Issue - meetings

That the Department for Communities and Local Government be informed that Wokingham Borough Council accepts the offer to raise planning application fees by 20% from July 2017 on the basis that this will be invested into the planning services.

The Executive considered a report outlining details of an offer from the Department for Local Government and Communities (DCLG) to increase the planning application fees by 20% to help fund the planning service.  This would help to ensure the resilience of the service and its ability to deliver high quality, plan led development and good customer service.

Councillor Ashwell put forward the proposal and suggested that this should start from July 2017.

Councillor Pollock asked if planning application fees were on target and if this proposal represented an increase in the current Planning Budget or not. Councillor Ashwell responded that central government set planning application fees and it covered approximately two thirds of the cost of running the service.  He reported that there had been an increase of about 8% in planning applications recently.  Councillor Pollock requested further information from Officers.

RESOLVED That the Department for Communities and Local Government be informed that Wokingham Borough Council accepts the offer to raise planning application fees by 20% from July 2017 on the basis that this will be invested into the planning services.