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Written Question
Planning Permission: Fees and Charges
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Rachel Maclean (Conservative - Redditch)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the impact of the increase in planning fees under the Levelling up and Regeneration Act 2023 on the speed of granting planning permissions by local planning authorities.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

Planning fees were increased on 6 December 2023. The Department has and I have made it clear that we expect local planning authorities to use the additional income generated by the fee increase in their planning services, so that the planning service benefits from more resources. This investment should lead to an improvement in the speed of decision-making in time.

The performance of all local planning authorities in relation to the speed and quality of decision-making is continuously monitored and reported quarterly through the Department’s live tables on planning application statistics. These can be viewed here.

We will use this information to assess the impact of the increase in planning fees, and will be very carefully monitoring in the months ahead.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Fees and Charges
Tuesday 18th July 2023

Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to give planning authorities more flexibility to set fees for planning applications.

Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

We have announced our intention to increase planning fees by 35% for major applications and 25% for all other applications by the Summer 2023. Local authorities have the flexibility to set their own fees for discretionary planning services such as pre-application advice and Planning Performance Agreements.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Fees and Charges
Monday 6th September 2021

Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to introduce the proposed £5,000 planning fee for conversions under class MA of permitted development.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

We have introduced a fee of £100 per dwellinghouse in respect of this right. We have not included a £5,000 cap on fees as originally proposed.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Fees and Charges
Monday 24th February 2020

Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to make an announcement on the uplift in planning fees; for what reason that announcement has not yet been made; and if he will make a statement.

Answered by Christopher Pincher

We announced a Planning White Paper which will look into the resourcing and capacity of local planning authorities and how planning application fees can support this. We will be making an announcement in due course.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Fees and Charges
Tuesday 8th October 2019

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of TerraQuest Ltd's partnership with his Department to run the planning portal on fees charged on that portal.

Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt Hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Fees and Charges
Monday 18th June 2018

Asked by: Robert Neill (Conservative - Bromley and Chislehurst)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

What assessment his Department has made of the effect of recent changes to the level of fees for planning applications on the capacity of local authorities to process such applications.

Answered by Dominic Raab

In introducing the 20 per cent increase in planning fees in January, all local planning authorities committed to ring-fence this additional income to increase the capacity of their planning departments. Based on current activity the uplift in planning fees could generate over £75 million of additional fee income annually for local authorities. This is equal to the average salary of approximately 1600 planners and other professionals who play a role in the planning process.


Written Question
Visas: Families
Monday 5th March 2018

Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons her Department’s public guidance on applying for, extending or switching a family visa states that the earliest an application can be made is 28 days before current permission to stay in the UK expires; and for what reasons that guidance states that a decision will be made within 12 weeks if the application is from outside the UK and 8 weeks if the application is from within the UK.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

We advise on our website that if you wish to apply to extend your leave to remain on the basis of your family life, the earliest you can apply is 28 days before your current permission to stay in the UK under the family Immigration Rules expires.

If an applicant applies more than 28 days before their leave expires or they are within 28 days of completing the relevant period of time spent in the UK, they are likely to face a shortfall at the end of their qualifying period for settlement, necessitating an additional application with associated fees and charges.

The above requirement plays an essential part in the department’s workforce planning, allowing us to anticipate demand based upon previous grants of leave and to allocate resource appropriately.

These Rules provide for extant leave in the relevant category at the date of application to be added to the new grant of such leave, up to a maximum of 28 days, ensuring that no leave is lost.

UK Visas & Immigration is currently reviewing application service standards. Current service standards reflect how long an application may take to assess due to a wide range of factors.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Fees and Charges
Monday 6th November 2017

Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to set up pilot schemes to assess full cost recovery on planning applications by local authorities.

Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

There are no plans to set up pilot schemes to assess full cost recovery on planning applications by local authorities. However, we were clear in the Housing White Paper that properly resourced planning departments are an important part of delivering the new housing we need. That is why we are bringing forward regulations to increase planning application fees by 20 per cent. The Regulations to introduce the 20 per cent increase were laid on 19 October 2017 and will be considered by Committees of both Houses.

We are also currently consulting on the principle of introducing a further 20 per cent fee increase and how this could be applied in those authorities who are delivering the homes their communities need. A copy of the consultation (attached) can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/planning-for-the-right-homes-in-the-right-places-consultation-proposals


Written Question
Planning Permission: Fees and Charges
Tuesday 17th January 2017

Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to allow local authorities to charge different rates to those set nationally for processing planning applications.

Answered by Lord Barwell

We have consulted on future options for planning application fees. We will announce a way forward shortly.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Fees and Charges
Wednesday 24th June 2015

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to enable planning fees to be levied more flexibly so that the revenue raised from applications more adequately reflects the diverse workloads they generate.

Answered by Brandon Lewis

The Government have no plans to make changes to planning fees at present, but will keep the level of charges under review.