Planning Fees and Increase on 1 April 2026
New Planning Fees - 1 April 2026
The Government have announced changes to Planning Fees effective from 1st April 2026.
The Government recently published increases in planning fees following a consultation in August last year. The new increase in some specific planning fees are in addition to recent changes which will see all other planning fees go up in line with inflation. All of the fee increase come into effect from 1st April 2025.
The Planning Portal has set out a new fee schedule for the increase on 1 April 2026
This document is based upon:
The legislation - The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2026 UK Statutory Instruments -2026 No. 186
The Consumer Price Index 12-month rate for September 2025 of 3.8%.
Government fee increase webpage
A summary of the changes:
The following types of applications see specific fee changes:-
In summary, the key proposed fee increases are as follows:
Householder Applications
- Applications for the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a single dwelling/house – Increase from £528 to £548 (however, the existing fee of £262 (£272 from 1 April 2026) will remain for small-scale operations within the curtilage of a dwellinghouse, such as the construction of gates or fences. The existing fee exemptions and concessions will continue, including those relating to domestic accommodation for disabled people).
- Applications for the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of two or more dwelling/houses – Increase from £1,043 to £1,083.
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Prior Approvals
- Prior approval applications that don’t involve building operations – Increase from £240 to £249.
- Prior approval applications that involve building operations – Increase from £516 to £536.
- Prior approvals relating to the change of use of Class E uses to residential (under Class MA of the GDPO) – Increase from £250 per dwelling/house to £260 per dwelling house.
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Discharge of Conditions
The fee for an application for approval of details reserved by condition is increasing from:
- £86 to £89 for householders.
- £298 to £309 for any other development.
Please note - Any applications submitted on or after the 1st April 2026 will be subject to the increased fees. Any invalid applications submitted before this date and not registered may also trigger additional fee payments.
Current National Planning Fees
The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 have been approved and made on 8th November.
The Planning Portal has provided a webpage covering the planning fee increase in April 2026 set out the fee schedule for planning fees from 1 Aptil 2026
The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023. These Regulations amend the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2920) (“the 2012 Fees Regulations”).
The statutory instrument related to the fee increase.
The Council has produced is own scale of fees when considering the legislatoin for the 2026 fee increase.