Other instruments of interest
DRAFT TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING (FEES FOR APPLICATIONS
AND DEEMED APPLICATIONS) (AMENDMENT) (ENGLAND) REGULATIONS 2008
AND OTHER UPRATING INSTRUMENTS
- The Department for Communities
and Local Government (DCLG) have laid the Draft Town and Country
Planning (Fees for Applications and Deemed Applications) (Amendment)
(England) Regulations 2008. These propose increases in the level
of fees payable to local planning authorities in England for planning
applications, deemed planning applications, and applications for
consent to display advertisements. There is a general fee increase
of 25%; this includes a smaller rise, of 11%, for householder
applications, as well as new maximum fees of £65,000 for
minerals and waste development applications, and of £250,000
for any other application for full permission.
- DCLG attribute these increases to an established
policy of moving towards full cost recovery from planning fee
income. The last increase in planning fees was implemented through
predecessor Regulations in 2005. We drew the 2005 Regulations
to the attention of the House (in our 11th Report of 2004-05),
noting that the overall average increase in fees at that time
was approximately 39%, and that on that occasion too the Government
justified the increase as necessary "to achieve near full
cost recovery". We sought further information from DCLG about
the reasons why a further increase of 25% was now proposed, and
we publish the advice at Appendix 3.
- Each March, we see a number of instruments that
amend financial values before the start of the new financial year.
While the instruments relating to the annual increases in benefits
are pegged to inflation, those relating to fees and charges usually
relate to the cost of cost recovery and so are often greater than
inflation: see the planning fees described above or the fee for
a practical driving test which is being increased by over 15%.
While we understand that agencies which deliver such services
must recover their costs, we note the difference with some concern
and question where lies the incentive to control costs.
SITE WASTE MANAGEMENT PLANS REGULATIONS 2008 (SI
2008/314)
- The Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have laid the Site Waste Management
Plans Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/314), which require a site waste
management plan to be prepared and implemented for all construction
projects with an estimated cost greater than £300,000. In
the Explanatory Memorandum, DEFRA say that materials resource
efficiency in the construction industry is relatively poor: the
sector uses about 420 million tonnes of materials per year, of
which some 109 million tonnes ends up as waste; moreover, in 2006-07
local authorities reported 87,597 incidents of construction waste
fly-tipping. We were concerned to know more about the likely impact
of these Regulations, and obtained further information from DEFRA
which is reprinted at Appendix 4. We see the proposals as a relatively
"light-touch" approach to regulation in this area, but
we do see a need for the Government to monitor the actual impact
and to keep the House informed.
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