Planning applications surge before fee increase, says council leader

Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Councillors have been told about a “rush” of planning applications that came into a Welsh council ahead of an increase in Welsh Government fees last month.

From 1 December, planning fees increased throughout Wales, with annual adjustments for inflation put in place and provisions for full cost recovery in the future.

The government hopes that the fee increase will help address “the existing deficit between the cost of determining applications and the income received for providing this service.”

At a meeting of the Economy, Residents and Communities scrutiny committee on Powys council, councillors probed the proposed 2026/27 budget in many areas, including Planning and Regulatory Services.

It is noted inside the documents for the budget that a predicted £50,000 will be made from increased planning fees next year.

It’ll play a part in tackling a £12.3 million cuts and savings target that the council is aiming for to balance the 2026/27 budget which totals over £390 million.

Liberal Democrat councillor for the Knighton with Beguildy ward, Corinna Kenyon-Wade, asked: “When will full scale of the increased fees from Welsh Government be fully realised?”

Council Leader Jake Berriman, who is Liberal Democrat councillor for Llandrindod North, said: “The issue we have here is that whilst the uplift in fees has been implemented, what we’re not clear about is what the impact on planning applications will be with the number coming through.

“We did see a bit of a rush of applications come in before the fee increase. It’s one of these areas of the industry that we don’t know until it settles down.”

According to the Cabinet Member for Legal and Regulatory Services, Richard Church, time was limited for people to get their applications into the council ahead of the fee increase, which came “at very short notice”.

Cllr Church, Liberal Democrat for the Welshpool Castle ward, said: “A dip has followed afterwards and we’ll have to wait over the next few months before we know what the long-term pattern is.”

The Council Leader reminded the committee that Powys was “leading the charge” by Welsh local authorities to increase planning fees.

In his previous role as the Cabinet Member responsible for Planning in December 2023, he had a notice of motion unanimously backed by councillors to lobby the government to allow Powys to introduce its own planning fees.