Treasury and Resources Department
Ministerial Decision Report
CHANGES TO THE DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT FEES AND CHARGES IN 2017
- Purpose of Report
To request that the Minister for Treasury and Resources authorises the proposed increase in Planning and Building Appeal fees within the Department of the Environment with effect from 1st January 2017.
- Background
In order to fund the new Planning and Building Appeals System the following fee changes will be made.
All Planning and Building fees will increase by approximately 2% from 1 Jan 2017. Some of the income generated from this increase will help towards offsetting the Judicial Greffe estimated costs associated with operating the Planning Appeals System.
Fee Descriptions
A number of fee descriptions will be changed to better reflect the type of development included in the fee and to improve the applicant and stakeholder understanding.
Re-profile the Outline Planning Permission application fees
Re-profile the fees to better reflect the costs associated with progressing outline planning permission applications:
- From 25% of the standard charge for outline planning permission, with the 75% balance paid when or if a full application for detailed planning permissions is submitted.
- To 50% of the standard charge for outline planning permission, with the 50% balance paid when or if a full application for detailed planning permissions is submitted.
Legal Search Fee - No change
New Fee
Introduce a new fee of £153 to vary or remove a “condition” attached to a planning permission (excluding time limit condition and any condition granted by Development Order). This reflects the fee proposed in the Planning and Building Law Amendment No.7, and will generate income to contribute to the resources required for the processing of applications to vary or remove conditions attached to planning permissions.
Other Minor Changes
Includes a reduction in the fee to remove minor development from £350 to £58 (2016 fee).
Planning Appeals System (to be progressed on separate Order)
In December 2015 the Minister for the Environment agreed to increase the Planning and Building Appeal fees from 1 Jan 2016. The increase to the Appeal fees was made following the decision earlier in 2015 not to put forward an MTFP funding bid and the proposal that the planning appeals system become fully self-funded.
Following intervention by Deputy Scott Wickenden, the Minister for the Environment deciding to re-instate the 2015 fees from 1 Mar 2016, until such time as more information on the operation and associated costs of the planning and building appeals system was available. It was agreed to look at the appeal fees again during 2016 with the Judicial Greffe, and base any changes on the first year actual costs associated to operating the new appeals system.
As background, reference to the appeals system becoming fully self-funded was included in the P.72/2015 MTFP Annex (page 75) adopted as amended by the States Assembly on the 8th Oct 2015, as follows:
Following States approval in 2015 of the new planning appeals system, 2016 will see the first full year of operation of the new planning application system. The Planning Applications Committee now review all major planning applications on behalf of the Minister and applicants now have access to a lower cost and independent appeals system. While the new appeals system was due to be part funded from a growth bid in the new MTFP, it is now proposed that the planning appeals system be fully self-funding. Options to recover the costs to operate the new appeals system via existing or new fees will be explored during 2016.
Based on actual appeal application numbers received and associated costs during 2016, the Department and Judicial Greffe estimate a shortfall of funding in 2017 of approximately £87k. This shortfall excludes the £44k the department has already agreed to transfer from its 2017 cash limits to the Judicial Greffe.
In order to reduce the estimated shortfall by approximately £37k, the Minister for the Environment will change the existing fee structure and introduce planning appeal fee categories and charges as set out in Appendix 1, from 1 Jan 2017. The remaining £50k shortfall will be funded from Department of the Environment 2017 cash limits and expected reductions in the costs of administering the appeals system within the Judicial Greffe.
The new categories are explained below:
Category 1 (£100): Appeals against government actions which are impositions directly affecting an individuals’ private property rights.
They include actions taken by the government to either list, revoke, modify, or instruct an individual or restrict rights to the enjoyment of their property. In these cases, a person a person is able to defend their position, if they are aggrieved at the action, for a minimal charge. The £100 fee is the lowest charge with the highest shortfall to the actual costs of the appeal.
Category 2 (£500): Appeals against minor application refusals and third party appeals.
Third party appeals are appeals against planning permission brought by an aggrieved neighbour. Although the action of another may impact on the enjoyment of the individual’s property, the impact is an indirect one. This is different to the direct action of the government as described in Category 1, which might absolutely affect the rights of the owner. Another factor is that third party appeals on average cost more to administer, as they are generally heard at a hearing and involve more parties. It is considered reasonable to increase the cost of this type of appeal to an amount which is still within reasonable affordability and which maintains the objective of an accessible appeal system, but that moves closer to the actual cost of the appeal.
Category 2 also includes appeals by an applicant against the refusal of a minor application. This type of appeal is where the grant of planning permission would financially benefit the appellant in some way. This is a different situation than Category 1 appeals, in that the appellant is trying to gain some benefit from the planning permission, rather than defend the enjoyment of their property. This too should have a higher charge than the minimum but the charge must be proportionate to the size of the development. It would be unreasonable for the cost to appeal and application to be significantly higher than the original application fee itself.
Category 3 (£1600): Appeal against the refusal of major applications.
This reflects the fact that major applications have a much larger financial benefit to the applicant and thus the appeal cost should be proportionate to the value of that benefit. Major applications also tend to be complex in the issues they raise and therefore more expensive to consider at appeal. Given that these schemes usually have a significant financial benefit to the applicant, and are on average charged at a higher application rate of £3,000, we believe it reasonable to increase the appeal fee to £1,600. Again, applicants also have the options of re-submitting a revised scheme within 6 months of the refusal for free, or re-applying if the cost of an application is less than the cost of an appeal.
Summary: It is considered the new Categories and fees are a reasonable response to the funding gap for the planning appeals system. It must be remembered that the previous system of lodging appeals with the Royal Court was many times more expensive than the current proposed fees. In addition, the Royal Court system could award costs against the losing party. The current system avoids those disincentives and has resulted in a five-fold increase in appeals, year on year. It remains a robust and healthy check-and-balance to planning decisions in this Island.
3. Reason for Decision
To meet the requirements of Financial Direction 4.1 “Increases in States Fees and Charges”. Paragraph 5.2 states: “The Anti-Inflation Strategy states that increases in States fees and charges should be limited to 2.5% per annum with compelling cases to be subject to the prior approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources (previously the Finance and Economics Committee)”.
4. Resource Implications
Charges for Planning and Building Appeal fees will rise by 300% from 1st January 2017. The proposed increase will bring charges into line with the cost of the service.
Report author : Finance Manager, Department of Environment | Document date : 18th December 2015 |
Quality Assurance / Review : Head of Decision support | File name and path: LDrive/Treasury/Sections/Corporate Finance/Ministerial Decisions/Planning Appeals Tribunal increase in fees |
MD sponsor : Director of Treasury Operations |
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