New Legislation – relating to the Fees Regulations 2012 (06/12/2023) …

The following 1 new Statutory Instrument (SI) comes into force on 06/12/2023:

New Legislation:

  • December 2023: SI 2023 No. 1197 - The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (pdf) (link).

Notes:

  • The above SI 2023 No. 1197 makes amendments to the following SI:
    - The Fees Regulations 2012.
  • The "Explanatory Note" (link) at the end of the above SI 2023 No. 1197 includes the following information:
    - "These Regulations [SI 2023 No. 1197] amend [the Fees Regulations 2012].".
    - "All existing fees payable to local planning authorities under [the Fees Regulations 2012] are increased in respect of applications made, or deemed to be made, on or after these Regulations [SI 2023 No. 1197] coming into force [06/12/2023]. Fees to be paid in respect of applications, deemed applications, requests or site visits relating to major development are increased by 35%. All other existing fees are increased by 25%.".
    - "A new provision is added to [the Fees Regulations 2012] so that, from 1st April 2025, all fees under those Regulations can be increased annually (new regulation 18A [of the Fees Regulations 2012]). The amount of any increase will be in line with inflation, or if lower, 10%.".
    - "Further amendments are made to [the Fees Regulations 2012] to remove the exemptions from fees for repeat applications and to introduce a fee for an application under Part 19 [of the GPDO 2015]. In addition, provision is made so that where the statutory determination period for a planning application is 8 weeks, a refund of any fee paid may be obtained, under regulation 9A [of the Fees Regulations 2012], if the application is not determined within 16 weeks and an extension of time has not been agreed with the applicant.".
    - "These Regulations [SI 2023 No. 1197] also make related savings provisions, and other minor amendments to [the Fees Regulations 2012].".
  • Note: For information about the "Savings" provisions, please view regulations 18-21 of the above SI 2023 No. 1197.

Consolidated Version of the Legislation:

  • The "Explanatory Memorandum" (link) to the above SI 2023 No. 1197 states the following:
    - "The [Fees Regulations 2012] consolidated 12 statutory instruments dating back to 1989. This is the eighth amending instrument to the [Fees Regulations 2012]. There are no current plans for a consolidation.".
  • The "Fees Regulations 2012 (Consolidated)" document on the Planning Jungle website has been updated to incorporate the above SI 2023 No. 1197, and currently incorporates a total of 11 SIs (i.e. the original SI + 10 amendment SIs).

Other Sources of Information:

  • February 2023: Technical consultation - Stronger performance of local planning authorities supported through an increase in planning fees (link) (pdf print version of HTML webpage).
    - Note: For more information about the above document, please view this post.
  • July 2023: Technical consultation - Stronger performance of local planning authorities supported through an increase in planning fees - government response (link) (pdf print version of HTML webpage).
    - Note: For more information about the above document, please view this post.
  • November 2023: "Explanatory Memorandum" to SI 2023 No. 1197 (pdf) (link).
  • November 2023: Letter from DLUHC to Chief Planning Officers about planning fees increase (pdf) (link).

Updates to the Planning Jungle website: