§ 28. Mr. St. AubynTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the level of planning fees. [68291]
§ Mr. RaynsfordThe Government's aim has been to raise planning fees gradually over a number of years until they enabled 100 per cent. recovery of local authorities' total estimated costs of determining planning applications. The two fee increases introduced in 1997 have brought us to this point and we have no immediate plans to raise fee levels. However, in the context of Best Value, my officials are currently working with the Planning Officers' Society on more systematic ways of measuring planning costs. This work may form the basis of a revision of planning fees in due course.