The free go: a second application without a fee

A refusal is not the end of the fee. Regulation 9 of the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012 lets you make a second application on the same site without paying again, provided a set of conditions is met. Councils call it the free go.

It is worth real money on anything above a householder scheme, and it is lost far more often than it should be, almost always for reasons that were avoidable.

Where the exemption comes from

The 2012 Regulations set the fee for every kind of planning application in England and also set out the exemptions. The resubmission exemption is the one that matters most to applicants, and its logic is straightforward: the council has already been paid to consider a proposal of that character on that site, so a revised attempt within a reasonable period should not attract a second charge.

The regulation is drafted tightly. Each of its conditions has to be satisfied, the council has no discretion to waive one it likes the look of, and a fee demand that follows a failed claim will hold up validation until it is paid.

Fees are indexed annually, so the amount at stake changes. Check the current figures on the council's fee page or the national guidance before assuming what you are saving.

The same-site, same-character conditions

Four elements have to line up.

The applicant must be the same. This is where most claims fail. An architect submits the first application in the homeowner's name and the second in the practice's name, or a couple applies jointly and then one of them applies alone, or a site is bought by a company that applied personally at first. Any of those breaks the chain.

The site must be the same, or part of it. A reduced red line is generally fine. An enlarged one, taking in the neighbouring garden, is not.

The development must be of the same character or description. That phrase is deliberately looser than "identical", because the whole point of a resubmission is to change something. A rear extension resubmitted 500 mm shorter with a hipped roof is the same character. A rear extension resubmitted as a two-storey side extension is arguable. A house extension resubmitted as a new dwelling is not.

And the earlier application must not itself have been fee-exempt. The exemption applies once to any one earlier decision.

The 12-month window

Twelve months, running from the date of the decision notice on the earlier application. Where the earlier application was withdrawn before a decision was issued, the twelve months runs instead from the date that application was made.

That last row catches people. Appealing takes months, and an applicant who appeals, loses and then decides to redesign frequently finds the twelve months has gone. If you are appealing a scheme you might also want to redesign, work out the resubmission deadline before you start.

One free go per permission

The exemption attaches to the earlier decision, not to the site in perpetuity. So the sequence runs like this. Application one, fee paid. Application two, free. Application three, fee paid again.

There is a nuance worth knowing. Because the second application generates its own decision, a third application will in most cases carry a fee, and a fourth will not qualify off the back of the second. Read the current regulation before planning a long sequence of resubmissions, and ask the council's validation team in writing if the position is unclear. They answer that question routinely and their answer is what will be applied.

Illustrative example: a rear and side extension refused in March on design grounds. The householder redesigns, removes the side element, and resubmits in July claiming the exemption. Refused again in September on the remaining amenity ground. A third application in November carries the full householder fee, even though the scheme is now smaller than either of the first two.

Withdrawn applications and the exemption

Withdrawal is an underused tactic. Where a case officer signals that a recommendation of refusal is coming, withdrawing before the decision issues does three useful things: it avoids a refusal on the planning history, it preserves the ability to resubmit, and it starts the twelve months from the date of the original submission rather than from a decision that never happened.

A clean planning history is worth more than people assume. Refusals sit on the register permanently and are read by the next case officer, by an inspector on any later appeal, and by a buyer's solicitor. Two refusals on a modest extension make the third application harder than the facts warrant.

The trade-off is the shorter effective window, since weeks of determination time have already run. And it only works if the withdrawal reaches the council before notice of the decision is given, so act on the officer's signal rather than waiting for the report.

Where the exemption does not help

Two situations look like a free go and are not.

A change of applicant part-way through a project, which is common where land is transferred into a company for funding reasons, breaks the condition even though the scheme and the site are unchanged. If a transfer is planned, either apply in the intended name from the outset or accept the fee.

And a scheme that has moved on in substance, from an extension to a replacement dwelling, or from one dwelling to three, is a different description of development however similar the site. Councils are not being difficult when they refuse the claim; the regulation gives them nothing to work with.

Claiming it on the form

Say so explicitly. The application form and the portal ask about fee exemptions, and the claim needs the earlier application reference and the basis for the exemption.

Practical steps:

1. Quote the earlier reference number and decision date in the fee section of the form.
2. State that the application is made by the same applicant, on the same site, for development of the same character.
3. Attach the earlier decision notice.
4. Note in the covering letter how the scheme has been amended to address each reason for refusal.
5. Chase validation within a week, because an unresolved fee query stops the clock before it starts.

A short Planning Statement that takes each refusal reason in turn and explains the change made in response is the most useful document you can add, and on a scheme where design was the issue a Design and Access Statement does the same job for the drawings.

The exemption removes the fee and nothing else. Consultation runs again, neighbours are notified again, and the eight-week period applies as normal. Treat the resubmission as a fresh case, because that is exactly how the council will treat it.

One last check before you press submit. Confirm that the description of development on the new form matches the character of the earlier one closely enough to support the claim, since validation officers compare the two descriptions first and query anything that reads like a different proposal.

To see which supporting documents your revised scheme is likely to need, enter your postcode on PlanScope.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.