Closed petition Require planning fees be ringfenced for planning services

Closed on 20 March 2024

Planning is an essential service for the economy and needs support. Under-resourcing of planning services makes the need to ‘ringfence’ planning fees imperative to address a critical issue affecting the sector.

Data collated by the DLUHC show the average percentage of all decisions on minor applications made within the statutory time is as low as 46% for 2022-2023, and just 19% for major applications.

A lack of resourcing in planning departments has caused both costly and lengthy delays, resulting in uncertainty. The decision not to ringfence the extra income from fees not only risks the proposed changes addressing the issue but risks hindering economic growth. We believe raising planning fees without ringfencing the revenue for planning services will result in continuing under-performance, delay and frustration.