Costs, Fees and Budgeting
What planning applications, reports, surveys and appeals cost, with published fee schedules.
Latest in Costs, Fees and Budgeting
353 articlesPhasing fees across outline and reserved matters
A two-stage consent means a fee at outline and a further fee for each reserved matters submission. How the arithmetic works and when a full application costs less.
What a planning budget covers and what belongs in build cost
The planning budget is cash spent before you own a consent. Allocating surveys, fees and condition compliance correctly keeps the self-build mortgage drawdown and the planning spend apart.
Budgeting for the local validation checklist
Local validation requirements drive the cost of an application pack, not the national list. Price each triggered item as a named line before quoting, and challenge the items that cannot be material.
Heritage budgeting: desk assessment against intrusive recording
Heritage spend splits between desk-based analysis and intrusive recording or evaluation. The recording level and the post-excavation assumption decide what the client actually pays.
Budgeting a transport evidence base by scheme size
The transport evidence base scales in steps. Work out which document the authority requires before commissioning surveys, and order the low cost work so it de-risks the expensive work.
Budgeting an ecology package across the survey seasons
Ecology cost is driven by which month you start, not by day rates. Commission the appraisal in autumn, book spring survey slots, and price a second season as a named line.
What an appeal actually costs beyond the Inspectorate
No fee is payable to lodge an appeal in England, so the budget is professional time, expert evidence and months of delay. The step from written representations to an inquiry is not incremental.
How a community infrastructure levy charging schedule works
Levy liability is arithmetic rather than negotiation. The money is won or lost on the floorspace measurement, the in-use building offset and the order in which the forms are submitted.
Resubmission fee exemptions and whether one applies to you
The repeat application fee exemption in the 2012 Fees Regulations was removed for applications made on or after 6 December 2023. Other exemptions survive, including the Article 4 one, and they are routinely missed.
How full application fees are calculated by units and area
Dwellings are charged per unit, other buildings on floorspace created, outline applications on site area. Mixed schemes add the categories together rather than merging them.
Costing a stopping up order for a highway or footpath
Public rights do not lapse through disuse and planning permission does not override them. This covers the section 247 and 257 routes, what objectors actually argue about, and how to keep the order off the critical path.
Costing an affordable housing review mechanism
Early and late stage review mechanisms are decided by their definitions, not their headline percentages. This covers the inputs that move the answer, who pays for the review and the caps to secure before signing.
Costing an employment land assessment for an allocated site
On an allocated employment site the fee sits in evidence gathering, not analysis. This covers the marketing records councils expect, the suitability tests that decide it, and how to sequence the work.
Costing an odour assessment for a kitchen or waste use
The fee for an odour assessment depends on whether the council accepts a qualitative risk based appraisal or expects dispersion modelling. Here is what sits behind each, and how to scope the work before you commission it.
Costing a telecommunications compliance declaration for a mast
An ICNIRP declaration is produced by the operator's own radio engineers and closes the health issue. Siting and appearance are the only matters the council can decide on.
Costing an equalities impact assessment for a public applicant
The public sector equality duty is continuing, so an equalities impact assessment has to be revisited at every material change. Budgeting for one document is the common mistake.
Costing a health impact assessment where policy requires one
A rapid health impact assessment and a full one differ by an order of magnitude in cost. Agreeing the scope with the public health team before anyone is appointed controls the budget.
Costing a pre-redevelopment audit for reclaimed materials
A pre-redevelopment audit prices on access rather than floor area. Record drawings, an existing asbestos survey and an empty building cut the cost sharply.
Costing an asbestos refurbishment and demolition survey
Access and making good drive the cost of a refurbishment and demolition survey, not the sample count. It also sits ahead of every other intrusive appointment on the programme.
Costing an overheating risk assessment under TM59
The modelling is a day or two of work. Settling the inputs and re-running after each facade change is where a TM59 fee actually goes.
Budgeting ground investigation across two phases
Drilling is rarely the biggest item. Gas monitoring visits spread over months and the laboratory schedule set both the cost and the programme of a phase 2 investigation.
Costing a BREEAM pre-assessment and the certification route
Only the pre-assessment is needed at planning stage. Registration, design stage and post-construction certification are charged separately, and construction evidence gathering is the cost most projects miss.
What verified views cost on a tall building scheme
Rendering a photomontage is quick. Surveying the camera position, registering the model to surveyed targets and documenting the chain is what makes a view verified, and what sets the fee.
What a wind microclimate assessment really costs
The cost of wind microclimate work is set by how many configurations go through the tunnel. Scoping the measurement points, the mitigation variant and the cumulative schemes decides the fee before anyone is appointed.
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