The Government is rethinking the approach to decentralising the function following a consultation on proposals for changes to planning application fees last year, amid fears that the changes would have made the system unclear.
The previous consultation on planning application fees was not acted upon amid fears that developers would not have been able to get clear advice on the cost of submitting a planning application.
The planning fee proposals aimed to reduce the number of planning applications that have to be subsidised by the local authority, and therefore by local taxpayers. The consultation documents showed that the majority of councils received less in planning fees than they spent processing applications.
The Government is now working alongside the Local Government Association to set "benchmark" levels for planning fees, before it publishes its revised proposals, according to reports. The aim is to propose a number of measures and systems to introduce consistent fees that reflect the work required by Local Authorities.
“As Minister for decentralisation I think decisions should be taken as locally as is reasonable," said Greg Clark at a planning seminar, according to reports. "However, it becomes unreasonable if you couldn’t get an answer as to how much fees are now going to be. It turned out to be very difficult to discover what fees would be.”
“It’s an area where, having called for greater decentralisation, we’re not actually in a position to introduce it,” added Clark.
The Royal Town planning Institute (RTPI) said that the inconsistencies and potential increases in fees were of great importance, in response to last year's consultation. The Government must ensure that "fee structures are reasonable and transparent...and that safeguards are in place", the RTPI said.
Westminster City Council led a campaign in November 2011, calling on the Government to let local planning authorities set their own fees. "[Councils are] either unable to charge for, or are required to subsidise, a significant proportion of the applications we handle every year", a group of Council's said in a letter to Clark.
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.
A further announcement on the Government's plans is expected in the coming months.
