National planning fee increase

Following debates in parliament, the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 have been approved and made on 8 November.

The regulations do the following:

• Increase planning application fees by 35% for applications for major development and 25% for all other applications
• Introduce an annual indexation of planning applications fees, capped at 10%, from 1 April 2025
• Remove the fee exemption for repeat applications (the ‘free go’). An applicant will still be able to benefit from a 'free go' if their application was withdrawn or refused in the preceding 12 months, subject to all other conditions for the 'free go' being met
• Reduce the 'planning guarantee' for non-major planning applications from 26 to 16 weeks
• Introduce a new 'prior approval' fee of £120 for applications for prior approval for development by the Crown on closed defence sites

The new fees came into force from 6 December 2023.