The Executive Member for Regeneration and the Director for Regeneration and Culture submitted a report for Executive’s consideration.

The Planning Service undertook a number of functions which were both statutory and non-statutory in nature. The ability to charge for those services was largely discretionary, in that as an authority the Council could determine if they charged for the service, and non-discretionary for which a charge must be set.  For non-discretionary fees those were either set nationally (e.g. planning application fees) or locally (e.g. building regulation fees), those fees were outside the scope of this report. For the other services provided by the Planning Service the Council could charge a fee for doing so.  Many of those services, whilst not statutory in their nature, e.g. pre application advice could significantly help with the efficient and effective delivery of the statutory functions and help provide a better customer facing service and experience for the customer.

Discretionary fees should be set to recover costs of delivering the service offered.  The fees covered in the report fell into the following categories:

·        Pre application advice and guidance;

·        Building Control fees;

·        Other planning fees.

OPTIONS

Two other options were considered:

1.     to continue to provide a free service for those services for which there was no current fee, and maintain existing fees for those services charged at current levels; or

2.     to cease providing those services for which no fee was currently set, and for which there was no statutory requirement to deliver.

ORDERED

That Executive:

1.     Approve the schedule of fees in Appendix 1 and that the fees come into effect on 1st December 2022;

2.     Approve the addition of a new planning officer post (Grade J) within the Development Control Team to assist with dealing with the workload associated with pre application enquiries;

3.     Approve the addition of a new Building Control Apprentice post within the Building Control Team to assist with dealing with the workloads associated with dealing with reversion applications;

4.     Approve that the fees were monitored and reviewed on an annual basis, and subject to the review all fees were increased annually by CPI + 1% unless otherwise amended; and

5.     Approve that all other fees and charges within the Service for which the Council has discretion to set were increased by 10% in accordance with the approved Financial Recovery Plan 2022/23.

REASONS

The cost of providing the services listed in the schedule in Appendix 1 and detailed in the report represented a significant use of officer time and represented a significant drain upon the Service’s resources.  This in turn impacted upon the Service being able to meet and deliver its statutory obligations and maintain required levels of service delivery.  It was recognised, however, that many of those services offered whilst discretionary were encouraged to be provided, and in doing so improved the customer experience and the quality of service that the Service provided. Under the Local Government Act 2003 and Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 the Council had the ability to charge for providing these services.