Changes to the Planning and Building Control application fees will take effect from 1st January 2020

The fees charged for Planning and Building Control applications will change from Wednesday 1st January.

Planning application fees were last amended in April 2015, with revisions to Building Control fees last made in July 2017. Analysis has shown that, on average since 2015, the Planning and Building Control fees have covered 80-85% of the cost associated with the application and therefore the changes reflect this.

In response to customer feedback, the structure of the planning application fees has been reviewed and simplified. There are now ten categories, compared to thirteen. Some of the changes include:

• Categories 3 and 4 in relation to domestic and non-domestic development have been amended to include certain minor development which was previously included in former fee category 6. Definitions of "domestic development" and "non-domestic development" are included in Part II of the Schedule. Flats are included within Category 3. Fees for placement of caravans and similar vehicles on land are now included in categories 3 and 4 if it is within the curtilage of a dwelling or a non-domestic building and in category 9 if it is not within the curtilage of a building. Category 4 no longer provides for separate fees for a list of specific development (former category 4B). Any such development will now generally fall under a single sub-category, 4H.
• Development in relation to shop fronts is also now included in category 4 and removed from the category related to advertisements (now category 6).
• Two categories relating to provision of public utility services and street furniture and development in relation to mobile telephone masts and antennas have been combined to form new category 5.

Planning fees are, on the whole, increasing by the rate of inflation year on year since they were last amended which equates to 6.7%. The exceptions to this relate to applications for outline permissions, for the erection or creation of dwellings or flats and applications for operational development not included in any other category. The fees for these applications will have an above-RPIX increase to better reflect the amount of work undertaken for such applications.

The fee payable for an application for minor domestic development, comprising of the erection of a timber shed or fence within the property's boundary (excluding any neighbouring fields) is being reduced to £90 from £140. Fees for other minor domestic development will be increased by £10 to £150.

Building Control fees are also increasing by the rate of inflation since they were last revised in 2017. Changes are also made to amalgamate former categories 2D and E and to split former category 2G into two categories with a higher fee for extensions of 50 square metres or more in floor area.

More information and guidance about the planning and building control application fees, including the full schedule of fees, is available online at https://www.gov.gg/planning_building_permissions.

Moving forward, the Development & Planning Authority will be reviewing their application fees on a more regular basis to ensure that they provide a consistent and transparent charging mechanism.

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