Planning application fees to rise by 20% from July

Rochdale Borough Council

Planning application fees are set to increase by 20% from July. The proposal was approved on Thursday (23 March) at the Cabinet meeting.

The recommendation comes as a response to the Government White Paper, ‘Fixing our broken housing market’, which was published on 7 February 2017.

Whilst this focused on issues relating to the delivery of housing across the country, the White Paper identifies issue with the ability of local planning authorities to deal with planning applications for housing development in a speedy and effective manner.

One solution offered relates to the ability to properly resource planning teams within Local Authorities to determine applications promptly and without delay and support growth. This would be achieved by allowing an initial 20% increase in planning application fees, subject to guarantees that all additional income is ring-fenced to planning, and specifically the planning applications (development management) functions.

The service has identified potential uses of this additional resource which will primarily be used to improve performance in developing and processing major planning applications which deliver economic growth, to stabilise and increase staffing levels to support this work and support further IT investment.

Income from planning applications can be volatile and is often difficult to predict as the timing of the receipt of development applications can be protracted. However, with a stable staffing structure it is anticipated there will be greater opportunities for the planning service to engage in activity which will support continued growth in planning applications, and proactively work with partners and developers to increase the pace and number of new homes delivered across the Borough.

The preparation of policy documents like the GM Spatial Framework, masterplans and development briefs can be used to encourage development within the Borough. Additional resources can also support external funding bids. It is hoped that this more proactive approach could generate a further 5% of additional income above current levels over the longer term.

Average income from planning applications over recent years has been around the £870k figure. The suggested increase would bring in an extra £226,000.