.
Discharge of Conditions Fees
- Fees for discharging conditions will double as well:
- Householder development: £43 to £86
- Any other development: £145 to £298
Variation/Removal of Condition Fees
- These fees will now be split into three bands:
- Householder development: £86 (a reduction compared to the previous flat fee)
- Non-major development: £586
- Major development: £2,000
- Corrections
A couple of corrections will also be made to previous fee schedules:
- The base fee for buildings where floorspace exceeds 3,750 square metres will be corrected to £30,860 (instead of £30,680), with the inflationary increase applied to the corrected value.
- The banding for agricultural buildings will be fixed to ensure more consistent transitions between fee categories. Previously, the fee for agricultural buildings exceeding 1,000 square metres dropped to £624, which was not intentional.
No Changes to Fee Exemptions
It’s important to note that no changes are being made to the current fee exemptions. This means that some types of planning applications, such as those for certain small developments or changes, will not be subject to these fee increases.
What This Means for You
These fee changes are aimed at ensuring that the cost of processing planning applications more accurately reflects the costs borne by local authorities. As we approach April 2025, stakeholders in the industry, from developers to local councils, should prepare for these updates to avoid any surprises.
To stay ahead of the curve, we encourage you to review the forthcoming fee schedule and familiarise yourself with the upcoming changes.
