Planning fee exemptions and reductions worth claiming

Several planning applications carry no fee at all, and one of them applies to a great many householders without their knowing it. Works to adapt a dwelling for a disabled occupant are free. So is a listed building consent application, so is consent to work on a protected tree, and so is a second attempt at an application that was refused within the last twelve months.

The exemptions sit in the national fee regulations rather than in local policy, so they apply the same way everywhere, and an authority cannot decline one because it is short of money. What it can do is invalidate your application if you claim an exemption you are not entitled to, so the claim needs to be made properly.

Where the exemptions come from

The fee schedule and the exemptions both sit in the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012, as amended. Fees have moved to indexed uprating, so figures change, but the structure of the exemptions has been stable for years.

Read the exemption wording rather than a summary, including this one. The conditions attached to the free resubmission in particular are specific, and the commonest reason a claim fails is that one of them was not met.

Works for a disabled person

No fee is payable where the application relates solely to works designed to improve access for a disabled person to or within a building, or to provide facilities designed to secure that person's greater safety, health or comfort, either in an existing dwelling or in a building open to the public.

The word doing the work is "solely". A ground floor extension providing a wet room and a bedroom for a disabled occupant is exempt. The same extension with a new kitchen and utility room attached to it is not, because the application is no longer solely for those works. Split the scheme if you can, or accept the fee.

In practice authorities ask for a short statement, and sometimes a letter from an occupational therapist or the local authority's adaptations team. Provide it with the application rather than waiting to be asked. A covering note that names the occupant's need in general terms, describes which parts of the scheme address it, and confirms that nothing else is proposed, is usually enough.

Listed building and other heritage consents

The trap is a scheme needing both. An extension to a listed dwelling needs listed building consent, which is free, and planning permission, which is not. Submitting only the free application because it looked like the whole job is a recurring and expensive mistake, because works carried out without planning permission are unlawful even where the listed building consent was granted.

Applications following a refusal or withdrawal

The concession people call the free go allows one further application without a fee where the earlier application was refused, or withdrawn before a decision, or determined, and the further application is for development of the same character or description on the same site by the same applicant, made within twelve months.

The conditions that catch people:

• a fee must have been paid on the earlier application
• the applicant must be the same person or body
• the site must be the same, so extending the red line can defeat the claim
• the development must be of the same character or description, so a materially different scheme is a fresh application
• only one such application is free, so a third attempt is chargeable
• the twelve months runs from the date of the earlier decision, or from withdrawal

Where you are resubmitting after a refusal, quote the earlier reference and the decision date in the covering letter and on the form. Where amended plans were submitted during the earlier application and the scheme has moved a long way, expect a question about whether the character is the same, and the position on re-consultation after amended plans is a useful guide to how far a scheme can change before it becomes a different one.

Parish, town and community councils, and other concessions

The schedule contains concessionary treatment for some applicants and some categories of development, including applications relating to playing fields made by non-commercial sports clubs and certain applications made by parish, town and community councils. The detail varies by category, and it is the part of the schedule most often amended.

So do not assume, and do not rely on a figure from a previous project. Ask the authority's validation team to confirm the fee in writing before submitting, quoting the category you think applies. A one-line email a week before submission is worth more than an argument afterwards.

Certificates of lawfulness sit outside all of this and are worth knowing about: an application for a certificate for an existing use or operation attracts a fee equal to the fee for an application for that development, while a certificate for a proposed use attracts half that amount.

Claiming the exemption on the form

1. Tick the fee exemption box on the application form and state which exemption applies.
2. Name the regulations in the covering letter, and the ground relied on, in one sentence.
3. Attach the evidence: the earlier decision notice for a free go, or the statement of need for a disabled adaptation.
4. Where two applications are being made together and only one is exempt, submit them as a pair with a covering note explaining which fee relates to which.
5. Keep a copy of the validation acknowledgement, because it is the record that the exemption was accepted.

Do not leave the fee field blank without explanation. A blank fee with no claim reads as an omission, and the application goes into the invalid pile while someone works out what you meant.

If the exemption is disputed

Deal with it as a validation question, not as a complaint. Write to the validation team, quote the regulation and the specific limb of it you rely on, set out the facts that satisfy each condition, and ask them to confirm in writing.

Most disputes are about the free go, and most turn on whether the scheme is of the same character. That is a judgement, and the useful move is to show the two schemes side by side with a short schedule of what has changed, so the officer can see the answer rather than having to work it out.

If the authority maintains its position, you have a choice between paying and losing the point. Paying under protest, with a note that you consider the exemption applies, keeps the application moving and preserves the argument for a later refund request. Holding out means your application is not valid and the determination clock has not started, which usually costs more than the fee.

A Planning Statement that sets out the application history clearly also helps here, because the dates and references the exemption depends on are already written down.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.

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