WLGA responds to proposed increase in planning fees
07 April 2009
A WLGA spokesperson said:
“Over recent years the planning service has been required to introduce several measures in response to an increasing number of policy objectives including access and design and issues as climate change, together these have made the service more complex and time consuming and there have been inevitable cost implications.
The increase has been subject to a Welsh Assembly Government consultation exercise where most organisations, including the WLGA, agreed that the increase was needed to improve the quality of the planning service. Linking the increase to the Retail Price Index, combined with robust evaluation was considered to be the best way to achieve significant and sustained improvement. Local authorities are committed to using the fee increase to improve planning service delivery, including consideration of undertaking more pre-application discussions.
In the current economic climate, the WLGA recognises the additional burden that this fee increase places on those applying for planning consents. Local authorities have already seen a drop in the number of planning applications and are mindful of the impact that a large increase in planning fees may have in their area. These authorities also have responsibility for local regeneration and have put in place a wide range of measures to support local businesses over the recent period. For example, most authorities offer grant assistance to local SMEs to improve business performance and support new markets. Authorities are also looking at ways in which they can support SMEs through local procurement and ensuring prompt payment of invoices. Furthermore, some authorities are running ‘how to survive the recession’ seminars for businesses and providing advice on how to ‘green’ your business and save money. Others are taking measures such as cutting car parking charges to help boost trade for town centre businesses.”