Planning Guarantee on fees
As a general rule, once you have paid the planning application fee, there is no refund. However there are a couple of exemptions to this. The Planning Guarantee is one of these, the other is for non-validation of the application.
If your application has not been decided upon, you may be entitled to a full refund of the fees paid to the local authority.
The Planning Guarantee
Under regulation 9A of the 2012 Fees Regulations, in other words the ‘Planning Guarantee’ the local authority must refund to application the full fee where no decision has been made within a specified time.
The time frame depends whether you have applied as a major or non-major application or in other words a minor application.
Importantly the Planning Guarantee can only be invoked if no extension to the planning application has been agreed between the applicant and the local authority.
For major development applications the planning application fee must be refunded after 26 weeks, unless a longer period has been agreed in writing between the local planning authority and the applicant.
For non-major or minor development applications the planning application fee must be refunded after 16 weeks, unless a longer period has been agreed in writing between the local planning authority and the applicant.
Under legislation, the statutory time limits are 13 weeks for major development applications, 10 weeks for applications for technical details consent and for public service infrastructure development, and 8 weeks for all other types of development. For applications subject to an environmental impact assessment it is 16 weeks.
This guarantee would also not apply where there application has appealed for non-determination before the relevant period. Applicants can appeal for non-determination once the statutory time limits (above) have expired.
Therefore applicants who are minded to appeal to the inspectorate rather than wait longer for the local authority, should only do this after either 16 or 26 weeks in order to get their fees refunded, under the planning guarantee.
Applicants are reminded that these time limits only start to tick, once the local authority has received a valid application and the fees have been paid. If the application is not valid, then that should be dealt with as soon as possible. Despite this, the clock is already ticking if the local authority has not validated the application where a perfectly valid application has been submitted. This non-validation is another reason for a refund.
To understand the difference between a major and a minor application, please see this page (opens in a new tab).
Non Validation Refunds
If the local authority fails to validate the application, then they are obliged to refund the fee paid as required by regulation 3(5) of the 2012 Fees Regulations, as amended upon request. However there is no time frame set for this. the refund can be requested at any time.
However there might be a sting in the tail – some local authorities have decided to levy a fee to refund this.
Tewkesbury Borough Council, for example, will levy the following administration charges of £150 for major developments, £75 for non-major and £45 for householder and all other developments.
Whether this is fair when the local authority hasn’t got round to validating the application is open to debate – it may be justified where the applicant has not provided the correct reports or plans as per the validation checklist.
Getting an application correct is vital these days – this is where Planning Geek can assist. Did you know that our consultants submit many applications on behalf of clients across the UK?
You can reach out to us here.
Page Updated: 30th January 2025