Councils must be free to set own planning fees to "avoid compromising on heritage"

The councils said that, at present, they are "either unable to charge for, or are required to subsidise, a significant proportion of the applications we handle every year", in a letter to decentralisation minister Greg Clark signed by nine councils, Planning reported.  Westminster City Council led the campaign.

Under current legislation, there is no charge attached to applications for listed buildings, conservation area consents or for tree works. Westminster City Council spends £5 million a year of taxpayers' money subsidising half of its 10,500 planning applications which it is not allowed to charge for.

The councils said that specialist applications for listed, conservation areas and trees all require specialist staff. They argued that with the "significant" saving they are being required to make "it is important to ensure this specialism is retained if we are to avoid compromising on our heritage".

The Government ran a consultation last year to reduce the subsidising of planning applications by local taxpayers.

It sought views on proposals to "decentralise responsibility for setting fees to local planning authorities... and to allow authorities to charge for resubmitted applications and to set higher fees for retrospective applications".

However, the Department for Communities and Local Government has yet to state publicly whether it intends to take forward the reforms.

This is the second time that a group of councils have grouped together to request that the Government moves proposals forward to allow them to set their own planning application fees. "As local authorities with a significant number of listed buildings, we would therefore welcome proposals which include the powers to charge for these consents and for tree applications if we are to maintain, and potentially enhance, the quality of the service we offer," the letter, sent on 15 November 2011, said

"Most listed building alterations cost many thousands of pounds to carry out. Not only would a small charge for an application – which is likely to be as low as a couple of hundred pounds – be insignificant for the applicant, it would remove the burden of cost being met by local taxpayers for what is a statutory duty," the letter said.