Councils would be able to vary fees for planning applications under amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill.
The proposal to enable councils to charge fees covering the cost of processing applications was voted through with cross-party support despite opposition from the Government benches of the House of Lords.
Lords deputy leader Earl Howe said it could discourage development, would remove the incentive to ‘tackle inefficiencies’ and that it would be ‘unfair’ for different councils to charge different fees.
But the Lib Dems' Lords spokesperson for levelling up, Baroness Pinnock, argued local authorities were in effect subsidising the most complex planning applications.
This article was originally published by The MJ (£).
If this article was of interest, then check out our feature, 'Why the planning system is failing our pubs'.
