Calling all householders and independent developers – planning fees are set to increase on the 1st April 2025

It is all change… again! As the not so new Government push ahead with ongoing changes to the planning system, the latest iteration of these planning updates is an increase in planning application fees, across certain categories, which will take effect on the 1st April 2025. 

This was consulted on back in July 2024 and made affirmative on 12th March 2025.  As such the pithily titled Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 (‘the 2025 Regulations’) will come into force on 1st April 2025.  

It is an interesting one, as it will also introduce for the first time, that fees are to rise annually with inflation.  The guidance states that this is to be capped at 10%, measured by the Consumer Price Index from the preceding September.  For this year, the fee increase will be 1.7%.  Previously of course, we have been used to planning fees remaining static for several years at a time.  

What do the proposed planning application fee increases mean for householder and smaller developer projects?

Looking at the application increases across the board, it would appear that these will hit householder applications and smaller development projects hardest of all. Key takeaways for our clients include:  

• Fees will now rise annually in line with inflation from 1st April 2025.  Previously we have been used to them remaining static for several years at a time; 
• The fees for householder applications will rise from £258 to £528, for a single dwellinghouse. And from £509 to £1043 for two or more dwellinghouses;
• The current fee of £258 (which will be subject to inflation, rising it to £262 from 1st April), will remain for small works within the curtilage of a dwelling;    
• Big changes to S73 which is currently a flat fee regardless of the development type. From 1st April this will now be a three-tier banded structure for householders, non-major development and major development;  
• Fees for discharge of conditions are doubling; 
• So too the fees for prior approval applications if the development includes building operations, and for those relating to change of use of commercial, business and service uses to residential.     

The Planning Portal has provided a useful table setting out these fee changes which can be found here.  

The Planning Portal is upping its fees – what is the Planning Portal anyway?

Not to be left out, the Planning Portal is also increasing its fees. Who or what, you might cry – is the Planning Portal.  Well, in essence it is a website for submitting planning applications – it was established in 2002 to enable planning applications to be processed electronically.  It describes itself as a joint venture between MHCLG and TerraQuest Solutions Ltd – it is not a legislative or parliamentary body. Their recent fee increases have nothing to do with planning application fee increases, rather there are to enable the Planning Portal to improve their service, cover administrative costs and help them to maintain and future proof their tech.  

Is the Planning Portal our only means of submitting a planning application – well, no! You can submit direct to your local council, and we have done so previously to help avoid these sorts of fees.  That said, as with all things Local Authority and Planning, each LPA will have their own individual way of doing things. So an enquiry will need to be made of them to find out whether they accept electronic submissions directly, if so then where best to send the submission, and what their file size limit is to determine whether you can email your application across or if you might need to use a file sharing facility such as WeTransfer.  

Looking ahead – will there be more planning application fee increases on the horizon?

In a nutshell, yes, probably.  We understand that there will be a review of all national fees like Listed Building Consent, Tree Preservation Orders etc and one can imagine that further consultations on fees will be incoming later in the year. It is also worth noting that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will seek to give local planning authorities powers to set their own fees.  

In terms of the impact of upping the fees on householder applications, a concern raised during the consultation process was that this may result in more unauthorised development as individuals stop seeking permissions for householder works to avoid the fee increases.  But, in our professional opinion, this would be a short-term solution and runs the risk of being a much more costly route.  Building without consent can leave you subject to enforcement proceedings which can prove to be very expensive to resolve or rectify.  

The best course of action at this stage, is to ensure that your planning strategy is correct, your application type is the most suitable for your development proposals and that your submission is robust and meets validation requirements.  This will help to reduce any potential additional costs, especially as some LPAs are now raising n administration fee for dealing with applications that are found to be invalid.  We can also look at submitting direct to your LPA if this might help to avoid one additional fee.  

Thoughts on the proposed increases in planning application fees

It was in a way, inevitable.  Given the scope of the consultation on fee increases last year, the aim of these targeted increases was to better reflect the cost to local authorities of determining householder and prior approval applications, as well as the cost of applications that seek to vary, discharge or remove conditions on planning consents.   But, that said, one would hope that these additional fees will feed back into the planning system, to ensure better training, more recruitment and a better service for developers and householders across the board. Watch this space!  

About us

We are Plainview Planning, now part of McLoughlin Planning – a solutions orientated, experienced and knowledgeable team of planning consultants.  If you need professional and informed planning support with your development project, then contact our team via enquiries@plainview.co.uk, or call us on 01242 501003, providing the site address and a brief overview of your project. We look forward to helping you. 

We value your privacy and any information which you provide will not be shared outside of our company and will only be used in relation to your enquiry.

As ever, the content of this article is correct at the date of posting – but for the most recent and relevant information, contact our team directly.  

Resources  

• Planning Portal – Forthcoming fees for Planning Applications in England (take effect from 1 April 2025)  
• The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 
• The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012 
• Consumer Price Index 12-month rate for September 2024  
• MHCLG: Planning fees: annual indexation from 1 April