A common question we receive from clients is "How much will it cost to get planning permission?".
Whilst it is impossible to give you a definitive answer as a lot depends on your specific project and site, we've put together these FAQ's to give you an understanding of the costs involved.
We explore both planning application fees and professional fees to give you a clearer picture.
All planning consultants will differ. Our approach is that, where possible, we will offer a fixed fee for drafting, submitting and managing an application through to a decision.
When we refer to third party costs we mean any professional advice required outside of our remit. This is often requested by the Planning Officers or required as part of the planning application. Our most common third party costs are listed below:
- Ecological Survey
- Arboricultural Impact Assessment
- Tree Survey
- Structural Surveys
- Measured Building Survey
- Topographical Survey
- Water Management Statement
- Flood Risk Assessment
- Drainage Assessment and Strategy
- Energy Statement
- Historic Impact Assessment
- Heritage Assessment
- Land Contamination Assessment
- Lighting Assessment
- Noise Assessment
- Speed Survey
- Transport Assessment
- Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA)
- Nutrient Neutrality Report
Where possible, we will offer a fixed fee for drafting, submitting and managing an application through to a decision. The below is included in this price and is referred to as the Scope of Work.
- Supporting Statement
- Block and Location Plans
- Co-ordination of supporting documents
- Due diligence
- Liaising with third parties
- Submission of application
- Standard management of application including checking progress and liaising with the council
- Minor amendments to the submitted scheme
- Copyright fees and land registry fees (if applicable) up to £50
- Client communication
Should one of the below occur, any additional costs will be discussed and agreed in writing with you, our client, before work proceeds.
- Unexpected time such as producing lengthy responses to consultees or comments or excessive liaison with third parties.
- Out of pocket expenses such as travel costs (not including the first visit)
- Planning fee due to the Local Planning Authority
- Additional surveys or reports required from third parties
- Preparation for or attendance at a planning committee meeting
- Any work following issue of decision (such as management of conditions or appeal)
- Advice regarding CIL
- Advice or queries relating to other projects
No, our scope of work does not include planning drawings.
We have an in-house design team, however some of our clients use their own architect and so we quote for drawings separately.
We can provide a quote for preparation of planning drawings if you wish to use our in house design team.
This includes:
- Measured building survey (including floor plans, existing elevations, photographic survey and other physical features where appropriate
- Elevations and floorplans as proposed
- 3D visualisations (unless otherwise stated)
- Up to four revisions
- More complex block and location plans
This does not include:
- More than four revisions
- Building regulations approval
- Ordnance Survey digital mapping downloads over £50
Yes, if your planning application is successful, our in house design team can help with your Building Regulations Drawings and application.
We recommend budgeting between £300 for a simple agricultural building through to £8000 for a replacement dwelling.
Drawing quotations are site and project specific but we include some budgets below:
Agricultural Shed - estimate £300
Equine - Stable or small manege - estimate £450
Glamping - Elevations and floorplans - estimate £450
Live / Work Unit - Elevations, floorplans and site plan - estimate £1500 to £5500
Rural Workers Dwelling - Elevations, floorplans and site plan - estimate £1500 to £5500
Replacement Dwelling - Survey, existing and proposed - estimate £3000 to £8000
Class Q - Survey, existing and proposed - estimate £2750 to £6750+
Barn Conversion - Survey, existing and proposed - estimate £3750 to £6750+
We would suggest that you budget between £1200 and £2200 to use a planning consultant for preparation and a submission of your Agricultural Shed. Depending on the project the application through to decision will cost between £1200 and £1800 and you should allow an extra £300 for drawings.
We would suggest that you budget between £6500 and £8500 to use a planning consultant for preparation and submission of your planning application for a Rural Workers Dwelling. You should allow an extra £1500 to £5500 for drawings depending on complexity.
We would suggest that you budget between £3500 and £5000 to use a planning consultant for preparation and submission of your planning application for Class Q. You should allow an extra £2750 to £7000 for drawings depending on complexity.
The short answer is YES. Planning related fees are payable to your Local Planning Authority (LPA) when making a planning application. Fees should be paid to the LPA at the time of submitting the application.
For more guidance use this link to the government website. This explains planning related fees and the method of calculating them.
Government Guidance on Fees for Planning Applications
Fees are paid using the Planning Portal, the link below gives you the costs for different types of planning applications.
CLEUD is a Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development.
Depending on the complexity of your submission of application for CLEUD this will cost between £3000 and £10000. The higher fee will be relevant for those with multiple uses over time or if multiple people over time. These will require excessive evidence, i.e. with a complex history.
Yes we do, we have successfully gained glamping planning for many clients. This will vary in cost from between £2500 to £5000 for those with over 5 units. We can also provide a quote for the design.
Take a look at our case studies - this is one for some shepherd huts in Worcestershire here:
https://www.theruralplanningco.co.uk/resources/case-studies/glamping-shepherd-huts/
Yes we do. We offer a Project Appraisal Service or Hourly Advice. This costs from £150 per hour up to £600 + VAT for a site appraisal service.
This is ideal if you are looking at a potential site to purchase or would like to know the planning potential for an existing site.
For more details see this page on our website:
Yes, in some circumstances. This is the type of advice a planning consultant will give you. This can save you time and money if the planning approval isn't straightforward or the LPA planning fees are expensive and we are not entirely sure it will be successful.
