Householder planning application fees are rising again.

In England, the fee for a typical householder planning application increased from £258 to £528 in 2025 — and from April 2026 it will increase again to £586 following the new annual inflation-linked uplift.

Once the Planning Portal service charge is added, many homeowners are now paying £650+ just to submit an application.

The intention is to better resource Local Planning Authorities. But it raises a question:

Will higher fees lead to better and faster planning services, or simply make the planning system less accessible for householders?

It will also be interesting to see whether this pushes more projects toward permitted development rather than formal applications.

What are others seeing in practice?

#Planning #PlanningPermission #TownPlanning #Housing #Development