Planning Portal platform update

Planning Portal has announced an update to its online platform to take account of forthcoming increases to planning fees, which the government has announced will take effect from April 2025.

The platform has been updated to include a fee calculator reflecting the increases set out by the government alongside the publication of its new National Planning Policy Framework. 

The fee increases have been provided for in the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025. The service will also automatically update draft applications on the system at the start of April to reflect the new fee levels.

In many cases, the changes will double the current fees charged by local planning authorities for planning applications, with some fees increasing by several hundred pounds. The increases includes a 1.7% inflationary uplift, as well as increases to help local planning authorities to better recover the actual cost of determining planning and related applications.

Geoff Keal, CEO at TerraQuest, which operates Planning Portal, said:

These nationally set fee increases will help local planning authorities address capacity and resourcing challenges that are well known in the industry. We hope this will lead to applications being determined more quickly and so offer the built environment sector valuable improvements in return for the fee increase.

Nevertheless, we do recognise that these fee increases represent a further challenge for the sector, especially for smaller businesses. That is why we have updated Planning Portal to reflect the forthcoming increases well ahead of time. This update ensures those in the process of submitting planning applications are aware of the changes and minimises the ensuing administrative burden.

Details of the increases to specific planning fees are set out on Planning Portal's website.