Planning Fees
From April 6th 2008 an increase in Planning Fees came into force. Click here to view details of the scale of fees
Please note: This is a summarised version of the scale of fees and should not be construed as a legal document. If you are not certain of the correct fee for your planning application please contact the Development Control Section for clarification.
A new fee was also introduced for Local Authorities to provide written confirmation of discharge/compliance of one or more planning conditions. A form is available for making requests for this purpose ( it is not mandatory to use the form). To download it, click here. The fee chargeable by the authority is £85 per request (or £25 where the related permission was for extending or altering a dwellinghouse or other development in the curtilage of a dwellinghouse). The fee must be paid when the request is made, and cannot be required retrospectively.
See also Exemptions and Other Concessions
You can pay your fee in cash, cheque or by credit / debit card whether you apply online or by completing paper planning application forms. If you apply online via the Planning Portal, there is a facility to make your payment electronically. If you wish to pay by cheque, please make it payable to Sedgefield Borough Council. It is advisable to include details of the proposal which the cheque payment relates to, if you are not including the cheque with the rest of your planning application forms, plans and documents.
Please post your cheque to
Development Control
Council Offices
Spennymoor
Co Durham
DL16 6JQ
TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING (FEES FOR APPLICATIONS AND DEEMED APPLICATIONS) REGULATIONS 1992 (CIRCULAR 31/92)
The above Regulations provide that fees are payable for planning applications relating to certain types of development. Applicants are therefore required to pay the appropriate fee upon the submission of the following types of application to Sedgefield Borough Council:
- Applications for planning permission, including ‘retrospective’ applications where development has already taken place and applications to vary or remove conditions attached to a planning permission.
- Applications for approval of reserved matters following the grant of outline planning permission
- Applications for consent to display advertisements
- Deemed applications which arise from the making of an appeal to the Secretary of State against an enforcement notice issued by the Local Planning Authority
- Deemed applications arising from established use certificate appeals or referred (‘called-in’) applications
- Applications for a Certificate of Lawfulness of existing or proposed use or development
- Applications made by Local Planning Authorities for the development of any of their own land within their area, or for the development by themselves (whether alone or jointly) of any land in their area
- Applications for prior approval determinations for development which is permitted by Development Order
The fees scheme does not apply to and there are therefore no planning application fees for:
- applications for listed building consent
- applications for conservation area consent
- applications to lop or fell trees subject to tree preservation orders
- applications for certificates of appropriate alternative development
- consultation about Crown development under the procedure laid down in Part IV of the Memorandum to DOE Circular 18/84; or
- applications for consents required by any condition attached to an outline permission if the condition relates to anything other than a ‘reserved matter’ as defined in the General Permitted Development Order
EXEMPTIONS
The Regulations make a limited number of specific exemptions from fees for planning applications and for applications for the approval of reserved matters, as follows:
(i) Applications for planning permission to alter or extend an existing dwellinghouse (see definition below) or to carry out operations within the curtilage of an existing dwellinghouse of they are intended solely to provide access, provide for or improve the safety, health or comfort of a disabled person who is living or intends to live in the dwelling. This exemption does not apply to the construction of a new dwellinghouse. Applications which relate solely to works to provide a means of access for disabled people to a building to which the public are admitted are also exempt. This exemption is not confined to those buildings where there is a statutory obligation to provide such access.
A disabled person is defined as being one to whom Section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948 applies. That provision applies to persons who are blind, deaf or dumb, and other persons who are substantially and permanently handicapped by illness, injury or congenital deformity, including mentally disordered persons of any description.
(N.B. for the purposes of these Regulations ‘dwellinghouse’
is defined as a building or part of a building which is used as a single private dwellinghouse and for no other purpose
)
In addition, in certain cases under the headings below, exemptions may be considered. Detailed Regulations have been prescribed for these categories and applicants should refer to the Development Control Section for clarification.
(ii) permitted development and use class rights;
(iii) revised applications following refusal, withdrawal or
(iv) minor amendments
(v) revised applications following permission
(vi) consolidation for permissions for mineral working
Other Concessions
The Regulations prescribe that other specified concessions may be considered for certain types of application, for which enquiries should be directed to the Development Control Section.