Planning department and pre-application enquiry fees

[walkermark 10]

Single householders and small developers are bearing the burden of planning department pre-application enquiry fees

 

Those requiring help with planning applications at the Planning Department at Sheffield City Council must now go through a pre-application enquiry scheme, for which there are a set of charges. These include £85 for enquiries about whether planning approval is required or about house extensions (other), or £250 for small scale minor developments (minor). In comparison enquiries about large major applications cost 700 to 2360 pounds.

 

Out of interest I requested through a FOI how much they were collecting. The response is below. They are collecting most revenue from those wishing to make simple changes such as build extensions or wishing to build a single or small numbers of houses. These add up considerably, see below. Few enquiries are made by large developers, although presumably these have the most financial resources.

 

There is a shortage of new housing in Sheffield. These charges are a further deterrent to those wishing to build and add to Sheffield's housing stock. Small developers are those most being affected; although those wishing to develop small and 'windfall' sites have been identified as of importance in adding to the cities housing stock.*

 

I thought this might be of interest.

 

 

Mark Walker, Sheffield

 

Year Apr-Mar 2017-2018

 

No appl 723

Fees £177,435.00

Large Major 18

Small major 96

Minor (large scale) 45

Minor 158

Other 406

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

Still, advice pre-application can save the potential applicant a lot of time and money later on.

[walkermark 10]

Fee were only introduced in 2015. Many other local authorities do not charge a fee. There are other sources of advice, not mentioned on the council website. Planning decisions can be emotive; to some it may appear that planning is more likely to be granted when a fee is paid.

[max 13]

Fee were only introduced in 2015. Many other local authorities do not charge a fee. There are other sources of advice, not mentioned on the council website. Planning decisions can be emotive; to some it may appear that planning is more likely to be granted when a fee is paid.

 

Isn't that the whole point? Pay a fee to ensure that with the assistance of planning officers an application won't fail at the first hurdle. Thus, after tweaking, an application is more likely to succeed.

 

PS Planning decisions are never emotive, they always follow planning law, rules and regulations.