Planning Portal Fee Calculator (England 2026)

About the Calculator

This calculator gives you an instant estimate of your planning application fee in England, checked against the current 2026 statutory fee schedule. It's built and maintained by Planning Portal Fee Calculator, an independent resource, not the official Planning Portal.

Every figure on this page is cross-referenced against the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012, as amended, and the MHCLG fee schedule effective 1 April 2026. Rates are reviewed each April, when the annual CPI-linked increase takes effect, and updated here as soon as the new schedule is confirmed.

Rates confirmed against the April 2026 schedule.

This table covers the fees most people search for. For a project-specific breakdown with worked examples, keep reading below, or use the calculator above for a figure tailored to your exact project.

What Are Planning Application Fees

Planning application fees are statutory charges set by central government in England. You pay them to your Local Planning Authority (LPA), your local council, when you submit a planning application. They exist to help councils recover the genuine cost of processing applications: reviewing drawings, checking policy compliance, consulting neighbours, issuing a decision.

Fees are set nationally, not locally. A council in Cornwall charges exactly the same fee as one in Newcastle for an identical application, since regulation sets the rate, not the individual authority.

Since April 2025, fees rise every April in line with the Consumer Prices Index for the preceding September, capped at 10%. The April 2026 uplift was 3.8%. This is why a figure you saw quoted even a year ago may already be out of date, not because the rules changed, but because the built-in annual adjustment moved the number.

For the full regulations, see Gov.uk: Fees for planning applications.

How Fees Are Calculated, By Method

Not every fee is worked out the same way. Depending on what you're applying for, the fee is a flat rate, a per-dwelling charge, a per-hectare charge, or based on floorspace. Knowing which method applies to your project is the fastest way to understand the figure the calculator gives you.

Flat-rate fees

The householder application is the clearest example: £548 regardless of whether the extension adds 10m² or 40m². Two homeowners on the same street, one adding a small single-storey extension and one adding a substantial two-storey side extension, pay exactly the same fee, because the category, not the size, sets the price. See our full guide on the house extension planning permission cost, or the underlying householder application fee rules that apply to it.

Per-dwelling fees

New residential development is charged per home created:

• 1 to 9 dwellings: £610 per dwelling
• 10 to 50 dwellings: £659 per dwelling
• Over 50: £32,578 plus £196 per dwelling above 50, capped at £427,537

Cross a banding threshold, and every unit moves into the higher rate together, not just the extra ones. A 9-home scheme costs £5,490; a 10-home scheme costs £6,590, a jump of £1,100 for one additional plot. Our full new build house cost guide works through this banding in detail, including the genuine quirk where a 51-dwelling scheme can come out cheaper than a 50-dwelling one.

This same per-dwelling logic applies to converting a house into flats and to residential change of use projects.

Per-hectare fees

Outline planning applications, establishing whether development is acceptable in principle before detailed drawings are submitted, are charged by site area rather than dwelling count: £610 per 0.1 hectare under 0.5ha, £659 per 0.1ha up to 2.5ha, then a banded rate above that. See our guide comparing full vs outline planning permission fees for when the outline route is actually worth the extra step.

Per-floorspace fees

Full applications for new non-residential buildings, offices, warehouses, retail units, are charged in bands based on gross floorspace, measured in 75m² units. A 500m² warehouse falls into the 40m² to 1,000m² band at £610 per 75m² unit or part of one: 500 divided by 75 is 6.67, rounded up to 7 units, £4,270 total.

Fixed-fee categories

Several categories don't scale with size at all, they're a single fixed amount reflecting the administrative task itself:

• Discharge of conditions: £89 householder, £309 other, charged per request, not per condition, so batching multiple conditions into one submission genuinely saves money
• Non-material amendment: £46 householder, £309 other
• Removal or variation of a condition: £89 householder, £2,076 for major applications
• Prior Approval: £249 for a larger rear extension, rising to £536 where building operations are involved
• Advertisement consent: £174 for signage tied to the business on the premises, £610 for most other advertisements

Application Types Explained

Getting an accurate fee starts with knowing which application type your project actually falls under.

Householder application covers extensions, loft conversions, garages and outbuildings, and similar alterations to a single dwellinghouse. Flat fee of £548. Full detail in our householder application fee guide.

Full planning permission covers new buildings, flats, and most development not covered by a householder application, priced by dwelling count or floorspace as shown above. A project involving a self-contained annexe often sits right on the boundary between householder and full, worth checking carefully.

Outline planning permission establishes the principle of development before detailed drawings, charged per 0.1 hectare. Detailed design then follows through a Reserved Matters application, which is capped at £610 if the full fee was already paid at outline stage. See our full vs outline comparison for a worked example of when this two-stage route genuinely pays off.

Prior Approval is a lighter-touch, faster process for specific permitted development categories, fixed fees per category rather than scaled to size. Full breakdown in our Prior Approval fee guide.

Change of use covers converting a building or land from one lawful use to another, priced three different ways depending on the specific change involved. Our change of use fee guide walks through all three routes.

Advertisement consent is required for most external signage. Two tiers depending on what the advertisement is for, covered in our advertisement consent fee guide.

Listed Building Consent is currently free, no statutory fee applies.

A Lawful Development Certificate is a related but separate document, confirming a use or development is lawful rather than granting permission for it. Typically costs around half the equivalent application fee. Full detail in our Lawful Development Certificate guide.

Total Cost of Planning Permission, Beyond the Statutory Fee

The statutory fee is only one part of what you'll actually spend. A realistic budget also includes:

• The Planning Portal service charge, £75.83 plus VAT at the time of review, if applying online, and worth knowing this charge is often avoidable if your council accepts direct submission instead
• Architect or drawing costs, required for virtually every application
• Structural or other surveys, where the specific site requires them

For a homeowner applying for a single-storey extension, the statutory fee and service charge alone come to roughly £639, before any design costs are added. Our full total cost of planning permission guide breaks this down by project scale, including why the Community Infrastructure Levy, not the planning fee, is usually the dominant cost on larger schemes.

One detail worth flagging directly: the statutory fee itself carries no VAT at all, only the Planning Portal service charge does. See our VAT on planning fees guide for the full breakdown of which costs are VAT-inclusive and which aren't.

Exemptions & Reductions, Who Doesn't Pay (or Pays Less)

A small group of application types carry no fee at all: Listed Building Consent, Certificate of Lawfulness of Proposed Works to a Listed Building, relevant demolition in a Conservation Area, works to protected trees, hedgerow removal notices, and works solely to provide access or facilities for a disabled person.

Separately, and this is a genuine point of confusion worth being precise about: parish and town council applications receive a 50% reduction, not a full waiver. Non-profit sports club applications for playing field works are capped at £610, not eliminated. Neither is free, both are meaningfully discounted. Full detail, including worked examples of both, in our guide on who is exempt from planning application fees.

Retrospective Applications

Built first and applying for permission afterward? The fee itself doesn't penalise you for it, a retrospective application costs the same as one submitted before work began, not double, despite a persistent myth to the contrary. What genuinely changes is the enforcement risk if the application is refused. Full detail in our retrospective planning application fee guide.

Cross-Boundary & Multiple-Authority Applications

If your development crosses the boundary of two or more Local Planning Authority areas, the fee is usually 150% of what a single authority would have charged, though a second calculation can apply instead if it works out lower. The fee is paid to whichever authority holds the larger portion of the site. Full detail and worked examples in our cross-boundary planning fees guide.

Refunds and Resubmitting After a Refusal

Planning fees are generally non-refundable once an application is validated, but there's a genuine exception: if your council fails to determine a valid application within 26 weeks, a statutory right entitles you to a full refund, though this right can be lost if you agree in writing to extend the determination period. See our planning fee refunds guide for the full detail, including a real court case that shows how this right can be accidentally signed away.

If your application is refused, resubmitting no longer comes with a free second attempt, that concession was removed in December 2023. A revised application today pays the full fee again. See our free resubmission rules guide for what changed and what actually helps instead.

What Happens If You Pay the Wrong Fee

Your council identifies fee errors during validation. They'll request the correct payment or invalidate the application until it's resolved, and if the shortfall isn't corrected within the required timeframe, the application can be treated as withdrawn. This is why calculating the fee accurately before submission matters, though you should always confirm the final amount with your Local Planning Authority before paying.

Future Changes to Planning Fees

Planning fees are subject to annual indexation from 1 April each year, based on the Consumer Prices Index from the preceding September and capped at 10%. However, fees can also change through separate amendments to the planning-fee regulations.

On 16 July 2026, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published its response to the consultation on planning application fees. On the same date, draft regulations were published and laid before Parliament. The draft instrument states that it would come into force on 8 December 2026, subject to approval by both Houses of Parliament.

If approved in its current form, the draft regulations would introduce or amend several national-default fees from 8 December 2026, including:

• The householder fee increasing from £548 to £575.
• Permission in Principle applications for up to 9 dwellings becoming subject to a flat £825 fee, replacing the current site-area calculation for that category.
• The maximum fee cap increasing from £427,537 to £513,512.

The government response also confirms its intention to introduce a separate local-fee-setting model. Under the proposed framework, a Local Planning Authority would generally be able to set fees up to 30% above the national default where the increase is justified by evidence. This local-variation measure is separate from the national fee amendments above, and its detailed implementation depends on the relevant regulations and guidance being made.

Until the relevant regulations come into force, the current 2026 fees on this page remain the applicable national schedule. The draft instrument is not yet a UK Statutory Instrument, so the proposed amounts, commencement, and local-fee-setting arrangements should be treated as subject to change until Parliament has approved the legislation and the final text has been made. This page will be updated when the final regulations and implementation guidance are published.

Sources: MHCLG government response and the draft 2026 regulations.

England vs the Rest of the UK

This calculator, and every figure on this page, covers England only. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland each run separate planning systems under their own legislation, with fee schedules set independently and updated on different timetables. If your project sits outside England, check the schedule published by the relevant national planning authority rather than using the figures here.

Why Use This Calculator

This tool is built to give homeowners, architects, planning consultants, and developers a fast, reliable estimate based on the official April 2026 schedule, covering every common application type and the major exemptions and reductions, with the calculation shown clearly rather than just a final number.

It's an independent resource, not an official government service. Always confirm the final figure with your Local Planning Authority before paying.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sourcing & How We Keep This Accurate

Every fee figure here is checked against the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) Regulations 2012, as amended, and the current MHCLG fee schedule. Rates are reviewed each April when the annual increase takes effect, and updated as soon as the new schedule is confirmed.

This is an independent resource, not an official government service. If you spot a figure that looks out of date, or have a question about how a specific fee was calculated, contact us directly, or read more about this site on our About page.