Planning fees: how the schedule is applied and indexed
Planning fees in England come from one national schedule, not from your council. Here is how the bands work, which exemptions exist, and why the figure moves each April.
The planning application fee in England is fixed by national regulations, not by your council. Every authority charges the same amount for the same kind of application, so the only variables are what you are applying for, how much floorspace or land is involved, and which year you submit in. The schedule sits in the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012, as amended, and since April 2025 the figures move each year with inflation. Get the amount wrong and your application is not valid, which costs you weeks.
Where the figures come from
The 2012 fees regulations are the only place the amounts are set. A council cannot discount them, waive them outside the cases the regulations allow, or add a surcharge because your site is awkward. When a validation officer tells you the fee is short, they are applying a national instrument, not a local policy.
What councils do set locally is the charge for discretionary advice. Pre-application fees differ widely between authorities because they sit outside the national schedule, under section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003. The same is true of charges for monitoring a section 106 agreement or for a formal pre-submission validation check where an authority offers one.
Two changes made by the 2023 amendment regulations still shape what you pay. Fees went up, by a larger percentage for major development than for everything else, and annual indexation was built in from 1 April 2025. Before that, fees only moved when a minister laid a fresh instrument, which happened rarely enough that agents could quote figures from memory. That habit is now a liability.
How the schedule bands applications
The schedule works by category first and by quantity second. Identify the category wrongly and no amount of careful measuring will save you.
| Application type | Basis of the charge |
|---|---|
| Householder alterations and extensions | One flat fee, whatever the size of the extension |
| New dwellings | A rate per dwelling, with a lower rate above 50 units and an overall cap |
| Other new buildings | A rate per band of gross floorspace created, commonly measured in 75 m2 steps, with a cap |
| Outline permission | A rate per unit of site area, commonly 0.1 hectare steps, with a cap |
| Change of use | A flat fee, with separate treatment where building work is also proposed |
| Prior approval under the GPDO | A flat fee, lower than the equivalent full application |
| Listed building consent | No fee |
| Certificate of lawfulness of existing use or development | The same as a planning application for that development |
| Certificate of lawfulness of proposed use or development | Half that amount |
Mixed schemes are where people come unstuck. A barn conversion with a new detached garage is a change of use and an erection of a building, and the regulations tell you how those combine rather than letting you pick the lower of the two. If your proposal has two limbs, price both and read the combination rule before you settle on a figure.
Measuring floorspace and site area
Gross floorspace means the external measurement of every storey, including basements, integral garages and plant rooms. Not the net internal area an estate agent would quote. Self-builders regularly under-declare by using internal dimensions, and the difference is often enough to push a scheme into the next fee band.
Site area for an outline application is the area inside the red line on your location plan. That is a drafting decision as much as a measurement one. Pulling a long access strip or a visibility splay into the red line is sometimes unavoidable, and it can quietly add a band or two to the fee. Draw the red line for planning reasons first, then check what it has done to the arithmetic.
For a change of use with no building work, there is nothing to measure, which is why those applications usually sit at the bottom of the schedule. That is also why a council will look hard at whether any physical works are involved.
Exemptions, concessions and the free go
No fee is payable for listed building consent, and none for an application made solely for works to improve access for a disabled person to a dwelling or to a building the public uses. Concessions also exist for parish and town councils and for non-profit-making sports clubs applying for playing field works.
The concession worth knowing is the repeat application, usually called the free go. Where an application has been refused or withdrawn, one further application of the same character, on the same site, by the same applicant, can be made without a fee within 12 months. It is one free go, not an unlimited supply, and the second application has to be the same description of development rather than a different scheme in the same place.
Councils read that test strictly. If your refusal was for a two-storey side extension and you come back with a single-storey rear extension, expect to be asked for the fee. Where you are redesigning after refusal, say in the covering material exactly why you consider the application to be of the same character, and attach the earlier reference. That one paragraph saves a fortnight of email.
Indexation each April and what it does to a budget
Fees now adjust annually in line with the Consumer Prices Index, which means a figure you looked up in November is not the figure you will pay the following May. For a self-builder assembling an application over a year, that is a small number. For a developer holding an outline consent and planning three reserved matters submissions, it compounds.
Two practical consequences follow. Budget the current figure plus a contingency rather than the exact amount, and remember that the fee is payable when you submit, not when the council decides. And if you withdraw an application in March intending to resubmit in April, you will pay the new rate, so either resubmit before the uplift or accept it.
Fees after the decision
The decision notice is not the last invoice. Discharging conditions attracts a charge for each request, at a lower rate for householder permissions, so bundling several conditions into one written request costs less than submitting them one at a time. Work out early which conditions can sensibly be discharged together.
A non-material amendment under section 96A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 carries its own fee, again lower for householder cases, and a section 73 application to vary a condition is charged as an application in its own right. Reserved matters submissions are charged separately from the outline permission, on a basis that depends on whether you submit all matters together or in tranches.
Appeals to the Planning Inspectorate are free. That asymmetry is worth holding in mind. An appeal after a refusal often costs less in cash than a redesigned resubmission, although it takes longer. Where a site straddles a boundary, the fee position for applications made to two councils needs checking with both authorities before you pay either.
Getting the number right before you press submit
- Name the application type in the words the regulations use, not the words you would use to describe the project.
- Measure gross external floorspace, or set the red line and measure the site area.
- Check whether an exemption, a concession or the free go applies, and be ready to justify it.
- Use the fee calculator on the Planning Portal for the figure current on the day you submit, and keep a copy with your file.
- Confirm the authority's payment route, because some take card payments through the Portal and others invoice.
- Check the fee against the council's local validation list, which sits alongside the national requirements and lists the documents that must arrive with your payment.
The fee is the easiest part of validation to get right and one of the most common reasons an application sits in a queue. Everything else on the list, from a Planning Statement to the technical evidence a constrained site needs, takes longer to assemble, so settle the money early and spend your attention on the documents. If you want to see what the council will expect alongside the fee, the full set of report types is a reasonable checklist to work through.
Once your application is validated it appears on the public record, and the statutory planning register will show the fee category the council applied. That is a useful cross-check on neighbouring sites if you are unsure which band a proposal like yours fell into.
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. If you are costing a whole application pack rather than just the fee, PlanScope pricing sets out the free report, the £50 per report option and the Professional tier.
Frequently asked questions
Who sets planning application fees in England?
The amounts are set nationally by the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012, as amended. Councils apply the schedule but cannot vary it. What they do set locally are discretionary charges such as pre-application advice, which fall outside the regulations and differ between authorities.
Can I submit a second application free after a refusal?
Usually yes, once. Where an application was refused or withdrawn, one further application of the same character, on the same site, by the same applicant, can be submitted without a fee within 12 months. Councils test the same character requirement strictly, so quote the earlier reference and explain why the description of development matches.
When do planning fees go up?
Since 1 April 2025 the schedule is indexed annually in line with the Consumer Prices Index, so figures change each April rather than only when a new statutory instrument is laid. Look the amount up on the day you submit rather than relying on a quote from a previous project or an older fee table.
Is there a fee for a planning appeal?
No. The Planning Inspectorate does not charge for lodging an appeal, whether it proceeds by written representations, hearing or inquiry. The cost of an appeal is the professional time spent preparing statements and proofs, plus the delay. That asymmetry sometimes makes an appeal cheaper in cash terms than a redesigned resubmission.
How is floorspace measured for the fee?
Gross external floorspace created, across every storey, including basements, integral garages and plant space. It is not the net internal area used in sales particulars. Under-declaring by using internal dimensions is a common cause of an invalid application, because a modest difference can move a scheme into the next fee band.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.