Planning fees and their thresholds on a growing scheme

Planning application fee thresholds change the moment a scheme grows, and they change in three different ways: by the number of dwellings, by site area, and by the type of application you end up making. The fees are set nationally by the Town and Country Planning fee regulations for England, they are indexed annually, and they are not negotiable with the authority. What is negotiable, and unpredictable, is the pre-application charge, because that is set by each council. Working out the total early matters more on a small scheme than on a large one, since the fee is a bigger share of a self-builder's budget.

Where the fee comes from and why figures go stale

The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012, as amended, set every application fee. A substantial uplift was applied in December 2023, and annual indexation was introduced from April 2025, which means the figures move each year.

That is the reason this article gives you the structure and not the numbers. Any fee figure written down in a guide is wrong within a year, and submitting the wrong amount means the application is not validated. Take the figure from the current schedule immediately before you submit.

Per dwelling, per hectare, and per square metre

Three different bases apply, depending on what you are applying for.

Two of these deserve attention on a growing scheme. The per dwelling basis for full applications means the fee scales linearly through the small and medium range, so a jump from four units to six is simply proportionate. Above a stated number of dwellings the structure changes to a base amount plus a smaller sum for each additional unit, with an overall maximum.

The outline route is charged on site area rather than on units, which produces a different answer. A promoter taking a 1.2 hectare site through outline pays on the area regardless of whether the indicative layout shows 25 homes or 40. That can make outline the lower cost first step on a low density scheme and the more expensive one on a dense scheme, and it is worth calculating both before choosing the route. The article on permission in principle and the small site limit covers a third route with its own charging basis.

Where the caps apply

The regulations set maximum fees for several categories, including full applications for dwellings and for non-residential floorspace, and for outline applications by area. The effect is that very large schemes reach a ceiling, so the fee per unit falls as the scheme grows.

For a self-builder or a small developer the caps are academic. What matters is the opposite end: the minimum charges and the flat fees, which are where a small scheme pays proportionately more. A single dwelling on a plot pays the same per dwelling rate as the tenth house in a scheme of ten.

The fees that arrive after permission

Applicants budget for the application fee and forget the rest. On a small residential scheme the later charges commonly include a fee for each request to discharge conditions, a fee for a section 73 application to vary a condition, a lower fee for a section 96A non-material amendment, and a fee for any lawful development certificate.

Two points are worth knowing. A request to discharge conditions is charged per request rather than per condition, so grouping conditions into one submission where the information is ready saves money, and splitting them because one report is late costs you again. And a lawful development certificate for existing development is charged at the same rate as an application for that development would be, while one for proposed development is charged at half.

Where the scheme involves two dwellings rather than one, several thresholds shift at once, and the article on two dwellings on one plot sets out what changes beyond the fee.

The free further application

The regulations have long allowed one further application of the same character on the same site, by the same applicant, without a fee, within a period following the refusal or withdrawal of an earlier fee paid application. It was commonly called the free go.

That provision has been narrowed by amendments to the fee regulations, and the conditions attached to it are strict even where it remains available: the same applicant, the same site, development of the same character or description, only one such application, and within the stated period. Do not plan a resubmission strategy around it. Check the current regulations and the authority's own fee guidance, and if in doubt pay and reclaim rather than submit unpaid and lose the validation date.

Pre-application charging is a local matter

There is no national pre-application fee. Authorities charge under their general discretionary powers, and the bands, the inclusions and the response times differ widely. Typical structures use tiers by scheme size, with separate prices for written advice, a meeting, and a follow up. Some authorities add VAT, some publish a service standard with a response time, and some offer a discount where the application follows within a stated period.

For anything above a handful of units, a planning performance agreement is the alternative. It sets out a programme, the officer resource committed and the fee, and it is worth considering where the scheme has real complexity and you need certainty about timescales more than you need a low charge.

An illustrative example of how the total builds on a five unit scheme: written pre-application advice at the authority's mid band, a full application fee charged per dwelling, two separate discharge of conditions requests because the drainage detail arrived late, and a section 96A amendment for a revised window arrangement. The application fee was the largest single item and it was under half the total paid to the council.

What else changes as the unit count rises

Fees are the visible cost of growth. The evidence base is the real one.

At ten dwellings the scheme becomes major development, which changes the determination period to 13 weeks, brings affordable housing policy into play in most areas, and triggers screening questions for environmental impact assessment. At 50 dwellings, expectations around community involvement and transport assessment usually apply, and a statement of community involvement becomes part of the pack. Site area thresholds work in parallel, with half a hectare relevant to the major definition and one hectare relevant to flood risk assessment.

Those are the thresholds PlanScope uses to flag which reports a scheme is likely to need. The authority's own validation list and national policy thresholds take precedence over any tool, so treat the flag as a prompt to check rather than as the answer.

Self-builders have two further items to get right, both procedural rather than fee related: the levy exemption and the biodiversity gain position, covered in the article on self-build exemptions for the levy and biodiversity net gain. Missing the exemption paperwork before starting work is an expensive mistake and a common one.

Checking the schedule before you submit

1. Download the current fee schedule from the authority's website or the national guidance on the day you submit.
2. Confirm the application type, since the basis differs between full, outline, reserved matters and prior approval.
3. Count the units or measure the area on the same basis the regulations use.
4. Add the pre-application charge, any discharge of conditions fees you can foresee, and the levy position.
5. Keep the receipt and the calculation in the file, because fee disputes at validation are usually arithmetic rather than principle.

You can see PlanScope pricing for the drafting side of that budget, which is separate from the council's fees.

This is general guidance rather than 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.