26/03/2025
News
It has been announced that planning application fees and government statutory fees will increase within the next week or so.
The increases, which were announced in February, will affect most applicants, including householders and major developers alike.
Planning Portal Fee Adjustments
Effective as of 31 March 2025, the portal that manages planning applications in England and Wales will raise its service charge to £70.83 plus VAT. Government spokespeople have said that the changes are to cushion the rising costs of processing the applications, i.e., security, invoicing, maintaining the portal, etc.
However, another change has been that the minimum fee threshold has been raised meaning that applications with fees under £100 will not incur the new charges. The minimum threshold was previously £60.
Government Statutory Fee Increases
The next day, more planning fees will increase. This year, planning fees will increase by 1.7% from 1 April, rounded to the nearest pound. Decisions have been made to annually increase fees in line with inflation, capping at 10%.
The fees themselves have remained unchanged for a number of years, so this is not an unforeseen update given the changes we have seen elsewhere throughout the economy.
We will see changes to the below applications:
Householder applications
- Fees will increase to £528 for applications to alter an “existing single dwellinghouse”, excluding flats
- Applications to conduct work within or along the boundary of a dwellinghouse will increase to £262
Outline applications for the erection of dwellinghouses
- Less than 0.5 hectares: £588 per 0.1 hectare
- Between 0.5-2.5 hectares: £635 per 0.1 hectare
- More than 2.5 hectares: £15,695, plus £189 for each additional 0.1 hectare, up to £205,943
Full applications for the erection of dwellinghouses
- Fewer than 10 dwellinghouses: £588 per dwellinghouse
- Between 10 and 50 dwellinghouses: £635 per dwellinghouse
- More than 50 dwellinghouses: £31,385, plus £189 for each additional dwellinghouse (up to 50), with a maximum fee of £411,885
The erection of agricultural buildings
- No more than 465 sq. m.: £122
- Between 465 sq. m. and 540 sq. m.: £588
- 540-1000 sq. m.: £588 for the first 540 sq. m., plus £588 for each additional 75 sq. m.
- 1000-4215 sq. m.: £5077 for the first 1000 sq. m., plus £653 for each additional 75 sq. m.
- More than 4215 sq. m.: £31,385 plus £189 for each additional 75 sq. m., to a maximum of £411,885.
Why are these planning fees increasing?
These changes have been put in place to financially assist the continued development of the digital planning service. It has been stated that the fees will go toward helping local planning authorities subsidise public plans such as building regulations and conservation.
