Costs, Fees and Budgeting – Page 12

Utility connection costs in a development budget

Connection charges sit outside the planning fee regime and cannot be read off a published rate. Budget estimates, requisition routes and diversions decide the number.

The cost of a contaminated land investigation programme

The expensive end of contaminated land work is disposal. How to budget each stage of the four part condition, and what to specify so quotes are comparable.

Budgeting a daylight and sunlight evidence base

Daylight and sunlight costs are driven by the number of neighbouring windows and the number of times the massing changes. A stage by stage way to budget the evidence base.

Fee refunds where a council fails to determine in time

Regulation 9A of the 2012 fee regulations refunds the planning fee after 26 weeks without a decision. Signing an extension of time gives that entitlement away.

The cost of putting retrospective development right

The fee for a retrospective application is the ordinary one, but the concessions fall away and a lost levy exemption can cost more than everything else combined.

How costs awards at appeal are assessed and paid

Costs at appeal follow unreasonable behaviour rather than the outcome. The decision sets entitlement only, and the sum is then agreed between the parties or assessed by the court.

The self-build CIL exemption and the forms to file

The self-build exemption is worth tens of thousands and is lost more often than any other relief, almost always because a form went in late or in the wrong order.

Working out CIL liability from a charging schedule

The levy is arithmetic with four checkable inputs: the rate, the chargeable area, the deduction for existing lawful floorspace and the index figures. Here is how each one works.

Budgeting biodiversity net gain: units, credits and monitoring

Biodiversity net gain is four commitments, not one: the metric work, the units themselves, the legal mechanism and thirty years of management. Here is how to budget each line.

Budgeting an ecology evidence base across a season

Ecology costs branch from the preliminary appraisal. Price the decision tree, book the season early, and treat a missed survey window as the real expense.

What a non-material amendment costs and covers

Section 96A gives a 28 day decision on a change the council accepts is not material. Here is what the fee covers, what gets refused, and when section 73 is the right route.

Building Regulations fees against planning fees

Planning permission and Building Regulations approval are separate approvals with separate fees. What each buys, where the regimes conflict, and the certificate a buyer will ask for.

How planning costs recur when a scheme is phased

Each phase of a major scheme brings its own fees, its own levy notices and its own ageing surveys. The recurring costs are predictable, and most of them can be negotiated down at outline stage.

Utility connection budgets for a single new dwelling

Connection costs depend on distance to the network and whether it needs reinforcing. A practical order of work for a self-build budget that holds.

The cost of failing validation and resubmitting

The clock does not start until an application is valid. A look at what validation checks, what a rejected submission really costs and how to get it right first time.

Budgeting a listed building application

Consent is free; the evidence is not. A practical breakdown of what an owner should budget for drawings, heritage statements, recording conditions and surveys.

Budgeting an energy statement and its calculations

An energy statement is priced by the modelling behind it. Here is what drives the fee, which items local policy adds, and how to stop the design team paying for re-runs.

Section 278 and section 38 costs on a small scheme

Section 278 and section 38 agreements carry fees, bonds and commuted sums well beyond the cost of the works. Here is how to budget them on a scheme of a few plots.

Budgeting archaeology from desk study to trenching

Archaeological work is staged so that spend is proportionate to what is there. The cost drivers at each stage, why post-excavation is the item most often missed, and how the wet months change the price.

Costing a BS 5837 arboricultural package stage by stage

BS 5837:2012 describes a sequence of five documents, not one tree report. What drives the fee at each stage, why supervision conditions matter, and the commissioning order that avoids repeat work.

Budgeting a bat survey across two survey seasons

What actually drives bat survey costs, why the season limits your options, and how to build a two year programme covering surveys, licensing and monitoring.

Planning fee refunds when a council misses the deadline

How the planning guarantee refund works, why agreeing an extension of time displaces it, and when an appeal against non-determination is the better move.

Planning fees for a householder extension: what you pay

What the householder application fee covers, when no fee is payable, how the planning guarantee refund works, and the costs that sit outside the fee.