The Total Cost of Planning Permission in England
The statutory planning fee is only one part of the cost of making a planning application. A realistic budget should separate the fee paid to the Local Planning Authority from the costs of preparing and submitting the proposal.
The main costs
Depending on the project, you may need drawings, a design or planning consultant, structural information, surveys, transport or ecology reports, and other supporting documents. Not every project needs all of these items.
If you submit through an online platform, check whether it adds a separate service charge and VAT. That charge is not the statutory planning fee and can change independently of government fee indexation.
A homeowner example
A householder extension may have a statutory fee of £548. The final budget could be higher once drawings, structural work, surveys, and any online submission charge are included. The amount will depend on the property and the level of information the council requires.
Costs that are not planning fees
Building regulations approval, construction work, legal work, finance, and Community Infrastructure Levy liabilities are separate matters. A planning fee calculator cannot predict them from the application type alone.
How to prepare a sensible estimate
Start with the statutory fee, then ask the council for its validation requirements. Obtain written quotes for specialist work and confirm whether a direct submission route is available. This produces a more useful budget than multiplying a planning fee by a guessed percentage.
Use the calculator for the statutory estimate and check current online charges before payment.
Source: GOV.UK planning fee guidance. This page was reviewed on 18 September 2026.
Use a three-column budget
This layout stops a calculator result from being mistaken for a quote for the entire project. It also makes it easier to see which costs are certain, which are provisional, and which depend on the site.
Questions to ask for each line
- Is this a statutory fee or a private service?
- Is VAT included?
- Is the amount fixed, per dwelling, area-based, or subject to a cap?
- Could the scope change after a survey or validation check?
Use the calculator for the statutory estimate and keep separate records for professional and construction costs.
Turn the estimate into a working budget
For each expected cost, record whether it is fixed, provisional, or dependent on the site. A statutory fee may be predictable once the route is known; a survey or design fee may depend on scope; construction costs can change after technical design. This makes the budget useful without pretending to provide a quote.
Cost questions for a homeowner
- Which costs are needed before submission?
- Which costs could arise after validation or a planning condition?
- Are VAT and online charges included in the number shown?
- What happens to the budget if the authority requests additional information?
Use the calculator for the statutory estimate, then keep the other categories separate. The result is more transparent and easier to update.
Source trail
Verify the statutory line with GOV.UK fees guidance; do not treat professional or construction estimates as official fee information.
How to compare a designer or architect quote
People often compare a headline professional fee with a statutory planning fee, but they pay for different things. Ask the person quoting you to mark each line as included, excluded, provisional, or charged separately:
- Existing and proposed planning drawings, location plan, and submission.
- Planning amendments or a second submission if the authority asks for changes.
- Structural calculations and technical or building-regulations drawings.
- Surveys, ecology, trees, drainage, heritage, or other specialist reports.
- Party-wall advice, builder support, and construction-stage visits.
- VAT, the statutory application fee, and any online submission charge.
This is a quote-comparison checklist, not a market-rate claim. A quote can be reasonable because it includes work that another quote excludes. Ask for a VAT-inclusive total and keep the statutory fee separate from professional costs.