Report says authorities need £250m to return to 1996 funding levels
Piers Wehner
The upper limit for planning fees could be raised in a bid to pour more money into local planning authorities.
According to a report published by the government this week, planning authorities in England and Wales need £250m simply to bring their resources back to 1996 levels.
The 140-page report, Resourcing of local planning authorities, states that increases of 37% for district councils and 23% for counties are needed to match previous spending per application. The level of planning applications had risen on average by 26% over the past five years, but the increase in resources used by local authorities to process them had risen by only 6%.
The report concluded that the 14% increase in planning fees proposed in the government’s planning green paper, published last December, would increase the planning budget by only around 5%.
But a DTLR source said: “There is a worry that the Treasury will not provide enough money to increase planning resources.
“Raising the ceiling on planning fees above the £9,500 limit proposed in the green paper could pull more money in.”
The report – drawn up by Arup Economics & Planning and Bailey Consultancy, and commissioned by the DTLR in August last year – concluded that even more money would be needed to push planners’ salaries up to competitive levels.
James Bailey, who co-wrote the report with Arup, said: “Without quite a large increase in resources, the improvements detailed in the planning green paper cannot go forward.”
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Resourcing report’s key recommendations |
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” The scrapping of the £9,500 maximum for application fees ” The recruitment of 4-5 additional staff for each planning authority ” A limit on the outsourcing of applications to private sector because “it will not normally be cost effective” ” The doubling of householder application fees from £95 to £200 ” Planning departments’ salaries to be raised to compete with private sector and attract higher-calibre staff. Average salaries for graduate planners in local government stand at £13,000-£15,000, £5,000 less than a similar post at a private firm |
