Planning fee hike justified by green credentials and Government rules says Central Bedfordshire Council

Central Beds Council's headquarters in Chicksands.

A sharp rise in planning application charges is justified by Central Bedfordshire Council’s green credentials and government rules, according to the local authority.

The cost of a full application for a household development was £206 before June this year. But the national planning fee increased by around 25 per cent to £258 earlier this month, having not risen for a number of years.

Central Bedfordshire Council applies an extra charge of £100 for dealing with paper applications, despite the national planning fee being supposed to cover the cost of the application process.

The only electronic means it accepts for submitting applications is through a private company, which charges a £64 fee, according to a local resident, who queried how CBC justifies the £100 administration fee for a five- to ten-minute scanning of plans.

CBC said in a statement: “The (paper application) charge is calculated on the basis of the approximate officer time to undertake the process, which wouldn’t be required if an application is submitted electronically through our planning portal.

“This includes manually date stamping each drawing and page, manually entering the submission on to our system, scanning and indexing. That process takes about two hours for each minor development and considerably more time for larger scale applications.

“While we’ve welcomed the recent national increase in planning application fees, these still don’t fully cover the cost for the council of processing such an application.

“This was acknowledged by the government in its response to the consultation on the increase in planning fees.”

Asked whether this figure aims to deter such applications and persuade applicants to use the for-profit commercial company advertised on its website as the lesser of the two costs, CBC replied: “Receiving applications electronically through the planning portal is by far the quickest way for the council to register each one and helps speed up the whole process.

“The government encourages the electronic submission of planning applications and we no longer create paper copy files. Once any paper copies are scanned, they’re discarded for recycling.

“That represents a waste of paper and doesn’t meet with CBC’s sustainability objectives. The planning portal was set up originally as a free way to submit applications electronically.

“The fact that the government has allowed it to be privatised allowing for customers to be charged isn’t a matter within the council’s control. The Local Government Act 2003 allows discretionary charging. The council’s schedule of these fees is set out on our website.”

Extra fees can be applied for pre-application advice or for issues, such as amendments to projects later in the planning process.