Agenda item

The Assistant Director of Planning & Planning Policy presented the report to the Committee.

The development industry widely accepted that a charge to access pre-application (planning) advice was necessary, and many relied upon access to professional officer advice to inform and support their planning application submissions.  The Council currently provided this service for free.

Pre-application engagement by prospective applicants could offer significant potential to improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning application system and improve the quality of planning applications and their likelihood of success.

However, the provision of pre-application (planning) advice contributed to officer workload across the Planning Service, which was under pressure from rising costs associated with the administration of the whole Planning Service (inc. planning application publication, consultation, officer time, and access to professional expertise such as ecology, urban design, and conservation).

Section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003 provided local authorities the power to charge for discretionary services, including the provision of pre-application (planning) advice, subject to the income from the charge levied not exceeding the cost of the service provision.

Based on current market conditions and market insight, it was proposed a discretionary charge was introduced by the Council for the provision of pre-application (planning) advice services (the Council was the only local planning authority in the County to not charge for pre-application (planning) advice services.

The report detailed the previous 5 years of pre-application (planning) enquiries the Planning Service had registered and provided a written response to.  The provision of a written response to an average of 700 enquiries per year was currently a cost absorbed by the Planning Service.

Estimated time and costs of services provided were detailed in the report.

It was estimated that the introduction of a pre-application (planning) charging schedule would potentially generate an income between £20,000-£30,000 per annum.  That income would be re-invested in the Planning Service to continue to support the availability of officers to provide pre-application (planning) advice.

It was recommended a 4 week public consultation be undertaken in respect of the adoption of a charge for a discretionary service.

The Committee discussed the merits of retaining the free consultation model and charging applicants for accessing the Planning Team’s services in line with other local authorities.

2 in favour

2 against

1 abstained

Chair’s casting vote.

Moved by Councillor Tom Munro and seconded by Councillor John Ritchie

RESOLVED that the Planning Committee agrees to: 1) approve the preparation of a final draft charging schedule and undertake a 4 week public consultation exercise on       the proposed introduction of a Pre-Application (Planning) Charging Schedule /     Service;

2)    Give delegated authority to the Assistant Director of Planning & Planning Policy, in consultation with the Chair / Vice Chair of Planning Committee to finalise the text of the draft consultation documents prior to commencing the programme public consultation exercise; and,

3)    Receive a further outcome report of the public consultation exercise in due course, to enable Planning Committee to make a final recommendation to Council on the introduction of a Pre-Application (Planning) Charging Schedule / Service.