Plans to increase planning fees by 35 per cent will not be enough
to prevent a significant national shortfall or solve capacity
issues in the sector, the Local Government Association warns
today.
The Government’s technical consultation on increasing planning
fees to reduce the funding shortfall for the planning application
service proposes a 35 per cent increase in fees for major
applications and 25 per cent for all other applications.
LGA modelling has shown that in order to ensure all councils in
deficit are able to balance the books, fees would need to be
increased by 57 per cent, far higher than the proposed 35 per
cent, highlighting the need for councils to have the flexibility
to set fees at a local level to cover their individual costs.
Planning fees currently do not cover the true cost of processing
planning applications, with 305 out of 343 local authority
planning departments operating in a deficit totalling £245.4
million in 2020/21.
There is also a significant challenge in resourcing local
planning authority teams, with councils across England struggling
to recruit and retain planners and more than a quarter of
authorities seeing teams shrink since last year.
The LGA said that increasing the planning fees by the proposed
amount will not automatically decrease the number of vacancies,
nor will it solve historic issues of retention.
Cllr Linda Taylor, housing spokesperson for the Local Government
Association, said:
“We recognise there are some resource concerns in council
planning teams and while we are pleased the Government is looking
to increase fees, we are concerned that the proposed uplift in
planning fees fails to future-proof the sector and ensure
planning departments can continue to enable the delivery of
housing targets, including the affordable homes and
infrastructure that the country needs.
“Councils must have the flexibility to set planning fees at a
local level to cover their costs relating to planning, which
could include the employment of qualified planners. This would
put councils in a stronger position to address the issue of
resourcing in the planning sector.”
Notes to editors
LGA’s response to the
planning fees consultation
Technical consultation:
Stronger performance of local planning authorities supported
through an increase in planning fees
The Planning town hall
resources survey
