Planning Fees to rise by 100% or more for many applications!

Today, January 14th, the Government released draft legislation to propose an increase in planning fees. In many cases this will rise by 100% or more. Although one exception sees an increase of 583% – albeit for major developments.

This goes against the previous rise under the last Government where planning fees increases were to be pegged to the rate of inflation or a maximum of 10%. The biggest impact will be felt for changes of use with prior approval under Class MA, Class Q etc., and housholder applications. 

The issue is that planning fees are not ring-fenced for the planning department – therefore these fees could go almost anywhere!  Maybe even to purchase more government folders at £600 each! The planning departments need an increase in funds, but this legislation does not guarantee they will receive any of the increases.

The Government estimates that the shortfall in overall funding for local planning authorities is estimated to be £362 million. Despite this, there is zero guarantee that this will not still exist in 2026 or it may even increase!

The prices rises of of 100% or more, come after planning fees rises in December 2023 of 35% for major and 25% for all other applications.

It is advisable to ensure that applications and fees are submitted before 1st April 2025 to avoid these fees. Applicants are reminded that the ‘free go’ on planning fees was removed in December 2023.

The increase will take effect on 1 April 2025, provided both houses in Parliament agree.

In summary, the proposed fee increases are as follows:

Householder Applications

Where permitted development is not possible under Part 1 of the GPDO, then a householder planning application is required. These fees are increasing for the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a dwelling house.

• Increase the fee for applications for the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a single dwellinghouse from £258 to £528 – an increase of 105%
• Increase the fee for applications for the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of two or more dwellinghouses from £509 to £1,043 – an increase of 105%
• The fee of £258 for householder developments related to small-scale operations within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse is not changing – this would be for items such as garages, outbuildings, porches, gates, fences and walls

Prior Approvals

Most changes of use under Part 3 of the GPDO will require a prior approval application.

• The flat fee for prior approval applications that don’t involve building operations is increasing from £120 to £240 – an increase of 100% (was £96 before December 2023)
• The flat fee for prior approval applications that involve building operations is increasing from £258 to £516 – an increase of 100% (was £206 before December 2023)
• The fee for prior approvals relating to the change of use of Class E uses to residential (under Class MA of the GDPO) is increased from £125 per dwellinghouse to £250 per dwellinghouse – an increase of 100% (was £100 before December 2023)

The fees for prior approvals related to the construction of new dwellinghouses are not changing under Part 20 – these remain at £418 per dwelling.

Section 73 Applications

If you wish to alter a previous planning decision to perhaps remove a condition or alter the drawings etc., you would use a Section 73 application. These fees are altering from a previous flat fee of £293.

These applications are now to be divided into three options depending upon the original application. To alter a householder application you may opt to wait until after 1st April, as this reduces by 70%, but for a major development this increases by w whopping 583%

• £86 for householder applications – a decrease of 70%
• £586 for non-major development – an increase of 100%
• £2,000 for major development – an increase of 583%!!

Discharge of Conditions

The fee for an application for approval of details reserved by condition is increasing from:

• £43 to £86 for householders – an increase of 100%
• £145 to £298 for any other development – an increase of 106%

Fee for submission of a Biodiversity Gain Plan is increasing from £145 to £298 which is an increase of 106%

Corrections to other fees

The draft legislation also takes the opportunity to “correct” the fee levels for two miscellaneous fee categories which were apparently set too low by mistake:

• the fee for an outline application for the erection of a building where the area of gross floor created exceeds 3,750 square metres is increasing to £31,385. This was previously set at £30,680
• the fee for an application for the erection of an agricultural building, where the gross floor space created is between 1,000 metres and 4,215 square metres, is increasing to £5,077. This was previously set at just £624.

In Conclusion

The last government increased planning fees by either 25% or 35% – at the time, householders and business were told that planning fees would increase each year by the rate of inflation or a maximum of 10%. Today, Matthew Pennycook the Minister of state for Housing and Planning at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has decided to ignore that legislation. These fees will now increase by inflation or 10% from 1st April 2026 and beyond. That is unless the government decides to increase them again.

These increases in planning fees will impact SME developers who will need to budget for the increase in fees as part of the conversion costs.

The government is pushing forward with plans to allow local authorities to vary or set their own fees.  This is likely to be limited to a percentage of the new fees announced today.

All other planning fees remain unchanged until April 2026 – for now!

The Planning Portal site is yet to announce their fees for processing your card payments to local authorities from 1st April 2025.

Since early 2022 this fee has risen from £28 to £70 today – a 150% increase in under three years.

1st April 2022 – £32 including VAT (a 14% increase)
2nd May 2023 – £64 Including VAT (a 100% increase)
2nd April 2024 – £70 including VAT (a 9% increase)

Readers are reminded that the Planning Portal is a private company owned by TerraQuest Solutions Limited. The site was privatised in 2015.