The Local Government Association (LGA) has warned that the government’s proposals to increase planning fees will not be enough to prevent a significant national funding shortfall for councils.
Currently, the government’s technical consultation on increasing planning fees to reduce the funding shortfall for the planning application service proposes a 35% increase to fees for major applications, and 25% for all other applications.
However, new modelling by the LGA has found that to ensure all councils in funding deficit are able to balance their books, fees would need to be increased by 57%.
According to the LGA’s data, 305 out of 343 local authority planning departments operated in a funding deficit totalling £245m in 2020/21.
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Linda Taylor, the LGA’s housing spokesperson, said: “We recognise there are some resource concerns in council planning teams and while we are pleased the government is looking to increase fees, we are concerned that the proposed uplift in planning fees fails to future-proof the sector and ensure planning departments can continue to enable the delivery of housing targets, including the affordable homes and infrastructure that the country needs.”
The national membership for local authorities also highlighted that councils are struggling to recruit and retain planners within their planning departments, with more than a quarter of authorities seeing their teams shrink last year.
“Councils must have the flexibility to set planning fees at a local level to cover their costs relating to planning, which could include the employment of qualified planners. This would put councils in a stronger position to address the issue of resourcing in the planning sector,” Taylor added.
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