Planning: what does it cost?

From nationally-set application fees to land surveys, design work and more, Mike Dade breaks down the various charges you should budget for when seeking planning permission for your new home

What to budget for design and winning planning consent

For any scheme where planning permission is needed, be it new build, conversion or extension, the process will involve fees paid to the council. It’s easy to overlook or underestimate some of these, but the last thing any project needs is to go over budget on the preliminaries before construction has even begun. Here’s what you need to factor in

The basics

Planning fees fall into three camps. There are the rates for statutory planning applications; council charges including pre-app costs, the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and other payment demands; and, finally, professional fees. The first of these is the most certain, as prices are set nationally, so are the same throughout the UK.

Most self builds and extensions are exempt from the CIL, so if your project qualifies then you won’t pay this. Other charges, like for pre-app or legal agreements, vary greatly between local authorities and can be considerable. See ‘other council expenses’ for more on this.

Similarly, professional fees can swell your budget hugely, especially if you have to engage several on your project. Architects, planning consultants, land surveyors and tree, ecology, archaeology, environment, drainage and highways specialists are amongst the most commonly encountered. The following outlines how much you might pay during the planning application process.

The ballpark averages given for professional services here exclude VAT. Bear in mind some practitioners don’t charge VAT, while others might. Some may also add expenses that increase their quoted rates.

Planning application fees

By way of an example, in England, applying for detailed or full planning permission for a new house (or a conversion) currently costs £462. For outline applications, it’s £462 per 0.1 hectares of land. Householder applications (the technical term for submissions related to extensions, renovations and garden buildings) are £206.

If your permission is granted subject to conditions, as it often is, then a request to approve any details that were asked for – like landscaping or materials details – is £116, while for householder applications this aspect costs £34. The most cost-effective option, therefore, is to deal with multiple conditions under a single request. If you want to submit the documents online via the Planning Portal, there is now an additional £20 processing charge.

Fees are set and administered by the UK’S various devolved governments; in Scotland, for instance, a full planning application for a new house is currently £401.

Other council expenses

It’s generally a good idea to seek pre-application advice from your local authority. Some will charge you nothing at all for this, but others demand a similar fee to the cost of planning submissions. At pre-app, you’ll need sketch plans to hand upfront at the very least, which will in itself require you to spend some money on professional design.

The CIL charge (basically a tax on development) can be significant, and rates vary between areas. But if you’re building a new house, extension or annexe project for your own use, you should be eligible for the self build exemption. It’s vital that you fill out the correct forms at the right times to succeed with these claims, so check the rules carefully. Find out more at www.self-build.co.uk/cil-rules.

Local authorities will usually charge additional sums when permission is applied for (or granted) to put towards things like mitigating environmental damage to protected habitats or contributing to affordable housing. The commitment to pay is usually secured through a Section 106 agreement and the council will generally expect you to cover their fees for this, as well as your own. You should consult a solicitor about these legal charges.

Surveys

For many self build and extension projects, the first step is a topographical survey of the site to ensure its dimensions, the existence of any trees, buildings and obstacles, as well as levels, are accurately recorded. Depending on scale and complexity, prices for these reports should be in the £600 to £1,200 range. For conversions, a structural survey is often needed, costing around £750 to £1,500.

Architects & designers

Design fees are likely to comprise the biggest element of your planning budget. You’ll incur charges for pre-app sketches and detailed application drawings, with additional fees for any amendments or wherever the architect’s input is required. Fees are calculated as a percentage of the overall build price, but usually given as a quoted lump sum or based on the designer’s time. Inevitably, a great deal depends upon the scale and complexity of the design and the designer’s training and skill level. Are you engaging an architect, architectural technician, building surveyor or some other kind of draughtsman, for instance?

Pre-app drawings can cost from a few hundred quid to several thousand pounds, especially if design development is included in this phase. Detailed illustrations for planning applications span from around £1,500 up to £15,000 – a huge range, showing how important it is to get firm quotes for all work undertaken. If you make major changes your scheme as it evolves, or amendments are needed later on, some designers might ask you to pay extra.

Planning consultants

Whether or not you will need a consultant’s help depends upon how contentious your build might be, its complexity and the confidence and experience level of your building designer or architect. Sometimes specialist input is helpful at the very start of the project, for instance, to assess the plot’s potential and determine whether it’s a viable option for you. On other occasions, having a professional’s view can be helpful if things start to go wrong – particularly if you have to appeal a planning refusal.

Quotes for these services are usually given as a firm figure for the likely work, or on an hourly basis. ‘No win no fee’ offers might appear to be attractive but they are frowned upon by professional bodies. You could end up paying well over the odds for input that might otherwise have cost only a small fraction of your budget.

Planning consultants might charge from £300 to £1,000 for site assessments and helping with pre-app advice. If you want them to progress a planning application for you, budget anywhere from £750 to £2,000. Making a written appeal (if all else fails) is likely to cost between £1,000 and £3,000, depending on complexity.

Other professionals

There are various specialists you might need to engage to produce accompanying reports for your application. If you take pre-app advice on your project, this should flush out what the local authority might expect. You will probably need an arboriculturist, for isntance, as most councils will request an assessment of the implications for trees if there are any that could be affected by your plans. Fees for this are generally around the £300 to £1,000 mark.

A Phase 1 ecological report will be necessary if your project might impact protected species. That often means bats and owls for converters, and on new plots it could be reptiles like newts in ponds, or bats roosting in trees. These usually cost between £600 and £1,200. Be aware that if protected fauna is found, then further surveys could be required, adding to the overall cost.

You may also need to commission flood risk, drainage, highways, archaeologist or environmental assessments. The latter is common on brownfield sites, where you may well need to check for contamination. Costs generally fall within the £600 to £1,500 range, but if a problem is found, charges can start to ramp up significantly.

For example, if an environmental survey does find contamination, then a clean-up strategy will have to be devised and agreed. Plus, the physical task of rectifying the issue will have to be undertaken. This means that a £1,000 initial report could lead to a further £10,000 of professional and contractor inputs to sort it all out.