Change to Planning Fees in Scotland
The Scottish Governments Planning Minister has announced changes to the planning procedure, aiming to improve the application process and services received by applicants. Following consultation in late 2019 and early 2020, ‘The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) (Scotland) Regulations 2022’ was produced and published on the 11th February 2022.
This publication detailed the fee increase and new schedule of planning fees which came into effect as of the 1st of April. As the first time in eight years that a change has been made to increase the standard planning application fee, it is important to review and understand the extra cost associated to your project and application submission.
At Cogeo, many of our clients’ projects fall within the renewable energy sector. Previously these types of developments would have fallen under ‘The erection, alteration or replacement of plant or machinery’ classification. However, the new regulations set out a standalone ‘Energy Generation’ schedule with its own specified fees. Please see below an outline of the Energy Generations Fees with the full table of Planning Fees available to view here
Energy Generation Fees:
The erection of wind turbines and the carrying out of other operations in connection with the construction of the generating station, including the construction or installation of any means of access to the generating station, pipes or other conduits, and overhead lines.
- (a) Where the number of turbines does not exceed 3 -
- (i) where none of the turbines have a ground to hub height exceeding 15 metres, £1,250
- (ii) where one or more of the turbines has a ground to hub height exceeding 15 metres but not exceeding 50 metres, £2,500
- (iii) where one of more of the turbines has a ground to hub height exceeding 50 metres, £5,000.
- (b)Where the number of turbines does exceed 3, £500 for each 0.1 hectare of site area, subject to a maximum of £150,000.
The construction of a hydro-electric generating station and the carrying out of any other operations in connection with the construction of the generating station, including the construction or installation of any means of access to the generating station, pipes or other conduits, and overhead lines.
500 for each 0.1 hectare of site area, subject to a maximum of £25,000.
The construction of solar electric generating station and the carrying out of any other operations in connection with the generating station, including the construction or installation of any means of access to the generating station, pipes of other conduits, and overhead lines.
£500 for each 0.1 hectare of site area, subject to a maximum of £25,000.
The carrying out of operations connected with the exploratory drilling for oil or natural gas.
- (a)Where the site area does not exceed 0.1 hectares, £1,000
- (b)Where the site area exceeds 0.1 hectares, £1,000 in respect of the first 0.1 hectares of site area, plus £500 for each 0.1 hectare of site area in excess of 0.1 hectares, subject to a maximum of £150,000.
Planning Minister Tom Arthur has stated:
“The planning system plays a central role in shaping the places where we live, work and access local services – and in delivering a just transition to a net zero economy. Ensuring planning departments are efficient and effectively resourced is vital to realising our ambitions for Scotland and supporting recovery.
“That is why reviewing planning fees and performance is a key part of our planning reform programme. This is a significant change to planning fees, which will provide substantial additional income to authorities and help to move towards fully recovering the cost of dealing with planning applications.
“I expect these increases to lead to improvements in planning performance and we will shortly progress the recruitment of Scotland’s first National Planning Improvement Co-ordinator.”
