report from the National HMO lobby.

Two years ago, the government consulted on fees for planning applications in England - whether councils should be able to set their own fees, and whether the scope of planning fees should be extended.  

The National HMO Lobby responded, recommending that fees should be charged for applications arising from Article 4 Directions, which at present are exempt from fees [the  response is at http://hmolobby.org.uk/planningfees.htm ].

 

The government has at last published the results of the consultation (which was supposed to have come into effect last year) [see http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/planningfeesresponses ].  

There were 425 responses, 51% from the public sector (local authorities), 32% from the private sector, and 6% from the third sector.  62% supported the localisation of fees, a majority supported charging fees for resubmitted applications, 61% supported higher fees for retrospective applications, 71% supported extending the range of fees, and 63% opposed any more exemptions.

 

They have ignored our recommendation on A4D applications, and are not devolving fees, nor making any changes to the range of fees.

 

All they propose, after their consultation, is to make a national increase in existing fees of 15%.