Planning fee exemptions, concessions and the free go

A planning fee exemption is not something a council can grant as a favour. Either the Fees for Applications Regulations 2012 say no fee is payable, or the fee is payable in full, and an application submitted without a fee that does not qualify is simply invalid. So the useful skill is recognising which concession applies and claiming it properly on the form.

There are fewer of them than most people expect, and three of the four that matter have conditions attached that are easy to fall outside.

The concessions that exist

The Regulations contain a short list, and everything else is a myth.

Each is drafted narrowly. Read the wording rather than the summary, because the wording is what a validation officer applies.

Works for a disabled person

No fee is payable where the application relates to works to a dwellinghouse for the purpose of providing a means of access for a disabled person, or providing facilities designed to secure the greater health, safety, comfort or convenience of a disabled person who lives or works there. There is a parallel provision for buildings to which the public has access.

Four points decide these claims in practice.

The works have to be for that purpose. A ground floor extension containing an accessible bedroom and wet room for a disabled occupant qualifies. The same extension containing a playroom does not, and a scheme that mixes both will be assessed on what the drawings actually show.

The person has to be resident or employed at the property, or to be a user of a building the public can access. A speculative adaptation for a future occupant does not qualify.

The council has to be satisfied, which means it can ask for evidence. A short letter from an occupational therapist, a copy of a disabled facilities grant assessment, or a statement describing the need and how the design answers it is normally enough. Supply it with the application rather than waiting to be asked.

And the concession applies to the fee only. Everything else about the application proceeds normally, including publicity and the determination period.

The companion piece on planning fee exemptions for disabled adaptations and the free go goes further into the evidence that satisfies a validation team.

The free resubmission within twelve months

This is the concession most often used and most often lost on a technicality. One further application may be made without a fee within 12 months, where the earlier application was refused, withdrawn before a decision, or not determined within the statutory period, and where a fee was paid on it.

Five conditions have to hold at the same time.

1. The further application is for development of the same character or description as the earlier one.
2. It relates to the same site. A red line that has moved to take in a strip of a neighbour's garden is a different site.
3. It is made by or on behalf of the same applicant.
4. It is submitted within 12 months of the refusal, the withdrawal or the expiry of the period, depending on which route applies.
5. The earlier application was not itself a free resubmission, because the concession is available once.

The phrase that generates argument is "the same character or description". A dormer reduced in width is plainly the same character. A dormer replaced by a hip to gable conversion with rooflights probably is not, and an officer may take the view that the second scheme is a different proposal. Where there is doubt, ask the validation team in writing before submitting, and keep the reply.

Two further traps. A withdrawal that happens after the council has issued its decision is not a withdrawal for these purposes. And if the earlier application was never validated, no fee was properly paid on it and there is nothing to carry forward.

Alternative applications submitted together

Where the same applicant submits applications for true alternatives for the same site on the same day, the Regulations reduce the total payable rather than charging the full amount for each.

This is worth using where you want the council to choose between two schemes, for example a three storey and a four storey version of the same building, or two access arrangements. It does not work where the two applications are for different parts of a site or for sequential phases, because those are not alternatives.

The arithmetic is set out in the Regulations and councils apply it with some variation, so confirm the figure with the validation team before paying. Submit the applications together with a covering note saying explicitly that they are alternatives for the purposes of the concession, and cross-reference each to the other.

Applications that never carry a fee

Separate from the concessions, several application types carry no fee at all because the Regulations never imposed one.

Listed building consent is free, which surprises owners who assume that the most heavily regulated application is the most expensive one. Consent for works to a tree protected by a Tree Preservation Order is free, as is the six week notice for works to a tree in a conservation area. Applications relating to conditions imposed on a permission for works to a listed building follow the listed building position.

That creates an odd combination on a listed house extension: no fee for the listed building consent, a fee for the planning permission, and both applications usually submitted together.

Exemptions people assume exist and do not

Five beliefs come up repeatedly and none of them is correct.

There is no charity exemption, so a village hall or a church pays the same as anyone else, although a parish or town council has its own concession.

There is no hardship or low income exemption for householders.

There is no discount because the council took too long or handled the previous application badly. The remedy there is a complaint, not a fee reduction.

A lawful development certificate for proposed works does not cost less than applying for permission. It is charged at the rate the application would have attracted, which is worth knowing before choosing that route.

And discharging conditions is charged per request rather than per condition, so submitting conditions one at a time multiplies the cost. Group them, and bear in mind the wider cost of a pre-commencement condition you cannot discharge.

Claiming a concession on the form

The application form has a declaration section where the fee position is stated, and the claim has to be made there rather than in a covering email.

Four habits avoid a rejected claim. Tick the right box and name the concession you are relying on in the space provided. Quote the earlier application reference number in full where you are claiming a resubmission, including the year prefix, because validation teams search on it. Attach the supporting evidence for a disabled person claim at the point of submission. And keep the submission receipt, since a dispute about whether a fee was payable is resolved by what was submitted and when.

If the council disagrees, ask which provision of the Regulations it says applies and reply to that. Validation officers apply a lot of applications a week and they do occasionally miss a concession, particularly on alternatives submitted together. A polite reference to the relevant regulation usually settles it within a day or two.

One closing caution. The concessions deal with the council's fee and nothing else. Professional fees, survey costs, the Planning Portal's own service charge where it applies, and any charge for pre-application advice all sit outside the Regulations and are payable regardless.

See PlanScope pricing for the cost of drafting the supporting documents, and browse the report types to work out what your application needs.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the current Regulations and the position with your local planning authority 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.