Over the years, numerous chancellors, prime ministers and housing secretaries have promised to remove “red tape” and fix the UK’s broken planning system. A similar promise featured in Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-Budget in September 2022, and in yesterday’s Autumn Statement, Jeremy Hunt announced his plan to do the same.
Fixing the planning system (the Jeremy Hunt Version) includes confirmation that the government will allow councils and local planning authorities to set planning fees for major developments. This means that in future, planning authorities will be able to charge a direct fee to the developer of a major project for a planning application. Currently, fees for planning applications for major and non-major developments are set by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, rather than by the planning authority itself. A deadline will then be agreed by the planning authority and the developer, by which time a decision on the application must have been made. If there is no decision by the deadline, the developer can expect a full refund.
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