Householders now have to pay a new flat fee for planning advice.

As well as fees for planning applications, Test Valley Borough Council has also introduced charges for pre-application planning advice. This is despite the unanimous decision of the Borough’s Scrutiny Committee that pre-planning advice for householders should remain free of charge.

“Planning officers admitted that pre-planning advice was free to encourage householders to make good quality planning applications”, says Scrutiny Committee member Cllr Mark Cooper. “Charging for the service will discourage its use, and will cost everyone extra time and money sorting out poor quality or inappropriate planning applications”.

The Borough has brought in a sliding scale of charges for commercial and larger planning applications. But householders will be charged a flat fee of £40, or £48 with VAT, whatever the size and nature of their planning application.

“I’ve no problem with the Borough charging for pre-application advice where the developer is making a profit”, says Cllr Cooper, ” But householders are applying for home improvements. There is no profit motive. The fee is the same whether the householder is applying for a porch extension or a large two-storey side extension. This crude fixed fee is like a planning poll tax and patently penalises modest home improvements as against major ones”.

Planning portfolio holder, Cllr Martin Hatley, made one concession and agreed that the pre-planning fees issue and the householder charge would be reviewed in six months to see if there was any negative impact on the planning system.