Planning fees are set for significant changes from 8 December 2026 as the Government moves towards a new national fee structure designed to bring planning application charges closer to the cost of processing applications.
The changes follow the Government’s review of planning fees and proposals for a new National Default Fee Schedule. The Government has not applied a flat percentage increase across the board. Instead, each category of application has been re-priced to reach roughly 90 per cent of what it actually costs a council to process that particular type of application. This is because some fees were further below cost than others, the increases vary considerably: a householder application could rise by about 8%, while a section 73 application (variation) on major development could rise by just over 50%.
The Government says the reforms are intended to help address the substantial funding gap facing planning departments and improve capacity, service standards and decision-making times. The new structure will mean increases across a number of application categories, although the size of the increase will vary considerably depending on the type and scale of development. In addition to this there is to be a new flat charge for some prior approval applications (currently free) of £310. Permission in principle is to move to a flat rate fee of £825 regardless of the site size (as opposed to a sum per 0.1ha of site area currently).
The exemptions and concessions should remain. There is still to be no change to the exemption for works to adapt a dwelling for a disabled person, the 50% parish and community council concession, or the “same day, same site” rule that avoids paying twice where a prior approval and a planning application are submitted together. Listed building consent remains free of charge. Conservation area consent does not appear in the fee schedule at all, because it was abolished in England in October 2013.
There are also changes to the Planning Portal’s own administration charges. The Portal currently operates a three-band system for online applications: Band 0, where there is no Portal charge; Band 1, charged at £99 including VAT; and Band 2, charged at £149 including VAT. The majority of applications are expected to fall into either the free Band 0 or Band 1 category. We have, as a company, looked at other submission portals but at the moment don’t feel they are right for us so we will, where possible and pragmatic, look to email submissions in which are simple in nature to remove the planning portal charges.
For applicants, the combined effect is that the cost of submitting a planning application may depend not only on the statutory planning fee payable to the local planning authority, but also on the applicable Planning Portal administration charge. Whilst the proposals are, at the time of writing, still a draft – anyone preparing an application ahead of 8 December 2026 will need check the applicable fee shortly before submission and allow for the new charges when budgeting for a project. Planning Portal guidance also makes clear that applications submitted after a fee change takes effect will be calculated using the new fee values.