A worked planning fee calculation for a mixed submission

A planning fee calculation for a mixed submission is a build-up rather than a single lookup. You work out which fee category each part of the proposal falls into, apply the current rate to the right unit for that category, add the parts together, then check whether any reduction or exemption applies before you pay. Get the build-up wrong and the application sits in the validation queue while the council asks for the balance, which on a scheme with a survey season to hit can cost you more than the fee itself.

The rates themselves are set nationally, in the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012 as amended. Councils cannot discount them and cannot charge more. What they can do is refuse to validate until the correct amount has been received.

Where the current schedule lives and why the figures move

Fee figures change often enough that quoting them in an article would be a disservice. The Regulations were amended in December 2023 to raise fees, and the amendments introduced annual indexation each April linked to inflation, so the number you used on a project last spring may already be out of date.

Two places carry the current position. The Regulations themselves on legislation.gov.uk give the categories and the statutory wording, and the Planning Portal fee calculator applies them to a described proposal. Use the calculator for the arithmetic and the Regulations when you need to argue about which category something falls in, because the calculator gives you a figure and not a reason.

Councils also publish their own fee pages, often with the pre-application charges alongside. Those local pages are the ones officers work from day to day, so a printed copy of the council's page with your build-up attached is a sensible thing to keep in the file.

The unit each category is charged on

The categories matter more than the rates, because the unit differs between them and that is where build-ups go wrong.

Two traps repeat. Gross floorspace means created floorspace measured externally, not the net lettable area your agent quotes. And site area for an outline application means the red line area, so a large paddock drawn inside the application boundary to show access will push you up the bands even if nothing is proposed on it.

An illustrative fee build-up for a mixed scheme

Take a scheme that is mixed in the real sense: full permission for six houses on part of a yard, conversion of a retained building to a small workshop with new floorspace added at the back, and a change of use of the remaining yard to open storage. This example is illustrative, and the rates are deliberately left blank because you should fill them from the current schedule on the day you submit.

1. Split the description of development into its fee elements and write each one down as the council will read it, not as your client describes it.
2. For the six houses, count dwellings. Six units at the per-dwelling rate for the first band.
3. For the workshop, measure only the new floorspace created, then divide by 75 and round up to a whole unit, because part units count as whole ones.
4. For the open storage, decide whether it is a change of use with no building works, which is a flat fee, or whether the hardstanding and fencing make it an operational development element as well.
5. Total the elements, then check the combination rules in the Regulations before you accept the sum, because the Regulations set out how categories interact and the calculator applies those rules for you.
6. Send the build-up to the council with your validation query and ask for the figure to be confirmed in writing.

That last step is the one people skip. A short email listing your elements, your units and your total takes ten minutes and converts a fee dispute into a fee confirmation. If the council disagrees, you find out before the clock starts rather than three weeks in.

Alternative schemes and where reductions apply

The Regulations contain a reduction for alternative proposals: where an applicant submits applications for different schemes on the same site on the same day, the full fee is not payable on every one. The mechanics are set out in the Regulations, and the Planning Portal calculator applies them, so use both rather than assuming a percentage.

This only helps if the applications really are alternatives for the same site, submitted together, by the same applicant. Two applications a fortnight apart are two applications. So if you are testing a five-house layout against a four-house layout with a larger garden, submit them on the same day or accept that you will pay twice.

The other reduction people ask about is the further application that follows a refusal or a withdrawal, sometimes called the free go. It has always been narrower than the nickname suggests, and it has been amended, so treat it as something to verify in the current Regulations rather than a right. Where it does apply it is available once, for substantially the same development on the same site by the same applicant, within a set period.

Prior approvals, certificates and the things people forget to budget

A mixed submission often arrives with satellite applications that carry their own fees. Prior approval under the General Permitted Development Order 2015 is charged as a flat fee that varies by class, so a Class Q barn conversion and a Class MA commercial to residential conversion are not the same figure. Discharge of conditions carries a fee per request, which is why bundling conditions into one submission costs less than drip feeding them.

A lawful development certificate for an existing use is charged at the level of the equivalent planning application, which surprises people who assume a certificate is a small administrative matter. Listed building consent carries no fee, but the works it covers usually need permission that does.

And the levy is not a fee. Community Infrastructure Levy liability and any obligation payments sit outside the fee schedule entirely, which is worth setting out for a client early so the planning budget does not look like it has doubled later. The relationship between the two is covered in our note on viability appraisal inputs.

Getting the figure agreed before the clock starts

Validation is the point of failure. The council checks the fee, the forms, the certificates and the local list, and an underpayment stops the process without generating a decision you can appeal. The determination period only starts once the application is valid.

Build the fee into the submission checklist alongside the documents. For a six-house mixed scheme you are likely to be preparing a Planning Statement, a design and access statement, a biodiversity net gain assessment and a drainage position, and the fee build-up belongs on the same list as the drainage evidence for a minor residential scheme. Treat it as a document to be checked, not a payment to be made at the end.

One honest caveat. Officers do occasionally disagree with each other about how a mixed description splits into categories, particularly where a change of use sits alongside building works. When that happens, the argument is won by pointing at the category wording in the Regulations, not by pointing at the calculator output.

PlanScope drafts the supporting documents for a mixed submission and flags where site facts are missing, and PlanScope pricing is one free report, £50 per report or £150 a month for unlimited reports on the Professional tier. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. This is general guidance rather than legal advice, so check the fee position with your local planning authority before you submit.