Planning fee bands for dwellings, and how they are worked out

Planning fee bands for dwellings work on a per-unit basis up to a threshold, then switch to a base amount plus an incremental rate per extra dwelling, with an overall cap for the largest schemes. That single sentence explains most of what self-builders and small developers need, and it explains why a nine unit scheme and an eleven unit scheme differ by a predictable amount rather than a mysterious one.

The figures themselves are set by the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012 as amended, and they are indexed, so the number you want is on the current fee schedule rather than in an article. What follows is the structure, which changes far less often than the amounts.

How the residential fee is calculated

For an application for full planning permission to erect dwellinghouses, the fee is driven by one number: how many dwellings the application would create. Not the net gain, and not the number of bedrooms. If the scheme demolishes two houses and builds six, the fee category counts the six.

The schedule then applies a flat amount for each dwelling up to a stated number of units. Above that number the calculation changes shape, and above a second threshold the fee stops rising. Three practical consequences follow. Fees scale linearly for the small schemes most self-builders deal with. The step at the first threshold is worth knowing before you fix the unit count. And for a large scheme the fee becomes a rounding error against the evidence base.

Conversions are a different matter. Where new dwellings are created by changing the use of an existing building rather than by erection, a different fee category can apply, and the two do not always produce the same answer. Establish which category your application falls into before you budget, because a barn conversion and a new dwelling on the same plot are not charged alike.

The banding structure and the incremental rate

Read the schedule as three zones rather than a table of prices.

1. Below the first threshold, a fixed amount for each dwelling proposed.
2. Above it, a base amount covering the units up to that threshold, plus a smaller incremental amount for every additional dwelling.
3. Above the upper threshold, a maximum fee that does not increase however many dwellings are added.

The incremental rate above the first threshold is lower than the per-unit rate below it. That is deliberate, and it means the marginal cost of an extra unit falls as the scheme grows. It also means that on schemes near the threshold the fee jump is modest, so fee avoidance is a poor reason to reduce a unit count when the planning arguments point the other way.

Outline applications charged on site area

An outline application for residential development is charged on the area of the site rather than on the number of dwellings, in bands of a tenth of a hectare, with a base amount and an incremental rate above a stated site area and a cap at the top.

Measure the site area as the red line area on the location plan, which includes access arrangements, visibility splays within your control and any land needed for drainage or landscaping. Applicants routinely draw a generous red line for policy reasons and then discover that the fee followed it. Where land is included solely to demonstrate ownership or a right of access, consider whether a blue line and a certificate would do the same job.

Hybrid applications, part detailed and part outline, need the fee working out for each element against the regulation that governs mixed cases. Do not assume the two simply add together, and do not assume the larger swallows the smaller.

The cap, reserved matters and repeat applications

Three provisions in the Regulations change the answer more often than the bands do.

The maximum fee applies to the largest schemes and is the reason a 400 unit application and a 900 unit application can cost the same to submit. Where a scheme is phased, whether to submit one capped application or several smaller ones is a real decision with a fee consequence attached.

Reserved matters submissions following an outline permission are charged either as a full fee for the development being approved or as a flat amount where the full fee has already been paid, depending on the circumstances set out in the Regulations. Submitting reserved matters in tranches can mean paying more than once, so read the provision before splitting them.

Then there is the free repeat application. Where an application of the same character and description is submitted for the same site within a set period after the earlier one was refused, withdrawn or granted, no fee is payable, and the concession can only be used once. It is one of the most useful provisions in the Regulations and one of the most often missed, particularly by applicants who redesign after a refusal and pay again without asking.

Where the calculation goes wrong in practice

Five patterns account for most fee disputes at validation.

Counting units wrongly is the commonest. A scheme with a self-contained annexe, a flat over a garage or a subdivided unit may create more dwellings than the drawings appear to show. The council counts self-contained accommodation.

Mixed-use schemes come second. A ground floor commercial unit under flats brings a second fee category into play, and the interaction is set by regulation rather than by arithmetic you can guess.

Site area errors come third, usually because the red line was drawn to include a whole field when only part of it is needed.

Fourth is the assumption that a resubmission is free when the earlier application was not of the same character, for example because the unit count changed or the description was materially different.

Fifth is forgetting that some applications carry no fee at all, including certain works to improve access for disabled people, while others carry a fee equal to what would have been payable had permission been sought in advance. The cost consequences of the latter are set out in more detail in the note on the cost of retrospective development.

Checking the figure before you submit

Work it out twice, from two directions. Calculate it yourself from the schedule, then check it against the fee calculator on the Planning Portal using the same description of development you intend to use on the form. Where the two disagree, the description is usually the reason, and it is better to find that out before submission than at validation.

Send the fee with the application rather than waiting to be invoiced. An application is not valid until the correct fee is received, and the determination period runs from validity, not from submission. On a scheme where the 26 week refund provision might matter, that distinction is worth real money, and how it works is covered in the note on fee refunds for non-determination.

One more budgeting point. The application fee is the smallest line in most residential schemes. Pre-application charges, technical reports, the building regulations application and utility connections all cost multiples of it, and the connection element in particular is often left out of early appraisals, as set out in the note on utility connection costs. Budget the evidence base first and the fee last.

If you want the document list rather than the fee, see PlanScope pricing for one free report, £50 per report, or Professional for unlimited reports.

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